British Scene Painters in Spain. Exchanges and Collaborations in 19th-Century Ballet

In the last third of the Nineteenth Century, ballet achieved notoriety in Spain thanks to the staging of international repertoire. In this research we analyse three pieces that premiered in London and were staged in Spain in the 1870s not long after: The Spirit of the Deep, Flamma or The Child of Fire and Bluebeard. All of them included original sets, costumes and atrezzo. In this study we have focused on the sets designed by British scene painters Thomas Grieve, William Brew, Albert Callcott and William Perkins; some of them travelled to Spain and even collaborated with local artists such as Pedro Valls. Otherwise, we have identified the choreographers, directors and dancers who performed these ballets, which toured around Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Málaga or Zaragoza. The study of diferent sources like newspapers, drawings and libretti have been essential to fully understand the reception of these works by both the critics and the audience. We see this research as an interesting episode of international collaboration and exchange in the context of Nineteenth Century ballet staging.

Blanca Gómez-Cifuentes is a PhD candidate in History of Art. Her thesis focuses on the relationships between visual arts and ballet in Spain in the Late Nineteenth Century. She was awarded a scholarship at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University (Paris) and she has developed her professional career in several museums and research centers such as the Spanish National Research Centre (CSIC), the National Museum of Fine Arts (MNAD) or the Spanish Documentation Centre of Music and Performing Arts (CDAEM). Blanca has participated in international conferences and symposiums, and her research has been published in books and academic journals. She is also a member of the Dance Studies Association and the Research Project “Dancing Body: Archives, Imaginaries and Transculturalities in Dance Between Romanticism and Modernity” (PID2021-122286NB-I00). Her research interests include the study of scenography, costume design, dance history and the application of Digital Humanities to Dance Studies.