The Anatomy of a Rat

Tired, bleary eyed girls of barely fifteen. The Rat can be identified through many avenues of observation: She was likely frazzled, rushing into the ballet from her second or perhaps, third job of the day. Her tired, aching feet were bruised and scabbed over from hours of rehearsal and barre the day before, and the day before that. Her breath might smell faintly, or overwhelmingly, of alcohol. Many of the rats were alcoholics well before reaching the tender age of fifteen. She will be dressed to the zeros. Poor, impoverished, likely malnourished and spindly, it will be easy to spot her as a ballet girl from her uniform and the tiredness in her bones. Ribbons and artificial flowers decorate her hair. A tarlatan skirt dangles by her side. You might see her walking in pairs, or groups, as sister sets were not uncommon at the Opera.

She will live close by, and her skin will likely be a bit paler from the lack of sunlight after hours inside. She will have little to no schooling, no rest, and no memories of a happy, joyful childhood. As school would not become a requirement for her until 1919. Fair working hours were far away in the progressive horizon, well beyond her sights. Instead, she will have memories of her time as a younger rat, playful with other girls in the school before her debut on stage at age twelve. She will have memories of slaps, kicks, and head jerking. Scolding for speaking, laughing, or nearly fainting. The rat will wear these brutal mental and physical scars loosely on her skin. They won't bother her. It's just her lot in life as it was for her Ma and for her Ma before her.

"The world does not exist for them. Talk to them about the simplest things, they ignore them; they only know the theater and the dance class."

According to Theophile Gautier, "the world does not exist for them. Talk to them about the simplest things, they ignore them; they only know the theater and the dance class; the spectacle of nature is closed to them: they barely know if there is a sun, and rarely see it. They spend their morning rehearsing in a twilight twilight, with the red gleams of a few smoky lights, only understanding that it is daylight through the disconcerted streaks of light which slip through the trellises of the attic and the doors of the boxes." In his lesser-known text, The Rat, Theophile Gautier details the life of the petite rat. He discusses not just the anatomy of a girl, but the anatomy of her life: Their absent fathers, pushy/exploitative mothers, lightless childhoods.

"At the age when May roses bloom quite naturally on children's cheeks, the poor little victim has already paled under the make-up; its limbs have already been broken by torture in the dance hall; the naïve graces of youth are replaced in her by the laborious graces of choreography."

In his text, Gautier also points out another important aspect of the petite rat's life. He points out that these girls are taught lessons in "eye glance" and "pupil play," just as "ordinary children are taught geography and catechism." According to an 1863 law, the rats reached sexual maturity by age thirteen. Prior to that, the age had been eleven.