History of Ballet

HISTORY OF BALLET

EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF BALLET
Ballet is a theatrical dance form which grew out of European Renaissance court dances in the 15th         century in Italy.  Ballet might have remained simply a form of court social dance had it not been for the influence of Catherine de Medici, an Italian noble woman who became queen of France in the mid-sixteenth century & Louis XIV, a great warrior king.  In 1661 Louis XIV established the Academie Royale de la Danse , a training facility which was the first attempt to professionalize ballet.  Under the direction of ballet master, Pierre Beauchamps, the French ballet terminology and rules for technique developed.  Beauchamp’s five  positions for the feet and the use of the turn- out   leg, became the basis for ballet education still used in ballet classes worldwide. 

ROMANTIC PERIOD
Ballerinas, cast as supernatural beings, began to rise onto the tips                of their toes           to enhance the sensation of skimming weightlessly as wilis, ghosts or sylphs- a technique known as dancing en   pointe.  Heavy fabrics of the previous century’s court dresses were replaced by lightweight      skirt fabrics, known as the Romantic                     ballet skirt and furthered the illusion of otherworldliness.  During this century the ballerina became the central figure with Marie         Taglioni                              & Fanny                Essler                  having contrasting styles.  Taglioni excelled in ballets, which emphasized her delicacy         and  lightness.                   Essler was a great beauty who was famed for her elevation              and passionate     dancing.  In Denmark, ballet was developing along different lines under the guidance of Auguste                          Bournonville, director of the Royal       Danish                  Ballet                .  His company developed a more open, less ornamented style than the French, with the male     dancer participating more as an equal, rather than just a support presence designed to elevate the ballerina. 

CLASSICAL PERIOD
During the second half of the Nineteenth       century, there was a gradual shift of the center of ballet activity from France                 to Russia       .   Marius Petipa, ballet master of Imperial Theatre, created 57                new ballets and composed dances for 37                                 operas.  This period was truly a golden  age             in Russia, in which ballet technique took a giant step forward.  The short skirt or tutu      was invented.  Three of his most widely-performed ballets were choreographed to scores by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky                   .  They are Sleeping        Beauty                  , The Nutcracker                           , and Swan                    Lake                       . 

DIAGHILEV’S BALLET RUSSE DE MONTE CARLO
Fokine, who set many ballets for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, felt that ballet’s purpose was to reveal emotions                    rather than show of       physical              prowess                     and that movements should reflect the period and location of the action.  He also wanted to eliminate the use of    mime          to tell the story.  In 1912 Diaghilev replaced Fokine with Vaslav             Nijinsky                 , a stunning classical dancer known for spectacular leaps             .  Nijinsky contradicted the classical                 positions by making all steps and gestures parallel instead of   turned            - out             , this shocked the audiences.  His work was a precursor of modern dance.  In 1924,    George              Balanchine      left the Soviet Union and was hired as ballet master of Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe in Paris.  Balanchine created 10 new works, including Prodigal      Son      and Apollo,  which were later produced in America.  The American public was first exposed to good twentieth-century ballet by Anna             Pavlova              , a ballerina whose company toured America extensively until 1925.  Many of Diaghilev’s performers were also outstanding teachers. The first ballet company to be permanently located in America was the San      Francisco     Ballet            in 1933              by the Diaghilev star Adolph Blom.