Conference Agenda

To address the role that male danseurs and female danseuses en travesti held on the French stage, researchers like Marian Smith (2007) and Lynn Garafola (1985) argued that the popularity of Taglioni’s La Sylphide (1832) triggered a balletic gender bias with Parisian audiences craving alluring sylphide in ethereal tutus. They subsequently sought to challenge previous scholars’ sylphide myopia and showcase the impact male dancers had upon ballet history by exploring the role ballerinos played outside of the sylphide universe by focusing on different repertoire. This wave of anti-Sylphide-centric scholarship, however, accidentally creates alternate misconceptions regarding gendered balletic and operatic narratives by overlooking the gender fluid nature of sylph and the existence of countless winged danseurs.

Drawing on iconography, libretti, and press reviews, I dismantle current notions regarding the nature of male sylphs and female sylphides by examining dancing and singing sylph that flitted across the Parisian stages throughout the nineteenth century. Specifically, I focus on the Trilby craze that overtook the commercial theatres in 1823, comparing it with Taglioni’s La Sylphide (1832) and the vaudeville Follet, ou le Sylphe (1832). Furthermore, I examine sylph spectacles which contain both genders simultaneously: like La Fille de l’air (1837) and La Rose d’Or (1838), demonstrating how male sylph supposedly formed the ultimate seductors since their ability to shape shift allowed them to fulfil maiden’s sexual desires and fantasies. I also argue that female danseuses en travesti championed the sylph phenomenon since cross-dressing facilitated the realisation of sylphs’ queer elemental nature.