Once upon a time: the transformation of the fairy Carabosse

Victoria Marr as Carabosse, Birmingham Royal Ballet 2017. Photo by Bill Cooper

Most people have heard of   - though they may not necessarily have seen it -  the classical ballet Sleeping Beauty. A more significant number of people around the world know and have seen Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959) and the more recent, supposedly feminist take on the story, Maleficent (2014).

Carabosse in the ballet and Maleficent in the Disney story are one and the same character: they are the wicked fairy who curses Princess Aurora. I will not engage with Maleficent in this post, there have been many articles written about her and the significance of the movie. I particularly appreciated reading the piece by  Samantha Abramovitz, most relevant in that it reminds people of the forthcoming sequel and warns them not to fall for the progressivism of Disney's movies and take it for authentic feminism. 

The retelling of Sleeping Beauty by the French Charles Perrault constituted the narrative upon which Petipa's ballet is based (with music by Tchaikovsky).  Perrault never named his wicked fairy. However,  there is another retelling of this old fairy tale in which the name Carabosse first appears, that of Madame d'Aulnoy, entitled The Princess Mayblossom (La Princesse Printanière).  In this version, she is an ugly former nurse of the king, on whom the king had played a prank when a child. She now turns up at court, uninvited, to exact her revenge - she is endowed with magical powers. The story of Princess Mayblossom somewhat differs from La Princesse au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty). The point here is that until Madame d'Aulnoy took the initiative, wicked fairies were not named at all.  By the time Tchaikovsky composed the music for the ballet in the 19th century, the name Carabosse had taken root. It may have been because the Russian great witch par excellence (note that she is powerful, not necessarily wicked) was known by her name, Baba Yaga, and her fame had travelled from Russia to Western Europe.  

Madame d'Aulnoy and Charles Perrault were contemporaries, both active at the end of the 17th century, straddling into the 18th. Madame d'Aulnoy, even though she enjoyed popularity in her time,  has been totally eclipsed by Perrault and it is only in more recent years that several studies have reconsidered her writing and highlighted her differences from Perrault. Not only did she use sources from the Italian and Spanish tradition, but Madame d'Aulnoy also often turned her heroines into more active ones, occasionally questioning social norms in ways Perrault never felt the need to do.  Another post will dwell on Madame d'Aulnoy as a writer, for indeed, she is most intriguing. 

When it comes to 'wicked fairies' Madame d'Aulnoy concedes that they can be either good or bad (Baba Yaga style, except that Baba Yaga was unknown to her) depending on their mood. But even in Madame's enlightened retelling, Carabosse is as ugly as can be, continuing that tradition of portraying ugliness as the outer form of evil, which has given rise to the abundance of misogynistic portrayals of witches. The  Witches and Wicked Bodies exhibition held a few years ago at the British Museum aptly conveyed it. The catalogue by Deanna Petherbridge is still available, and one can access a podcast by Petherbridge here.
Where am I going with all this? I am saying that in ballet, Carabosse has been redefined, updated and given psychological depth by contemporary ballet choreographers. It is more usual to have the role performed by women, rather than men, which was the tradition, though the at-times-over-the -top portrayals of many male performers are still relatively common.

When female ballerinas dance Carabosse, the mime is still the same as in the original ballet (this is a 19th-century ballet with old fashioned mime), but the character becomes tragic rather than the object of derision.  Carabosse has dignity, is majestic. Yes, she indulges in revenge, but one can feel for her.
Who has not ever experienced rage like Carabosse?  Deeply affronted, she decides to take action and confront those who have insulted her.  I love watching how Carabosse appears calm and courteous - her entrance and her bowing to the Queen is very elaborate - while inwardly seething,  giving vent to uncontrollable rage, then composing herself and outlining her revenge plan with glee, only to be defeated by the changes which the Lilac Fairy makes to it - Aurora will not die, she will sleep.  It is not a behaviour I recommend,  but it is so cathartic to watch; it must be a wonderful experience to perform this role - I have found this video of dancer Erica Cornejo (Boston Ballet) talking about how she feels when performing Carabosse. It is worth watching.
Carabosse is the fairy who harks back to mythical characters such as Medea, she who sacrificed her children for revenge - not nice, quite frightening in fact, but then Greek mythology is full of violence and gore and Medea is one of its most tragic figures, at least in the retelling of her story by Euripides.
Carabosse is not just an ugly and wicked fairy to poke fun at, she is an outraged queen.  She deserves some much-needed respect.
 I cannot help having a soft spot for her.