History of ballet

Ballet is a formal style of dance that began in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th and 16th centuries. It spread from Italy to France with the help of Catherine de' Medici, who helped it grow under the influence of French nobles. One early example of her work was 'Le Paradis d' Amour', which was performed at the wedding of her daughter Marguerite de Valois to Henry of Navarre. Early ballets, called 'court ballets', were paid for by the royal family and were made mainly to entertain the nobility. The first formal 'court ballet' was staged in 1573. It was called 'Ballet des Polonais', and Catherine de' Medici arranged it to honor Polish visitors who came to Paris after Henry of Anjou became king of Poland.

In the late 17th century, Louis XIV founded the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opera). There, the first professional theatre ballet company, the Paris Opera Ballet, began to perform. This is why so many French words are used in the vocabulary of ballet. Theatre ballet later became its own art form. It often stayed closely linked to opera, and it spread across Europe. In the 20th century, ballet spread around the world as new companies were formed. New styles such as neoclassical ballet, contemporary ballet, and post-structural ballet developed.

The word "ballet" comes from French and was borrowed into English around the 17th century. The French word comes from the Italian balletto, a diminutive of ballo (dance). It goes back to the Italian ballare, which means "to dance."

Origins

Main article: Renaissance dance

Ballet began in the Renaissance court in Italy. It grew out of the music and shows performed at fancy weddings of noble families. Early ballet did not use Tutus, ballet slippers, or pointe work. Dancers wore the clothes of their time, and women wore long gowns that covered their legs to the ankles. Near the end of early ballets, the audience was invited to join the dance.

Domenico da Piacenza (c. 1400–c. 1470) was one of the first dance teachers. He taught nobles, and his students were Antonio Cornazzano and Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro. In 1489, Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, married Isabella of Aragon in Tortona. Bergonzio Botta planned a dance show for the wedding. It told a story about Jason and the Argonauts.

Later, ballet was shaped by the French ballet de cour. Catherine de' Medici, an Italian noblewoman who loved the arts, brought her love of dance to France. Her fun shows were often based on myths. In 1581, Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx created the Ballet Comique de la Reine for Louise of Lorraine, who was queen to King Henry III. The show honored the Duke de Joyeuse. That same year, Fabritio Caroso's book Il Ballarino helped make Italy a center for learning ballet steps.

Main article: French ballet

In the 1600s, ballet became a performance art in France. Louis XIV loved dance very much and made it an important part of court life. In 1661 he started the Académie Royale de Danse. Pierre Beauchamp, the king's dance teacher, was asked to find a way to write dance down. His system described the five basic positions of the feet in ballet. Later, Raoul Auger Feuillet used this notation system, and it became popular across Europe.

Jean-Baptiste Lully was an Italian who joined the court in 1652. He helped guide ballet for the next hundred years. With the king's support, Lully cast Louis as the Sun in the Ballet de la Nuit (1653). He also worked with Molière to create the comédie-ballet. Their play Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1670) was one of their best works. In 1669, Louis started the Académie d'Opéra, with Pierre Perrin as its leader.

Courts across Europe copied French styles. Italy, especially Venice, also had a strong influence. In Poland, Władysław IV Vasa hosted Italian opera with ballet dancers. Ballet masters Jean Favier, Antoine Pitrot, Antonio Sacco, and Francesco Caselli worked for the Polish court.

18th century

France and development as an art form

In the 1700s, ballet became more skilled and grew into a serious art form, as important as opera. A key figure was Jean-Georges Noverre, who wrote Lettres sur la danse et les ballets (1760). He encouraged the ballet d'action, where dancers' movements show a character's feelings and help tell the story. Noverre believed ballet should be skillful but also move the audience, that stories should fit together clearly, and that the scenery and music should support the story. Composers such as Christoph Willibald Gluck also helped change ballet. Ballet was divided into three formal styles: sérieux, demi-caractère, and comique. Ballet also began to appear in operas as short interludes called divertissements.

Outside France

Venice remained an important centre of dance in Europe, especially during the Venice Carnival. Dancers and visitors from across the continent came to the city to share ideas and culture. The city's Teatro San Benedetto became famous largely because of the ballets performed there. Italian ballet styles stayed the main influence in much of southern and eastern Europe until Russian styles replaced them in the early 20th century.

Ballet spread to Eastern Europe during the 1700s, including Hungary. Performances were held in private theatres at aristocratic castles. Professional companies were formed that performed across Hungary and also toured abroad. The Budapest National Theatre increasingly became a home for the dancers.

Some of the leading dancers of the time who performed across Europe were Louis Dupré, Charles Le Picque with Anna Binetti, Gaetano Vestris, and Jean-Georges Noverre.

19th century

The ballerina became the most popular dance performer in Europe in the first half of the 19th century. Over time, the spotlight moved away from male dancers. In many shows, ballet heroes were played by women, like the Principal Boy in pantomime. Ballet companies became more professional, and Vienna was an important source of skilled ballet teachers. Frigyes Campilli, born in Vienna, was the first ballet master of Hungary's National Theatre and Royal Opera. He worked in Budapest for 40 years. As society changed, ballet moved away from the tastes of the wealthy upper classes, and this led to romantic ballet. Ballerinas such as Geneviève Gosselin, Marie Taglioni and Fanny Elssler tried new techniques like pointework. This made the ballerina the ideal figure on stage. Taglioni was known as the "Christian Dancer" because of her light and pure image. Her father, Filipo Taglioni, trained her. In 1834, Elssler arrived at the Paris Opera. She became known as the "Pagan Dancer" because of her fiery Cachucha dance. Teachers like Carlo Blasis set out ballet technique in the basic form we still use today. The boxed toe shoe was also invented to support pointe work.

The Romantic movement was a time in art, literature, and theatre when people reacted against strict rules and factories. Choreographers created light, airy ballets with delicate women who seemed to float. These ballets were a contrast to the zeitgeist of careful, scientific thinking. An early romantic ballet that is still performed today is La Sylphide. Ballets of this period often showed non-European characters as villains or as silly entertainment. This reflected the orientalist view of the world at the time. Ballet also grew in new theatres in European cities. These included the National Opera of Ukraine, which had a ballet troupe from 1867, the Kyiv Ballet, the Hungarian National Ballet, the National Theatre Ballet (Prague) and the Vienna State Ballet, which was formerly the Vienna State Opera Ballet. France was important early on, but ballet also flourished in Denmark and Russia. Masters such as August Bournonville, Jules Perrot, Arthur Saint-Léon, Enrico Cecchetti and Marius Petipa helped make this happen. Petipa used popular stories in works like The Pharaoh's Daughter, The Talisman and La Bayadère. He worked with Tchaikovsky on The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty. He also helped revive Swan Lake with Lev Ivanov. The classical tutu, as we know it today, also began to appear at this time. Ballet companies from Europe toured the Americas. The Colon Theater in Buenos Aires, Argentina, had its own professional ballet company by the 1880s.

Romantic movement

Main article: Romantic ballet

Russia

Main article: Russian ballet

20th century and modernism

Sergei Diaghilev brought ballet back to Paris when he opened his company, Ballets Russes. Its dancers came from the Russian community living abroad after the Revolution. Together with composer Igor Stravinsky, he brought Russian folk stories to life in The Firebird and Petrushka. Fokine choreographed both. The company's most controversial work was The Rite of Spring. Its modern music and stomping steps shocked audiences so much that they rioted. Michel Fokine began his career in St. Petersburg. He later moved to Paris and worked with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes.

In the Soviet Union, Agrippina Vaganova encouraged dancers to be very precise. She led the Vaganova Ballet Academy, which trained dancers for the Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg/Leningrad. Many socialist realist works were made under political pressure. Most of them did not make much impression on the public. Some works were remarkable. One was Romeo and Juliet, by Prokofiev and Lavrovsky. Another was Flames of Paris, which made wide use of the corps de ballet. Other works included the ballet version of the Pushkin poem The Fountain of Bakhchisarai. It had music by Boris Asafiev and choreography by Rostislav Zakharov. There was also the well-known Cinderella, with music by Prokofiev. Soviet-era ballets were mostly unknown outside the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc until after the Soviet Union collapsed. Famous dancers included Galina Ulanova, Natalya Dudinskaya, and Maya Plisetskaya. Choreographer Pyotr Gusev was also well known. Maiden Tower, written by Afrasiyab Badalbeyli, was the first ballet in the Muslim East.

After disagreements with Diaghilev, Fokine moved to the United States and settled in New York. He wanted ballet to have drama, feeling, and historical accuracy. He did not use the traditional tutu. Instead, he preferred costumes that matched the time period. He choreographed Sheherazade and Cleopatra. His The Dying Swan was performed by Anna Pavlova. George Balanchine opened a school in New York. He also brought ballet to movies and television and created new ballets. These included versions of plays by William Shakespeare, such as Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Merry Widow. In 1967, his Jewels was built around an idea rather than a story. This matched American values of "liberty and freethinking," which were different from the story-based dance linked to Soviet communism. Barbara Karinska, a Russian seamstress who had moved abroad, worked with Balanchine. She helped make costumes an important part of a ballet. She introduced the bias cut and a simpler tutu.

During the Cold War, ballet was used to show artistic freedom in the West. Companies like the Bolshoi and American Ballet Theatre acted as ambassadors for their countries. In 1960, American Ballet Theatre toured the Soviet Union. It performed Fancy Free, Rodeo, and the Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake. The Bolshoi Ballet company toured America in 1962. Ballet was also used as soft power, a way for countries to build friendship through culture. Dancers Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov left the Soviet Union for the West. Their choices drew attention to limits on artistic expression there. Not every exchange went smoothly. The Bolshoi's production of "Spartacus", choreographed by Leonid Yakobson, confused American audiences. This was partly because a Hollywood film with the same title had just been released. The production was removed from the schedule. The Ballet Russes, with its Russian composers, painters, and dancers, helped Americans see Russian culture in a positive way. Petrushka was especially popular. In 1963, Lincoln Kirstein's American Ballet, the first ballet made in America, was a great success. It had support from the Ford Foundation.

Neoclassical ballet

Main article: Neoclassical ballet

George Balanchine is often seen as the first pioneer of neoclassical ballet. This style of dance sits between classical ballet and the ballet of today. Tim Scholl, author of From Petipa to Balanchine, sees Balanchine's Apollo (1928) as the first neoclassical ballet. It was a return to traditional dance, made in response to Serge Diaghilev's abstract ballets. Apollo and other works are still performed today, mainly by the New York City Ballet. Other companies can pay a fee to perform Balanchine's works.

Frederick Ashton is another well-known choreographer linked to this style. Three of his works became well-loved pieces around the world: Sylvia (1952), Romeo and Juliet (1956), and Ondine (1958). Ondine was created to show off Margot Fonteyn.

Contemporary

Main article: Contemporary ballet

Mikhail Baryshnikov trained with Balanchine and learned much of his neo-classical style. In 1980, he became artistic director of American Ballet Theatre. There, he worked with modern choreographers, especially Twyla Tharp. Tharp made pieces that mixed modern movements with pointe shoes and classically trained dancers. This made her work new and different. Martha Graham and Isadora Duncan were early women leaders in contemporary ballet.

Tharp also worked with the Joffrey Ballet. The company was started in 1957 by Robert Joffrey. For them, she made Deuce Coupe in 1973. It used pop music and a mix of modern and ballet moves. The Joffrey Ballet also performed many contemporary works by co-founder Gerald Arpino. Today, there are many contemporary ballet companies and choreographers. Some examples are Madrid Ballet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Compañia Nacional de Danza, Frankfurt Ballet, The Forsythe Company, and the Nederlands Dans Theater. Jiří Kylián was once its artistic director. Traditionally "classical" companies, such as the Kirov Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet, also often perform contemporary works.

Development of ballet method

Main article: Ballet training

Many well-known ballet methods are named after the people who created them. Two main systems from Russia are called the Vaganova method, named after Agrippina Vaganova, and the Legat Method, named after Nikolai Legat.

The Cecchetti method was created by Italian dancer Enrico Cecchetti, who lived from 1850 to 1928. The Bournonville method was created by August Bournonville, who lived from 1805 to 1879. It is mainly used in Denmark, Bournonville's home country.