“Pas de Quatre” is one of the oldest ballets about which we have any knowledge. It’s from the Romantic era, when female ballet dancers first went up on pointe although in softer shoes than we have today. The aesthetic for dancers was to be an ethereal otherworldly being, gossamer-light and intensely feminine:

On the night it premiered in London (12 July 1845), it caused a sensation with the critics and the public alike. The reason for this was that it brought together, on one stage, the four greatest ballerinas of the time – in order of appearance, Lucile Grahn, Carlotta Grisi, Fanny Cerrito, and Marie Taglioni. …

The steps demand that each area of classical ballet technique is executed. These areas include adagio movements, petite allegro, grand allegro, fast footwork, graceful changes of position, and the elegant and fluid arm movements that have become a signature element of Pas de Quatre. Each ballerina has an individual variation, which are performed in succession between an opening and finale that are danced by all the ballerinas together. These variations were choreographed for the ballerina premiering in each role, and were designed to display the best features of each. …

The order of appearance of the ballerinas was done by age, from youngest to oldest, to squelch further confrontations between them.

Here is a lithograph from that 1845 production:

The original choreography is mostly lost. But in 1941 the British choreographer Anton Dolin recreated it at least in spirit. I see that in the original cast of the revival was the dancer Mia Slavenska. Strangely enough, when I was a young child in the late 1950s she was in a ballet class I took in Manhattan. She was not the teacher but rather a fellow student. She was slightly past her prime but could still dance up a storm and was a figure of high glamour. It was quite an eclectic class in terms of the students, but I think it’s safe to say that she was by far the best dancer although not the only professional dancer in the class, and I was the worst of all.

But I digress.

Dolin’s 1941 choreography was a conscious throwback to the older style, and the dancers of the mid-20th century were close enough to the 19th century that I think they were able to conjure up some of the feel of the original – although of course, how would I really know? But I doubt it could be performed effectively today because technique has taken over and the style is completely different. If you watch this video, you may come to appreciate the more delicate touch of the old ways – which, by the way, nevertheless require a steely technique, especially in the petit allegro of the small jumps. The old-fashioned approach is particularly challenging in the port de bras (arm movements) and slightly-forward lean of the torso.

I believe this was filmed in 1978 although I’m not certain. That would have made the Cuban dancer Alicia Alonso (the one with the sharpest features) around 58 years old here; she danced well into her 70s despite having only partial eyesight for most of her life. The video is somewhat blurry but not too bad:

Carla Fracci, who dances the Cerrito role (her hair is parted and she’s not wearing a wreath), is one of my favorite dancers of all time. She resembled the old lithographs come to life. This is an earlier production (1968) in which I think she’s especially fine. I’ve cued up her solo: