Carlotta Zambelli (1875-1968) - A Forgotten Ballerina
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- Carlotta Zambelli (1875-1968) is one of those dancers who has passed across my consciousness a number of times without making a strong impression.
In fact my most distinct recollection of her was in a photograph in a ballet book used to demonstrate the depths to which ballet had sunk in the late C19 and before the advent of Serge de Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. It was an image of Zambelli and Antonine Meunier titillatingly 'en travesti' in 'Les Deux Pigeons' in 1886.
However, there might have been more to this ballerina than what appears to be music hall turns.
An Italian, she studied as a pupil of Adelaide Viganò and Cesare Coppini at the La Scala Ballet School from 1884, and then at the Paris Opera Ballet School with Rosita Mauri.
She debuted at the Paris Opera in 1894 and was made étoile in 1898.
In 1896, she caused a sensation when she executed fifteen fouettés in a divertissement from the opera 'La Favorita'.
The gold standard of 32 fouettes of course had been set in 1893 by Pierina Legnani at the premiere of 'Cinderella' in St. Petersburg, the feat then being incorporated by the ballerina into 'Swan Lake' in 1895. The first Russian dancer to achieve the magic 32 was Mathilde Kschessinskaya.
Carlotta Zambelli was a prima ballerina at the Paris Opera from 1898 to her retirement in 1930, creating leading roles in 'Namouna' (1908), 'Javotte' (1909), 'España' (1911), 'Sylvia' (1919), 'Taglioni chez Musette' (1920), and 'Cydalise et le chèvre-pied' (1923), and in Bronislava Nijinska's 'Impressions de music-hall' (1927).
She danced in 'Coppélia' and 'Paquita', and gave her first 'Giselle' at the Mariinsky in 1901.
On retiring from the stage, Zambelli was a teacher at the Paris Opera Ballet School up to 1955.
Not too shabby a career.
I was pleased to find a little film of this ballerina, shot in a studio to catch something of her technique and presence. She had a decent-ish jump and her entrechats are quite clean.
I've used some atmosphere music over the images and the footage - it's from Delibes's score for 'Sylvia' which Zambelli danced in 1919. Not sure it's quite right ... but!
Enjoy!
Phenomenal footage of a very antique style of ballet dancing, which I have only seen in paintings and photographs. Thank you for this. I never heard of this lady, but am now deeply intrigued !
look at la sylphide from pierre lacotte, he was the last student of carlotta zambetti, who was the last student of Marie Taglioni. You will see the old french style.
Awesome to see what ballet was like before the hardened pointe shoes and inside a real corsette simply marvelous
yes awesome insight into an earlier era of ballet slippers and attire. perhaps the reason she does not go unto point with the foot well arched?
John Hall yeah, besides the technique was diferet that nowadays every art evolves but we are lucky to live in a time that is posible to have at least a little glimpse in film of how it use to be
yes, things change and it's fascinating to see where we've come from :) thank goodness for film! pity earlier dancers went unrecorded before its invention.
I wish there was more of this films!
me too! there are quite a few Danish films of this period where the Bornonville style is on display - which are equally fascinating! one i have uploaded is Valborg Borchsenius and Hans Beck - 'Tarantella from Napoli' (1903) ruclips.net/video/W6rhKyCD3pI/видео.html&pbjreload=10
I love how, at the end, she takes a few steps and smiles as she relaxes. The posture and sense of accomplishment is still how we septa do in studios today!
What an ancient film clip. I don't think I have seen much as old as this. As a young woman, she had dark eyed, dark haired Italian beauty and much charm as she danced.
+Louise Smedley-Hampson i thought this was the only film with Carlotta Zambelli but i see there is also on YT '"LE CID" with Carlotta Zambelli and Mr Vasquez'
@@JohnRaymondHall and now sylvia. what's next
@@r.r.c7692 did you see the upload of Karsavina in a PDD from Sylvia?
The music from Sylvia matched very well, it was nice to see Ms. Zambelli dancing.
Wonderful little pas. The dancing at that time had some very different conventions then. For example the chenne turns are ended in a twirling fashion. The love of small footwork and quick pas de bourres ... It is all there. I wanted to say, I think her jump is extraordinary. The beats are clean and there is a real lightness but a thoughtful contrast in the footwork small and low and the jump high and light. Lovely.
hi Gari
yes, i think its the differences in performance conventions that partly draw me to putting up this older footage on my channel - and partly of course that there are some many channels with the newer things that don't necessarily need more exposure.
yes the jump was something that surprised me, and the cleanness of executing smaller steps
towards the end of the footage, Zambelli does a series of chaines turns and they seem quite low in demi point, rather low like Andre Eglevsky's turns in the film of him and Maria Tallchief in 'Swan Lake' Act 2 1954.
glad you liked this too!
She did chene turns on demipoints and bented knees. But it was pleasant to see her turned out feet. Any way, it's so interesting tt see ballet of that time
It appears that she knew the value of charming the audience with a warm smile, flirtatious eyes, and effortless arms. A lot of dancers today lack some of that charm. Fonteyn had it.
Simple steps but all done with such easy grace and charm. I'm always amazed that they danced wearing corsets in that era...
She is so beautiful and charming, it brought tears to my eyes.
She appears to be tightly corseted. It's amazing she can jump at all - how on earth did she catch her breath?!!
Thanks for another wonderful peek at the past :)
hi Susan
yes, the corseting is so extreme - you do wonder that she could breathe, just standing still let lone dancing.
glad you're liking these older performances - i have a few more i want to upload before i go 'modern' again!
:)
Corsets were not over tight in lacing. They existed basically to give the various layers of clothing worn at the time the ability to hold shape. I imagine that the corsets helped these dancers by giving them spinal support.
@@kerrytakashi12 Good explanations Kerry.
Women back then actually had completely different body shapes due to tight lacing from a young age. Some girls were even corseted from infancy, and this resulted in them having extremely tiny waists. Their organs and waists were literally in a different place than the women of today.
@@JohnRaymondHall Tightlacing is something only the very elite did for very short periods of time. Their corsets, especially sporting ones, were very comfortable and used more so for back and bust support rather than a slimmer waist. :)
This channel is precious! I'm so glad to be able to see how ballet actually looked like and was danced in 19th century. What a lovely turnout she has, and excellent jumps 👌
This would have been early 20th century. She is wearing a Gibson Girl hairstyle which was popular in the first decade of the 20th century.
I'm looking at this video with emotion because she was my rear great aunt…:)
she was so known to you that it's hard to loose that sense and see the dancing? :)
Today dancers have more technic but it's just the fact of looking at her which please me :)
i can imagine :)
Exquisite! Thank you for this lovely clip.
+lochXnessie glad you like this footage as i do! it must be the only film of Carlotta Zambelli dancing i think
hi thenineteenth centuryballet
yes, i agree, her enjoyment is so much part of the success of this performance
and i like that she is a musical dancer - this quality for me ranks very high - great technique is all very well but for me it needs to be put to some purpose.
The clip of her dancing makes you appreciate what these early dancers must have suffered -there appears to be hardly any "blocking " in her pointe shoes very similar to the soft pointes sold today to prepare young dancers for going on pointe
hi Siegfried - yes absolutely! as even more so when your see Marie Taglione's slippers - even being momentarily on point would have been a challenge - no support at all.
Blocking was widely in use since at least 1880. The shoes, nevertheless, had much smaller, narrower, platforms, and this was the practice until relatively recent times. If you compare the pointe shoes used by Margot Fonteyn in the 1950-ties and the shoes used now by Marianela Nuñez and other leading dancers of the Royal Ballet, you will experience a state of shock. Children even at the most prestigious ballet schools are now allowed to use pointe shoes that would be considered a scandal just 15 years ago. Quite a number of professionals are deeply concerned that we are witnessing the death of the classical pointe shoe, that is being replaced by something ugly, something that destroys the beautiful classical lines.
@@mariuszwodzicki3714 i used to dance when i was a little girl in 1994-95 and one year ago i went to a decathlon and i tried the pointe shoes and they seemed a little different and easier to wear to me. Is it possible?
There doesn’t appear to be any at all, either that or her feet are incredibly tiny
this film is a gift from Carlotta Zambelli ! she is enjoying herself so much !
she has great Musicality ! she is very charming !
she is very graceful !
she is very pretty I am surprised that she and the film are not better known ! I hope that there is more film of her ! if there is film of Carlotta Zambelli there could be the other films ! she is delightful !
That was Lovely!🌹🌹🌹 Thank you for sharing this!
How wonderful.. and I love the music...
And I thought dancing in pointe shoes was hard now a days!
not much support back then!
@Jaylen Lucas n
As a non-professional historical fashion obsessed person (quite the mouthful), this looks to be filmed in the Edwardian(ish) period! Possibly very very late 1800s. The loose top bun and pigeon breast shape really give it away lol. One of my favorite periods!
Your clips are a treasure and just so amazing and ought to be more widely viewed.
This might be one of the oldest recordings of high level dancer I’ve ever seen. Looking at her shoes, the tight corset, her hair, this is no older than maybe 1905, probably late 1800s! It’s amazing she has so much control in those shoes and her jumps are incredible!!! If she was allowed a pair of modern shoes ans allowed to ditch the Victorian super tight laced corset, and even taught for a year with modern technique she has so much innate talent I am certain she would have surpassed most modern ballerinas
yes, one of the earliest recording of real ballerina - yes, certainly the very early part of the C20 :)
hope that there is more film of her !
Great: thank you for sharing!
hi thenineteenth centuryballet
that's great - i'll go and have a look it it - she deserves to be better known that she is.
:)
“A Forgotten Ballerina of Some Note” - what makes you think so?!? Carlotta Zambelli was universally praised throughout her career by the French critics who had infinitely better understanding and knowledge of la danse classique than the “amateurs”-turned-balletomanes/ballet critiques of the Anglo-Saxon world of the 1920-ties-1940-ties. In Paris, ballet was passed from generation to generation for over 200 years before that young demoiselle form Milan came to rule Grand Opéra for a very long time. I read countless accounts of the delight she was offering to the connoisseurs. She may have left greater trace in the bones of the French classical dancers of the mid-twentieth century than the émigré Russians. She did embody “danse d’école” that makes the French school so distinct up to this day.
i was thinking only of the more general fame many dancers have, even outside the world of ballet. i was not trying to say she is now unknown
I think the film was retouched to make her waist look smaller. It was very common for female celebrities of that era to have their photographs retouched to make their waists smaller. This film is so short with such a small frame rate, it probably wouldn't have taken long to paint all the frames to make her waist narrower. I just can't imagine somebody tight-laced in their corset like that being able to perform this level of physical exertion...
@KCK I think you’re right! If you look closely you’ll notice that her waist changes sizes multiple times.
What a treasure! ❤️
Potent little vision of the conventions of the time - particularly because this is what Degas recorded. Funny to think that Degas doubtless saw her. He would have loved her pretty arms.He had a fetish for pretty arms. Thanks Alex!
hi PIPZZZ02
yes, like time travel into those conventions
and thanks so much for sharing the Degas fetish - in a purely associative way it reminded me of a dessert i used to eat in Spain (a sheet of soft meringue with custard filling) called Brazo de Mercedes - Mercedes arms, which were supposed to be reflected in the plump while sweet!
If the original sense of the pointe shoes was to give the feeling of the ballerina almost floating on air in some specific moments of the ballet, how can this sensation be created with point shoes that nowadays are so big and squared and choreography where the ballerina is on pointe every second of the ballet?
It must’ve hurt really bad to use the old point shoes with barely any padding or structure
And the deafening clatter across the stage....
Very beautiful 👏🏻🥰
My thought. How on earth did the ballerinas of that era dance en pointe in shoes that look to have absolutely no blocking?
hi Linda
yes, very difficult indeed - when you look at Taglioni's slippers it's a wonder she remained on point even for the brief periods she did:
www.pinterest.com/pin/217228382000830105/
The next question could be: How does she get enough breath? In the dance film it seems she wears a tight corset (usual in that era).
Back then corset was still used up until the beginning of the 20th century. The use of corset was defended because of the fashion at the time but also according to some it added additional strength to the back when dancing.
flotteluft The modern belief that corsets where used as torture devices (or just garments that where made to hurt women for the sake of fashion) has been debunked as a myth. If you would like to know why, I recommend watching this ☺️:
ruclips.net/video/zNwTqanp0Aw/видео.html
Very touching.
Grazie amico!
I noticed in the oldest footage that she doesn’t stay on her toes for very long. Did they even have shoes with hardened toe boxes at that point in time?
Such ease.
exactly my thought :)
Joyeux anniversaire Carlotta Zambelli !
This is a debaunking for all the people that still belive that corsets suffocate you or restrict your movement she is clearly wearing a corset
Feet. Dancers didn't use to balance with straight ankle vertically onto a large block. Fonteyne even retained a little of that angle I think. The foot, quite flexible and energetic, is not just an extension to the leg. I'm sure there is a more elegant and technical way of saying this!
I understood
Off topic, but she's CLEARLY wearing a corset in this clip, I don't want to hear any actress complaining that she couldn't sit in a corset that obviously wasn't made with her measurements
How on earth could she move and breathe in that corset? How tightly
her waist is cinched! Perhaps the reason her torso is essentislly static.
I'm just a soprano, I know nothing about dancing from experience.
But I do know about free movement
of breath!
I am in awe of her ability to move in that harness!
yes, i agree - i wonder if she normally danced corseted like this or was it for the film?
if there is film of Carlotta Zambelli there could be the other films !
I've read so much about her (she's mentioned in a famous French children book) and I had never seen her dancing before, I had only seen pictures. It was great. I wonder why the stage is so small (I think that's the reason she's dancing "facing" the audience all the time.)
hi magalimadeleine
i'd heard of her a lot before finding this footage - i was just amazed it existed.
i think the stage was so small as it was probably shot in a film studio rather than on a real stage - even Margaret Dale's films of for example Nadia Nerina in 'Giselle' and so on in the mid C20 were filmed in still tiny TV studios.
@@JohnRaymondHall there is a studio with her name in palais garnier. she was lacotte's teacher
Its unfortunate that these clips of early ballet dancerhave incorrect music. Here Zambelli is damceing the famous pizzicato from Sylvia, and at a tempo that today's dancers could never handle.
'Some note'!?
Her lines are perfect. Had she been English the video's title would be 'The genius of ...'.
understatement on my part - gives the wrong impression of how i value her - i'll change the title to the video
Obsessed!!
cool.
I found some VERY old ballet films ! 'A Japanese Ballet' in 1896 Film 91151 ['A Japanese Ballet' in 1896 Film 91151] Ballet Dancer, 1890's -- Film 11135 [Ballet Dancer, 1890's -- Film 11135] Diaghilev Center Архив Дома Дягилева - Тамара Карсавина [Tamara Karsavina] [Diaghilev Center Архив Дома Дягилева - Тамара Карсавина] and a ballet sequence in anamusement arcade during a vaudeville act [thomas edison 1896] .
hi thenineteenth centuryballet
yes, there are some great things at the Huntkey archive - like Margot Fonteyn and Michael Soames in Les Sylphides 1940's
and as you mention the Diaghilev Center stuff is so intriguing - i wonder who the dancers are? the footage has Karsavina's name on it but it is not her.
i see now that the dancers are:
Ballerina - Mlle Baldina (who appeared with Karsavina in Les Sylphides in 1909)
Danseur - Theodore Koslov, first season Ballets Russes dancer.
John Hall
what about the other films ? thanks !
thenineteenth centuryballet
i've seen the other films and they are amazing!
with the first film, i'm wondering whether this solo is part of a larger ballet? like the divertisements in Sleeping Beauty or Swan Lake. do you have any ideas?
the second one has the ballerina performing some very curious chore towards the end of the solo, like bourree but with the feet apart.
👏👏👏
:) :)
hi ! I have uploaded a slid show video of Carlotta Zambelli . enjoy !
What I find unbelievable even though I've just watch it, is that she was dancing wearing a corset and en pointe without even wearing supportive point shoes! How could he breath with that tight corset and how could he support herself with these shoes...?
Is this authentic footage from the 1900s or a more recent remake? Lovely video
So THAT's Zambelli-- No wonder they loved her so. Can't help it.
Such small feet, and they barely point, but she can get on them and then float so easily down that the impression of lightness remains undisturbed. Getting DOWN from pointe is the hardest thing, and she creates the impression of floating in the softness of her descents while never tearing herself away from the floor. Wonder what it was like when she jumped? She looks like a terre a terre dancer-- I hesitate, but maybe Violette Verdy is in her line of descent?
Actually, she is a great jumper. Very high leaps she performs. Really high.
You notice they did not dance on full point then just almost.
I would blame the ballet shoe they were wearing. It's more like soft shoes.
gnguyen411
Or dead shoes.
hi Chuan Fa stippich
yes, i remember reading that earlier in the C19 ballerinas were only very momentarily on point - there are photographs of some of Maria Taglioni's point shoes - they are really just slippers with no toe support at all - amazing that dancers rose on their toes at all then.
@@JohnRaymondHall Given the shoe limitations, I always wonder how they were able to dance the difficult variations of the classical repertoire. In the old footage I’ve watched the ballerinas always seem to dance on bent legs, and don’t appear to have the right technique for multiple pirouettes. That said, I loved the jumps in this footage-so light and effortless. This piece is a treasure. Thank you.
@@valerina01 yes, and that Marie Taglioni could ascent to point in her soft slippers is nothing short of miraculous. yes, this is a treasure, isn't it
hi again thenineteenth centuryballet
for some reason i'm getting the notice 'You are not allowed to comment on this post' when i try to reply to your comments - so i'm just replying as a new comment and adding your name
cheers!
sadly i'm getting the 'You are not allowed to comment on this post' message - so i hope you see my reply:
i'm still searching round - i'm an optimist!
:)
If you’ll look well enough you can see that the sizes of her waist chance ever so slightly. Victorians and edwardians were masters of fotoshop. Not that I think that size waist isn’t possible. But you can see that it’s slightly darker or slightly lighter than her shadow and silhouette. Especially in the beginning and when she jumps. Watch very closely.
+Sui Kwan Lum - isn't it!
I still can't believe that dancers dance with CORSETS 💀😳
yes, it would have made breathing very difficult
Is this clip part of a longer documentary? Do you know who holds the master footage/copyright? Is this clip in the public domain?
i think in the public domain as all film is fifty years after the deaths of the major participants.
I know pointe shoes were different back then, and I really don't know much about ancient pointe shoes, but some of these people really aren't getting over their box and I'm getting flashbacks
I don’t think getting over the box was a thing until post 1920’s, right? I could be wrong easily
Back when people were really romantic and less demanding athletic qualifications!
Наличие длинной шеи в начале 20 века похоже не приветствлвалось
Corsets!!!
and how does one breath in them!!!
Какая талия)
какая?
Тонюсенькая) Очень красиво)
@@Жизньпрекрасна-к4у4т чувихи гуторют меж собою что корсет
@@author7027 Мало ли, что гуторют... А Вы попробуйте с затянутой в корсет талией станцевать так.
@@olga_shaladanova а разве ж корсет для красоты?
I wonder who is the choreographer is what ballet is she in and also who is filming it . thanks !
hi thenineteenth centuryballet
i had the footage from 'Programme Nadar' put out recently by 'La Cinematheque Francaise' - i remember originally finding it hard to find details of the ballet and its choreographer. Paul Nadar was the cinematographer.
all else i can find is:
"Six films by photographer Paul Nadar in 1896 were combined into a program in 1970 by the Cinemathèque Francaise. It contains four dance routines and two Paris-based actualities."
Чем-то на Ваганову похожа, нет?
Со всем уважением к данной балерине, но, если честно, как - то не очень 🙀🙀🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ Сейчас гораздо лучше танцуют профессиональные балерины! И гораздо эстетичнее
Wiebke Bayer Larissa H. Gomez
googled 'Wiebke Bayer Larissa H. Gomez' and it took me through to your Google+ page and this video - thanks.
Was she in the nutcracker at all?
why?
Después de ver un montón de grabaciones antiguas la conclusión es que estos bailarines tan famosos no tenían una buena técnica, veo mucho las rodillas sin estirar, empeines también sin estirar...
Parece que a partir de Nureyev y Barýshnikov la técnica mejoró muchísimo.
Creo que los bailarines de estas grabaciones a día de hoy no pasarían ningún examen
tenian una tecnica clasica
Am I wrong or were dancers back then half as good as they are today? She seemed rather sloppy, maybe it's the film
she is ok. show me who is good now on the video
I'd never seen so much en face dancing! Looks like a marionette.
yes, curious - wonder why?
This was filmed in the early 1900s. The cameras were big and had to stay in one place. She was dancing in a tiny space to accommodate the camera. Hence everything en face and constrained. This is just a sample of her ability. Unfortunately we were all born too late to see her set loose on a big stage.
ужас!
А вы смешная.И недалекая.Почему такие как вы одни гадости пишут.Личная жищнь не удалась?Будьте добрее-этой сьемке сто лет.
Ужас какой то.
чё те не нравится?