Two Visions of Spanish Colonial Past in Late Nineteenth-Century Ballet

Abstract

During the late 19th century, plastic arts were instrumental for the construction of the Spanish national identity. The History Painting genre played a special role, as it allowed for the representation of historical events and characters related to the Spanish presence in Latin America. The purpose of this text is to analyze two different colonial-themed ballets that premiered in Spain from 1882 to 1887: an originally Italian Ballet remade in Madrid and a Spanish one that premiered in Barcelona, which depicted some episodes respectively set in Peru and Mexico six decades after both countries attained their independence. Through these two cases, we can study how dance played a part in the construction of the aforementioned national identity, the difference in perspectives between works composed in Spain with those abroad and how the dancer’s bodies manifested the ideas of exoticism and otherness often projected into the Pre-Columbian era.