Dancing with the Archives: Embodied Explorations of Early 20th Century Mail Order Ballet
Abstract:
This presentation introduces a research project that critically investigates the phenomenon of “mail-order” ballet choreography, a curious approach to dance instruction that gained modest traction in the early twentieth-century United States. The project centers on a sample of written choreography attributed to Madame Elizabetta Menzeli—an influential yet historically overlooked ballet dancer, choreographer, and pedagogue who, as a single woman, built her own dance studio just down the street from today’s ABT and Ballet Tech home in Union Square. Utilizing archival texts and images, dancer researchers from multiple university settings engage with Menzeli’s choreography in the studio, first published in Two Step Magazine in 1908, by embodying roles of both compliant and non-compliant interpreters of her instructions. This method involves adhering meticulously to Menzeli’s written guidance while also experimenting with intentional deviations, allowing for a nuanced exploration of the boundaries and creative opportunities within choreographic texts. This inquiry contributes to a deeper understanding of ballet as a theoretical framework, offering new perspectives on the interplay between obedience and innovation in ballet pedagogy. Through engaging with Menzeli’s life and work, the presentation underscores the potential for archival ballet sources to foster inclusivity in dance education by challenging conventional interpretations of “correct” practice. The project also underscores how dancing with the archives can create connections between today’s dancers and their “Dancestors,” deepening dancers’ understandings of women entrepreneurship in ballet, the precarity of historical narrativization, and affirming the aliveness of the archives themselves. By interrogating the disciplinary boundaries of ballet and physically engaging with archival materials, this research advocates for broader interpretative flexibility in dance education and seeks to enrich discourse on ballet pedagogy, history, and practice.