Marie Sallé
Marie Sallé (1707–1756) was a French dancer and choreographer in the 18th century known for her expressive, dramatic performances rather than a series of "leaps and frolics" typical of ballet of her time.
She helped to create ballet d'action (a form continued by her student, Jean-Georges Noverre); she reformed traditional "feminine" costumes.
They made their Paris debut at the Saint Laurent fair in 1718 performing La Princesse Charisme, created by Véronique Lesage.
They spent two more seasons at Lincoln's Field Inn, performing dances from George Frideric Handel's opera Rinaldo as well as pantomimes.
In Pygmalion, Sallé chose to dress in Greek robes, wear her hair down and dance in sandals while playing the role of the statue in an attempt to make it a more realistic characterization.
However, despite being one of the first women to stage and dance in her own original productions in London and Paris opera houses, her achievements received negative feedback compared with her male counterparts.
Sallé's accomplishments in her early years were interpreted by the public and the theater world in terms of virtuosity and the proper role of femininity.
In dancing, she was described as the goddess of Grace and Voluptuousness, but this alternate image clashed with the one centering on virginity and virtuosity, creating a tension that critics and public spectators struggled to reconcile.
[6] Although mainly a choreographer and performer, Sallé also laid the foundation for an influential new wave of costume reform in dance history spearheaded by her pupil, Jean-Georges Noverre, in the late 18th century.
[1] Sallé introduced audiences to the idea of the rejection of masked dancers and vouched for the importance of dance and performance to mimic real life, including the costumes.
This engendered a sense of "realism" that had been largely ignored up to this point in the evolution of ballet and also allowed for greater physical freedom among the female dancers, unburdening them of the restrictions of unwieldy and elaborate clothing on stage.
The culture and bureaucracies of dance in France in the eighteenth century were restrictive, thus it was common for dancers to turn to courts elsewhere for freedom to develop personal expressions of art.
Yet, Sallé was able to slowly gain respect for herself and her work despite the strong criticism by collaborating with influential composers such as George Frideric Handel and Christoph von Gluck, commissioning compositions from them for her choreography.
