Paper short abstract:

This study investigates the activities and background of Giovanni Vittorio Rosi, who was invited to the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo during the Taisho period. This paper aims to re-evaluate the ballet developed in Japan by Rosi, in relation to the ballet in Europe at the turn of the century.

Paper long abstract:

This study investigates the activities and background of ballet master Giovanni Vittorio Rosi (1867-1940?), who was invited to the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo (Teigeki) during the Taisho period. The prosperity of classical ballet in Russia and Ballets Russes, which were instrumental in the birth of ballet all over the world, still has a strong influence today. On the other hand, the ballet scene in Europe at the turn of the century, which Rosi learned, was influenced by the popular entertainment culture that had emerged at that time, and its characteristics differed from those of Russian ballet. This paper aims to re-evaluate the ballet developed in Japan by Rosi, in relation to the ballet in Europe at the turn of the century.

La Scala of the late nineteenth century embraced the spectacular ballet performances represented by choreographer Luigi Manzotti and was the centre of the ballet world in Western Europe. This Italian ballet culture was introduced to variety theatres in London by a number of Italian dancers and choreographers, including Rosi. The ballet at the variety theatres was a fusion of distinct genres, not only incorporating various styles of dance but also using speech and singing. Dancers acquired various skills beyond the technique and expression seen in the so-called orthodox ballet—which is like the ballet at the Imperial Theatres in Russia—in order to represent heterogeneous or miscellaneous subjects in various styles of dance and mime. This led dancers and choreographers to move beyond the boundaries of the performance genre and encouraged border-crossing artistic activities.

After being invited to Teigeki, Rosi directed over 40 works of dance, opera and drama in Japan. He taught classical ballet technique, based on the typical Italian method, and endeavoured to teach mime.

Such objectives of his activities were supported by the views on ballet he had acquired before coming to Japan. Those views, reflecting the diverse ballets that Rosi experienced in Europe, were carried on by his Japanese pupils as they went on to perform and stage the Asakusa Opera and to create new fields in the Japanese art and entertainment scene.