"The Styles of Eighteenth-Century Ballet",
Edmund Fairfax, Scarecrow Press, Oxford, 2003, p. 295
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For men (or women) seeking sexual gratification at the opera or
ballet, issues concerning aestheics found in different forms of
theatre is not an issue. Any theatre, any women (or men), just
as in our own times.
"In some less progressive parts of Europe, women dancers were even constrained
by law to be more moderate in their movements, even in the latter part of the
eighteenth century. One such place was Barcelona, where women theatrical dancers
were fined if they exposed their drawers while dancing, as the undistinguished
figurante Nina Bergonza, an acquaintance of Casanova, had the misfortune
to discover in 1767:" 1
.
"Hardly had she arrived in Barcelona two years ago, having come from Lisbon where
she left Bergonzi, her husband, when she was taken on as a figurante in the
ballets thanks to her fine figure, for as for talent, she could not do a step. All
she knew how to do was a turning jump called the révoltade. In doing
this jump, she had the pleasure to hear herself applauded at the pit, because they
saw her drawers [culottes] right up to the waist. Now you must know that
there is a law in the theatres here which fines every woman dancer an écu
who reveals her drawers to the public when gamboling. Nina, who knew nothing about
it, did her révoltade; the spectators clapped, and she did an even
finer one. At the end of the ballet, the inspector told her that at the end of the
month, she would have two less écus because of her impudent gambols.
She swore and cursed, but she was unable to take on the law. Do you know what she
did two days later to revenge herself? She appeared without drawers and did her
révoltade with the same force, which caused a tumult of merriment in
the pit, the likes of which had never been seen before in Barcelona. Count Ricla,
who was in his box on the main floor, on the very stage, had seen everything better
than anyone else and seized by horror and admiration at the same time, sent off the
inspector first to find out if an exemplary punishment other than fines ought to be
meted out to this daring woman resistant to the law."
.
"'While we wait,' he said to him, 'have her come before me.'
.
"Then Nina made her appearance in the viceroy's box with an affronted air and asked
him what he wanted with her."
.
"'You are an impudent woman who has shown a lack of respect for the public and its
laws and who deserves severe punishment.'"
.
"'What did I do?'"
.
"'The same jump that you did two days ago.'"
.
"'That's right, but I have not broken your Catalan law, for nobody can say
that they saw my drawers. To be sure that no one would see them, I didn't
wear them. What more can you do on behalf of your damned law, which has
already cost me two écus without my knowing it. Answer me that!'"
1
Fairfax, Edmund; "The Styles of Eighteenth-Century Ballet",
Scarecrow Press, Maryland, 2003, pp. 236-237
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