Ballet
What is Ballet
• an artistic dance form
performed to music
using precise and
highly formalized set
steps and gestures.
• Ballet Can:
– tell a story or
– express a thought or
emotion.
– magical, exciting,
provoking or disturbing.
History of Ballet
 Italian Courts in the Renasissance,
15th & 16TH Century
 Noblemen and women were treated to
lavish events (weddings)
 Early ballet was participatory
 Attire was fashion from the time
period
 Formal Gowns that covered legs
and ankles
 In the 16th century, Catherine de
Medici,
 an Italian noblewoman/interest in
Arts
 wife of King Henry II of France
 began to fund ballet in the French
court
 Her elaborate festivals = growth
of ballet de cour, a program that
included dance, decor, costume,
song, music and poetry
History of Ballet
 17th Century ballet developed as
performance-focused art under
King Louis XIV
 French
Ballet Terminology
 Pierre Beauchamp,
 codified the 5 positions of
feet and arms,
 Kings personal dance teacher
 director of the Dance
company
 Jean-baptiste Lully, violinist,
dancer, Choreographer, and
composer…….would cast the king
 1661, Louis XIV founded
Academie Royale de Danse, First
Ballet Company
History of Ballet
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Popularity throughout Europe
Professional Ballet Troupes toured
Europe
18th Century advanced in technical
standards and it became a serious
art form on par with opera
Express character & assist in the
narrative
 Jean-Georges Noverre
 Wanted masks removed and
costumes to show off dancers
figures, bring life to the images
 Composition was reformed
Venice was center of dance in
Europe
Italian Ballet Techniques remained
dominant until Russia techniques
supplanted them in early 20th
Century
19th Century
• Ballerina most popular
dancer in Europe
• Ballet hero's often played
by a woman
• Shift in social change, new
techniques such as pointe
work that gave the
ballerina prominence on
the stage
• Ballet Boxed toe shoe
invented to support pointe
work
• Genevieve Gosselin, Marie
Taglioni, and Fanny
Elssler…….pointework
Marie Taglioni: 1831
In Zephire et Flore
Early 19th Century
Romantic Movement
•
Classical Ballet during this movement
which influenced the art, music, and
ballet were known as Romantic
Ballets
•
Supernatural world of spirits and
magic
•
Shows women as fragile and passive
•
choreographers composed romantic
ballets that appeared light, airy and
free
•
Pointe work, became the norm for
the ballerina.
•
The romantic tutu, a calf-length, full
skirt made of tulle, was introduced.
• Early classical ballets
such as Giselle and La
Sylphide Created during
the romantic movement
Later 19th Century
Russia & Ballet
•
•
•
Recognized tradition of ballet
The female dancers'
classical tutu as it is recognized
today began
– It consisted of a much
shorter, stiff skirt supported
by layers of crinoline or tulle
– revealed legwork and
difficulty in her movements
Russian choreographers and
composers took it to new heights.
– Marius Petipa’s The
Nutcracker, The Sleeping
Beauty and Swan Lake, by
Petipa and Lev Ivanov,
represent classical ballet in its
grandest form.
• The main purpose was
to display classical
technique
– (pointe work, high
extensions, precision
of movement and
turn-out)
• Complicated
sequences that show
off demanding steps,
leaps and turns were
choreographed into
the story.
20th Century Ballet
• Ballet Russes brought Ballet
back to Paris
• Russian choreographers
experimented with movement
and costume, moving beyond
the confines of classical ballet
form and story.
• the ballet The Rite of Spring,
a work so different
(dissonant music, its story of
human sacrifice and its
unfamiliar movements) it used
the audience to riot.
George Balanchine,
• a Russian who emigrated to
America, would change ballet
• neo-classical ballet, a form that
expands the classical form.
• greatest innovator of the
contemporary “plotless” ballet.
Today Ballet is:
 multi-faceted
 Classical forms
 traditional stories and
 contemporary choreographic
innovations
Types of Ballet
Story ballets
tell a story.
they contain narrative
action, characters, and
a beginning and end.
Examples:
The Nutcracker and The
Sleeping Beauty are
famous story ballets
from the 19th century
Types of Ballet
• PBT company dancers
perform in Twyla Tharp’s
plotless ballet,
• In the Upper Room, 2010
Plotless ballets
 no storyline
 utilize the movement of the
body and theatrical
elements to interpret music,
create an image or to
express or provoke
emotion.
 Choreographer George
Balanchine was a prolific
creator of plotless ballets.
Styles of Ballet
Classical ballet
• Oldest and most
formal/traditional style
•
originated in Renaissance Italy
and established its present form
during the 19th century
•
Focuses aesthetics and
technique
– Pointe work, turn-out of the
legs, and high extensions
– Graceful and flowing
movements
– Balance & symmetry
– Emphasis on story ballets
– Elaborate sets and costumes
Classical Ballets
Coppélia,
The Sleeping Beauty,
The Nutcracker
Swan Lake.
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=25-5ksjxGg4
Types of Ballet
Neoclassical Ballet
• introduced in the 20th
century
• Uses ballet terminology
but less rigid than
classical ballet
• increased speed, energy
and attack
• manipulation of the
classical form
• asymmetry; an off-balance
feel
• non-narrative; often oneact ballets
• paired down aesthetic—
simple sets and costumes
Neoclassical Ballets
 Apollo
 Serenade
 Cinderella
 Carmen
 Romeo and Juliet
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=DUNQjjbozF8
Choreographers:
George Balanchine
Frederick Ashton
Types of Ballet
Contemporary Ballet
• influenced first by classical
ballet then by modern dance
you may see:
• floor work
• turn-IN of the legs
• greater range of movement
and body line
• pointe shoes, barefoot, socks,
or anything else the
choreographer wants
• Breaks the rules of classical
and neoclassical ballet
(no strict body line)
• Mikhail Baryshnikov ( worked
with modern dance
choreographers)
• Renowned contemporary
ballet choreographers include
Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor and
Dwight Rhoden. In
contemporary ballet
• http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=mF2k4RRfBb0