The unlikely margin

The history of 20th century dance as it is studied and transmitted in Western Europe rarely contains information about Greek dance history. In parallel, even within research on dance in Greece, little is known about the genre of ballet. It is against this background that this study investigates ballet in Greece in the first decades of the 20th century. In this context, ballet referred both to classical dance technique and to related but not identical dance forms appearing in lyrical and light musical theatre (e.g. opera, operetta and revue theatre). In this way, studying ballet in Greece is a way of widening the aesthetic category of ballet. The studys hypothesis is that ballet in early 20th century Greece constituted an unexpected field of dissidence, that countered the norms and expectations of its artistic and social context. Firstly, while Greek modern dance often staged an idealised national identity, ballet openly referred to foreign artistic models, was practiced by non-Greek performers and did not necessarily focus on nation-specific themes, becoming a field of trans-national cultural exchanges. Secondly, early 20th century Greek ballet was practiced mainly by women, who often deviated from social norms about femininity; it thus became a space where alternative gender models could be experienced and presented. Finally, while ballet is often seen as an elite dance form, early 20th century Greek ballet was close to popular culture and social dance forms, breaking the high culture boundary. Interweaving these hypotheses, the project also asks how these three dissidences from ideals of the nation, gender and high culture are related to each other. In order to answer these questions, the study will examine specific artists but also, and primarily, explore the work of the large numbers of anonymous dancers that composed the ballet field in early 20th century Greece. It will draw information from performance programmes, press articles, archival images and musical scores. The studys results will be disseminated through academic channels (articles, conferences etc) but also through practice-oriented workshops both in Vienna and in Greece. Telling the stories of these little-acknowledged dance(r)s, the project aims to contribute to Dance Studies current effort to diversify our understanding of early 20th century dance, telling a multiple story of the past as a grounding for a heterogeneous present.