Ballet
Ballet is a specific
dance form and
technique. Works of dance
choreographed using this technique are called
ballets, and may include
dance,
mime,
acting, and
music (
orchestral and
sung). Ballets can be performed alone or as part of an
opera. Ballet is best known for its
virtuoso techniques such as
pointe work,
grand pas de deux, and high leg extensions. Many
ballet techniques bear a striking similarity to
fencing positions and footwork, perhaps due to their development during the same periods of history; but more likely because both arts had similar requirements in terms of balance and movement.
Domenico da Piacenza (1390â€"1470) is credited with the first use of the term
ballo (in
De Arte Saltandi et Choreas Ducendi) instead of
danza (dance) for his
baletti or
balli which later came to be known as
Ballets. The first Ballet
per se is considered to be
Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx's
Ballet Comique de la Royne (
1581) and was a
ballet comique (ballet drama).
1581 also saw the publication of
Fabritio Caroso's
Il Ballarino, a technical manual on ballet dancing that helped to establish
Italy as a major centre of ballet development.
 |
Engraving of a Ballet before Henri III and his Court, in the Gallery of the Louvre. (folio, Paris, Mamert Patisson, 1582.) |
Ballet has its root in
Renaissance court spectacle in
Italy, but was particularly shaped by the French
ballet de cour, which consisted of social dances performed by the nobility in tandem with music, speech, verse, song, pageant, decor and costume. Ballet began to develop as a separate art form in
France during the reign of
Louis XIV, who was passionate about dance and determined to reverse a decline in dance standards that began in the
17th century. The king established the
Académie Royale de Danse (which is now the Paris Opera Ballet) in
1661, the same year in which the first comédie-ballet, composed by
Jean-Baptist Lully was performed. This early form consisted of a play in which the scenes were separated by dances. Lully soon branched out into opéra-ballet, and a school to train professional dancers was attached to the Académie Royale de Musique, where instruction was based on noble deportment and manners.
The
18th Century was a period of vast advancement in the technical standards of ballet and the period when ballet became a serious dramatic art form on par with the
Opera. Central to this advance was the seminal work of
Jean-Georges Noverre,
Lettres sur la danse et les ballets (
1760), which focused on developing the
ballet d'action, in which the movements of the dancers are designed to express character and assist in the narrative. Reforms were also being made in ballet composition by composers such as
Christoph Gluck. Finally, ballet was divided into three formal techniques
sérieux,
demi-caractère and
comique. Ballet also came to be featured in operas as interludes called divertissements.
The
19th Century was a period of great social change, which was reflected in ballet by a shift away from the aristocratic sensibilities that had dominated earlier periods through
Romantic ballet. Ballerinas such as
Marie Taglioni and
Fanny Elssler pioneered new techniques such as
pointework that rocketed the ballerina into prominence as the ideal stage figure, professional librettists began crafting the stories in ballets, and teachers like
Carlo Blasis codified ballet technique in the basic form that is still used today. Ballet began to decline after
1850 in most parts of the western world, but remained vital in
Denmark and, most notably,
Russia thanks to masters such as
August Bournonville,
Jules Perrot and
Marius Petipa. Russian companies, particularly after
World War II engaged in multiple tours all over the world that revitalized ballet in the west and made it a form of entertainment embraced by the general public. It is one of the most well preserved dances in the world.
Dance personalia*
Dance personalia*
Glossary of ballet terms*
Ballet company*
Dance*
List of dance basic topics*
List of dance style categories*
Ballet Technique and Resource Guide*
Ballet for Figure SkatersVideo clips
*
Ballet Steps
