The first ballet that combined movement, music, decor, and special effects was presented in France at the court of Catherine de' Medici in 1. Organized by the violinist Balthasar de Beaujoyeux, it had a classical theme, lasted six hours, was performed among the guests (there were no elevated stages), and was entitled Le Ballet comique de la Reine. This production was the first ballet de cour, the ancestor of the modern ballet, which influenced the English court masque, a 1. The first treatise on ballet dancing was the Orch. At first a court entertainment, the simple entr. Ballet also became a court pastime and a royal obsession. Louis XIV himself studied with ballet master Pierre Beauchamps for 2. All parts were performed by male dancers; boys in wigs and masks took the female roles. The first ballet using trained women was The Triumph of Love (1. Lully. Ballet remained a court spectacle and included opera or drama until about 1.
Thereafter the form, infused with new ideas, developed as a separate art (although the court ballet continued its historic traditions). Choreographic notation came into being, and mythological themes were explored. With the increased influence of the Italian school of ballet, movement became elevated and less horizontal, and the five classic positions of the feet, which form the base for the dancer's stance and movement, were established by Pierre Beauchamps. The costumes, which had been cumbersome with decoration, long skirts, and high heels (for both men and women) were newly designed to allow greater freedom of movement. The virtuosa dancer Marie Camargo, who introduced the entrechat (elevation) for women, shortened her skirt to the middle of the calf and wore tights and what were to be the first ballet slippers (heelless shoes). Her rival, Marie Sall. He wanted the ballet to tell a story, aided by the music, decor, and dance; he wanted the performer to interpret his role through the dance and through his own body and facial expression. The Bolshoi Ballet Academy, one of the oldest and most established schools for classical ballet training, has produced numerous world-class dancers, teachers, and. RAF is proud that its programs and its partnership with Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy create Global Ambassadors of Tomorrow who possess an unbiased openness to. Many young girls dream of becoming ballerinas, but only very few are prepared to apply the all-out effort and make the sacrifices that this dream demands. In stressing naturalism, Noverre simplified the costume and c. Other important innovations came from the great artists of the period, Gaetan and Auguste Vestris, Salvatore Vigano, and Charles Didelot. Technical innovation in dance movement was increased after further modification of the ballet costume. With the production of La Sylphide (1. In this production Maria Taglioni first wore the filmy, calf- length costume that was to become standard for classical ballet. The great ballerinas of the era included Taglioni, Fanny Elssler, Carlotta Grisi, and Fanny Cerrito. In keeping with the literature and art of the romantic movement, the new ballet concerned the conflicts of reality and illusion, flesh and spirit. Love stories and fairy tales replaced mythological subjects. At the same time dancing sur les pointes . By the end of the century the blocked toe had appeared, and the tutu, a very short, buoyant skirt that completely freed the legs, had come into use. The male dancer functioned as partner to support the ballerina, the central focus of the dance and drama. Ballet declined progressively after 1. The naturalistic trend in the theater had all but destroyed the imaginative touch necessary to ballet. The Russian Imperial School of Ballet had been founded in 1. During the early 1. Marius Petipa, who created a powerful sense of unity by rigorously training his corps de ballet as had not been done before, indicated in his choreography the direction of intensified romantic drama that the newly revived art was to take. Petipa contributed many of the classic ballets still considered to be the greatest expressions of the form, including Don Quixote, La Bayad. The brilliant performances by Nijinsky also helped to reemphasize the importance of the male dancer. After Diaghilev's death in 1. Ren. The company merged with Blum and de Basil's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, which nurtured the talents of Alexandra Danilova, Andr. Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet, which brought fame to Galina Ulanova, Maya Plisetskaya, and V. Gordeyev, and the Kirov Ballet (since 1. St. Petersburg Maryinsky Ballet), whose dancers have included Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, are the two foremost Russian companies and are ranked among the finest in the world. British Ballet. In England around 1. Enrico Cecchetti, who had taught many great dancers including Pavlova, Nijinsky, Massine, and Danilova, set down his method of training (which is still in practice) in collaboration with Cyril Beaumont, proprietor of. The Cecchetti Society was founded in 1. In 1. 93. 0 Marie Rambert founded the Ballet Club, the first permanent ballet school and company in England. A year later Ninette de Valois established what became the Sadler's Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet). This company has drawn international attention to the work of Alicia Markova, Anton Dolin, Frederick Ashton, Margot Fonteyn, Robert Helpmann, Rudolf Nureyev, Antoinette Sibley, Svetlana Beriosova, and Anthony Dowell. Nureyev, both a choreographer and a dancer, was instrumental in moving beyond the changes wrought by Nijinsky and altering the traditional supportive role of the male dancer to a far more significant, dynamic, and athletic place in the ballet; many other contemporary choreographers have similarly given their male dancers a more flamboyant showcase. American Ballet. In the United States, Lincoln Kirstein and Edward Warburg founded the American Ballet company in 1. Under the direction of George Balanchine, its chief choreographer, the company established the first major school of ballet in the country, developed the talents of many notable American dancers (including Maria Tallchief, Todd Bolender, Suzanne Farrell, Patricia Mc. Bride, Jacques d'Amboise, Arthur Mitchell, and Edward Villella), and influenced enormously the evolution of an American ballet style as parent company to the New York City Ballet (founded 1. Other celebrated choreographers who created ballets for the New York City Ballet are Eugene Loring, Jerome Robbins, and Peter Martins. The other major American company, the American Ballet Theatre (formerly the Ballet Theatre), was founded in 1. Mordkin Ballet. The company's principal dancers have included Lucia Chase, Anton Dolin, Nora Kaye, Alicia Alonso, Michael Kidd, Scott Douglas, Royes Fernandez, Sallie Wilson, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, performing in works designed for them by Michel Fokine, L. Through numerous tours both the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre have earned international reputations of a high order. Other American companies of note include the Joffrey Ballet (founded 1. Dance Theatre of Harlem (founded 1. In addition to these, there are many active regional ballet companies throughout the United States. Using traditional formal training and movement, American choreographers have designed a new sort of pure, abstract ballet, far less dependent on literary plot, often using modern rock and electronic music, and have developed greatly simplified decor and costuming (e. Balanchine's Agon, Robert Joffrey's Astarte, and Glen Tetley's Chronochromie). Many modern choreographers have also designed dances for stage and film musicals (e. Jerome Robbins's West Side Story and Agnes de Mille's Oklahoma!). In the late 2. 0th cent. It grew in popularity, international touring expanded, and, particularly with the collapse of the Soviet Union, international exchange was encouraged. Bibliography. See S. Lifar, A History of Russian Ballet (tr. Reyna, A Concise History of Ballet (tr. Haskell, Ballet Retrospect (1. A. Manchester, The Dance Encyclopedia (rev. Terry, The Ballet Companion (1. L. Kirstein, Movement and Metaphor (1. M. Crisp, Ballet: An Illustrated History (1. E. Binney, Glories of Romantic Ballet (1. J. Anderson, Ballet and Modern Dance (1. H. Koegler, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet (2d ed. Greskovic, Ballet 1. N. Mc. Cormick, No Fixed Points: Dance in the Twentieth Century (2. J. Homans, Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet (2.
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