Elvira Bonfanti, Dancing the death. A note on Jean Genet’s ’Adame Miroir

 

On the 31st May 1948, in Paris, at Marigny Theater, ‘Adame Miroir’ went on stage; it was the only ballet written by Jean Genet, the brilliant thief-traitorpederast, as he loved defining himself. ‘Adame Miroir has been quite ignored by the critics for at least two reasons: the first one is that mainly literary or drama critics and philosophers – three categories that usually are not so interested in dance – write and have written about Genet, the second one is that this ballet didn’t respond to author’s expectations who, on the other hand, had seen in the language of the dancing body a possibility to express what we cannot say because of the inadequacy of the word.

 

Published on: Geographies of body, N. 18 New Series – Year IX 2013