Ballet

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This article is about the dance form. For other uses, see Ballet
(disambiguation).

Painting of ballet dancers by Edgar Degas,
1872.

Ballet is a formalized kind of performance dance,
which originated in the Italian Renaissance
courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France, England, and Russia as a concert dance form. The
early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were
presented in large chambers with most of the audience seated on tiers or
galleries on three sides of the dancing floor. It has since become a highly technical form of dance
with its own vocabulary. It is
primarily performed with the accompaniment of classical music and has been
influential as a form of dance globally. Ballet has been taught in ballet schools around the
world, which use their own cultures and societies to inform the art. Ballet
dance works (ballets) are choreographed and performed
by trained artists, include mime and acting, and are set to music (usually orchestral but occasionally
vocal). It is a
poised style of dance that incorporates the foundational techniques for many
other dance forms.

This genre of dance is very hard to master and requires much practice. It is
best known in the form of Late Romantic Ballet or Ballet Blanc, which
preoccupies itself with the female dancer to the exclusion of almost all else,
focusing on pointe work, flowing, precise
acrobatic movements, and often presenting the dancers in the conventional short
white French tutu. Later developments include expressionist
ballet, Neoclassical ballet,
and elements of Modern
dance.

Contents

1 Etymology

2 History

3 Classical
ballet

4 Neoclassical
ballet

5 Contemporary
ballet

6 Gallery

7 See also

8 References

9 External
links

[edit]
Etymology

The word ballet comes from the French and was borrowed
into English around 1630.
The French word in turn has its origin in Italian
balletto, a diminutive of ballo
(dance) which comes from Latin
ballo, ballare, meaning "to dance",[1][2]
which in turn comes from the Greek "βαλλίζω"
(ballizo), "to dance, to jump about".[3][4]

[edit]
History

Main article: History of
ballet

Harlequin and Columbina from the mime
theater at Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen,
Denmark.

Ballet emerged in the late fifteenth-century Renaissance court culture of
Italy as a dance interpretation
of fencing, and further
developed in the French court from the time
of Louis XIV in the
17th century. This is reflected in the largely French vocabulary of ballet.
Despite the great reforms of Noverre in the
eighteenth century, ballet went into decline in France after 1830, though it was
continued in Denmark, Italy,
and Russia. It was reintroduced to western Europe on the eve of the First World
War by a Russian company: the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, who
came to be influential around the world. Diaghilev's company came to be a
destination for many of the Russian trained dancers fleeing the famine and
unrest that followed the Bolshevik revolution. These dancers brought many of the
choreographic and stylistic innovations that had been flourishing under the
czars back to their place of origin.

In the 20th century, ballet continued to develop and has had a strong
influence on broader concert dance. For example, in the United States,
choreographer George
Balanchine developed what is now known as neoclassical ballet.
Subsequent developments now include contemporary ballet
and post-structural
ballet, seen in the work of William
Forsythe in Germany.

[edit]
Classical ballet

Main article: Classical ballet

Classical ballet is the most methodical of the ballet styles; it adheres to
traditional ballet
technique. There are variations relating to area of origin, such as Russian ballet, French ballet, Danish Bournonville
ballet and Italian
ballet, although most ballet of the last two centuries is ultimately founded
on the teachings of Blasis. The most well-known
styles of ballet are the Russian Method, the Italian Method, the Danish Method,
the Balanchine Method or New York City Ballet Method, and the Royal Academy of
Dance and Royal
Ballet School methods, derived from the Cecchetti method,
created in England. The first pointe shoes were actually
regular ballet slippers that were heavily darned at the tip. It would allow the
girl to briefly stand on her toes to appear weightless. It was later converted
to the hard box that is used today.

Classical ballet adheres to these rules:

A postiton called 'plie' is used in almost every excersize

Everything is turned out.

When the feet are not on the floor, they're pointed.

When the leg is not bent, it's stretched completely.

Posture, alignment, and placement are vital.

[edit]
Neoclassical ballet

Main article: Neoclassical
ballet

New York State
Theater, home of the New York City
Ballet

Neoclassical
ballet is a ballet style that uses traditional ballet vocabulary but is less
rigid than the classical ballet. For example, dancers often dance at more
extreme tempos and perform more technical feats. Spacing in neoclassical ballet
is usually more modern or complex than in classical ballet. Although
organization in neoclassical ballet is more varied, the focus on structure is a
defining characteristic of neoclassical ballet.

Scene from Act 4 of Swan Lake, Vienna State Opera,
2004

Balanchine brought modern dancers in to dance with his company, the New York City
Ballet. One such dancer was Paul Taylor,
who, in 1959, performed in Balanchine's Episodes. Balanchine worked with
modern dance choreographer Martha Graham, expanding
his exposure to modern techniques and ideas. During this period, Tetley began to
consciously combine ballet and modern techniques in experimentation.

Tim Scholl, author of From Petipa to Balanchine, considers George Balanchine's
Apollo in 1928 to be the first neoclassical ballet. Apollo
represented a return to form in response to Serge Diaghilev's
abstract ballets.

[edit]
Contemporary ballet

Main article: Contemporary
ballet

A ballet dancer

Contemporary ballet is a form of dance influenced by both classical ballet and modern dance. It takes its
technique and use of pointe work from classical ballet, although it permits a
greater range of movement that may not adhere to the strict body lines set forth
by schools of ballet technique. Many of its concepts come from the ideas and
innovations of 20th century modern dance, including
floor work and turn-in of the legs.

Arms in Cecchetti's "Spanish
fourth" position.

George
Balanchine is often considered to have been the first pioneer of
contemporary ballet through the development of neoclassical ballet. One
dancer who danced briefly for Balanchine was Mikhail Baryshnikov,
an exemplar of Kirov Ballet training. Following Baryshnikov's appointment as
artistic director of American Ballet
Theatre in 1980, he worked with various modern choreographers, most notably
Twyla Tharp. Tharp
choreographed Push Comes To Shove for ABT and Baryshnikov in 1976; in
1986 she created In The Upper Room for her own company. Both these pieces
were considered innovative for their use of distinctly modern movements melded
with the use of pointe
shoes and classically trained dancers—for their use of "contemporary
ballet".

Twyla Tharp also worked with the Joffrey Ballet company,
founded in 1957 by Robert
Joffrey. She choreographed Deuce Coupe for them in 1973, using pop
music and a blend of modern and ballet techniques. The Joffrey Ballet continued
to perform numerous contemporary pieces, many choreographed by co-founder Gerald Arpino.

Today there are many contemporary ballet companies and choreographers. These
include Alonzo King and
his company, Alonzo King's
Lines Ballet; Complexions
Contemporary Ballet, under the direction of Dwight Rhoden; Nacho Duato's Compañia
Nacional de Danza; William
Forsythe, who has worked extensively with the Frankfurt Ballet and today
runs The Forsythe
Company; and Jiří Kylián,
currently the artistic director of the Nederlands Dans
Theatre. Traditionally "classical" companies, such as the Kirov Ballet and the Paris
Opera Ballet, also regularly perform contemporary works.

[edit]
Gallery

Pas de deux of Don
Quixote

Don Quixote by
the Cuban
National Ballet

A scene from The
Nutcracker

[edit]
See also

Pas de
deux

Ballet styles

Ballet
d'action

Classical
ballet

Contemporary
ballet

Neoclassical
ballet

Romantic
ballet

Ballet
technique

French
ballet

Russian Vaganova
method

Italian Cecchetti
method

Ballet
company

Ballet music

Ballet tutu

Barre

Dance belt

En pointe

Glossary of
ballet

Health
risks of professional dancers

Orchestral
enhancement

Pointe shoes

The Sergeyev
Collection

Western
stereotype of the male ballet dancer

[edit]
References

^ Chantrell
(2002), p. 42.

^ ballo, Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin
Dictionary, on Perseus

^ βαλλίζω, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A
Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus

^ ball (2), Online Etymology Dictionary

Anderson, Jack (1992). Ballet & Modern
Dance: A Concise History (2nd ed. ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton Book
Company, Publishers. ISBN 0-87127-172-9.

Au, Susan (2002). Ballet & Modern
Dance (2nd ed. ed.). London: Thames & Hudson world of art. ISBN 0-500-20352-0.

Bland, Alexander
(1976). A History of Ballet and Dance in the Western World. New York:
Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-53740-4.

Chantrell, Glynnis, ed (2002). The Oxford
Essential Dictionary of Word Histories. New York: Berkley Books. ISBN 0-425-19098-6.

Darius, Adam (2007).
Arabesques Through Time. Harlequinade Books, Helsinki. ISBN
9519823247

Gordon,
Suzanne (1984). Off Balance: The Real World of Ballet. McGraw-Hill.
ISBN 0-07-023770-0.

Kirstein, Lincoln; Stuart, Muriel (1952).
The Classic Ballet. New York: Alfred A Knopf.

Lee,
Carol (2002). Ballet In Western Culture: A History of its Origins and
Evolution. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-94256X.

[edit]
External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ballet

American Ballet Theatre: Ballet Terms Dictionary

Russian ballet today: Who's who in Russian ballet - a
professional community website with discussions, videos and photo
etc

This article incorporates text from a
publication now in the public
domain: Chisholm,
Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia
Britannica (Eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press.

v ·
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