BALLET DANCE

What Is Ballet Dance?

Ballet dance is a traditional art form that originated over 500 years ago in Italy. Though ballet dancers are trained to appear gentle and graceful in their movements, ballet technique requires a tremendous amount of strength, balance, technical skill, and flexibility. Dance moves like arabesques, pliés, and pirouettes are part of the basic movement vocabulary of ballet. Traditionally, female ballet dancers perform en pointe------- meaning on the points of their tiptoes. Some of the most famous ballets include Swan lake, The Nutcraker and Romeo and juliet. 

A Brief History of Ballet

Ballet was first performed and practiced by nobility in rarified spaces, and is now one of the most well-known and widely-taught forms of the performing arts. Here is a brief history of ballet:

• Origins in Renaissance Italy: Ballet was originally taught to Italian noblemen and women at extravagant, celebratory events in the fifteenth century. After Italian noblewoman Catherine de Medici married King Henry II of France, she funded ballet for the French Court, eventually establishing a ballet program.

• Seventeenth-century France: King Louis XIV founded the Académie Royale de Danse (Royal Academy of Dance) ballet school in 1661, which helped popularize the art form. In 1672, Louis XIV appointed Jean-Baptiste Lully as the director of the Paris Opera, leading to the establishment of the Paris Opera Ballet, where French choreographer Pierre Beauchamp became ballet master. By 1681, the first ballerinas took the stage.

• Nineteenth-century in Europe: The mid-nineteenth century saw a decline in the popularity of ballet in France, but it would soon spread to other areas of Europe like Russia and Denmark. As ballet continued to grow, its style crystalized into a more romantic dance, emphasizing the grace of the ballerina with soft and fluid movements. Famous narrative ballets like The Nutcracker and Swan Lake premiered at Russian theaters, showing ballerinas in tulle skirts—known as tutus—who would dance en pointe, in pointe shoes on the points of their toes.

• Twentieth-century: Ballet became a mainstream dance form by the twentieth century. Dance companies like the Royal Ballet in England and the American Ballet Theatre in New York opened at this time, which helped spread spectatorship of the art form and made it more accessible to the masses. Numerous schools and companies training young people from all backgrounds into some of the world’s most accomplished professional dancers.

4 Types of Ballet

There are four different ballet dance styles that have shaped the trajectory and evolution of the art form:

1. 1. Romantic ballet: Starting in the nineteenth century, Romantic ballet was heavily influenced by the Romantic era and is where some of the many recognizable aspects of ballet emerged, like pointe work and tutus. Romantic ballet emphasized emotion, lyricism, and drama in its narratives, and led to a rise in lead female dancers—whereas previously, male dancers had dominated the scene.

1. 2. Classical ballet: Classical ballet is a traditional form of ballet, usually accompanied by a full orchestra and consisting of a story-driven narrative that is often anchored by a female ballerina. The movements of classical ballet often emphasize the weightlessness and extension lines of the ballerina, focusing on fluidity and outward leg rotation. Sets are constructed to complement the show’s narrative, and the dancers wear intricate costumes.

1. 3. Contemporary ballet: This form of contemporary dance incorporates certain classical ballet elements, including elements of acting and some pointe techniques, but it is considered less strict in its execution. Contemporary ballet dance techniques allow for a wider range of upper body movement than classical ballet, and can also be performed barefoot.

1. 4. Neoclassical ballet: Emerging in the 1920s, neoclassical ballet is less structured and more abstract than the other forms of ballet. Neoclassical ballet was formed as a response to the prevalent, dramatic elements of romantic ballet, and does not make use of traditional ballet elements like costumes, sets, or involved narratives.