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Marie Guy-Stéphan
French dancer / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marie-Antoinette Guy-Stéphan (18 November 1818 - 20 August 1873) was a French dancer who triumphed at Spanish theaters between 1843 and 1851.[1]
Marie Guy-Stéphan | |
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![]() Hand-coloured daguerreotype portrait of a bolero dancer with castanets, c. 1850. The original piece is preserved in the Photo Library IPCE (Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain) in Madrid. It's a whole plate daguerreotype, the maximum size standard. It is a masterpiece of the History of Photography. | |
Born | Marie-Antoinette Guy-Stéphan (1818-11-18)18 November 1818 |
Died | 20 August 1873(1873-08-20) (aged 54) Paris, France |
Nationality | French |
Occupation | Dancer |
Years active | 1843-1851 |
Career | |
Dances | Bolero School |
Richard Ford, travel writer, arrived in Spain in 1830 and wrote about the rivalry between Guy-Stéphan and Maria Brambilla, specialist in Donizetti and first dancer of La Scala.[2]
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Guy-Stephan_by_Lynch.jpg/320px-Guy-Stephan_by_Lynch.jpg)
She debuted in Madrid in 1840 and around 1844 danced the title role for the first production of Giselle in Spain.[3] She performed in numerous works by Marius Petipa and was often partnered with him.[3] In the beginning of 1850s in Madrid's Teatro del Circo she has a rivaling with Sofia Fuoco. Guy-Stéphan was a favourite of Marquis de Salamanca so when Fuoco became a favorite dancer of general Narvaez theatrical rivalry turned into a political one. Those who preferred the government (and Fuoco) were wearing red carnation flowers in the buttonhole while the supporters of Marquis de Salamanca (and Guy-Stéphan) demonstrated their notion by wearing white ones.
In 1853 she moved to Paris and made her Paris Opéra debut in Aelia et Mysis, by Mazilier.[3] She performed at Théâtre Lyrique and at Théâtre de la Gaîté around same time.[3] She created roles including in Néméa, ou l'Amour vengé (1864), by Arthur Saint-Léon.[3]
Cyril W. Beaumont had a painting after J. H. Lynch showing Guy-Stéphan dancing 'Las Boleras de Cadiz' from the ballet divertissement L'Aurore at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1843 (now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum),[4] and an engraving of Guy-Stéphan dancing in the same ballet appears in La Ilustración of 23 March 1850.[5] There is also an 1850 daguerreotype showing a dancer with castanets who has been identified as Marie Guy-Stéphan.[6]