Ballet
Ballet is a specific dance form and technique. Works of dance choreographed using this technique are called ballets, and may include dance, mime, acting, and music (orchestral and sung). Ballets can be performed alone or as part of an opera. Ballet is best known for its virtuoso techniques such as pointe work, grand pas de deux, and high leg extensions. Many ballet techniques bear a striking similarity to fencing positions and footwork, perhaps due to their development during the same periods of history; but more likely because both arts had similar requirements in terms of balance and movement.
Domenico da Piacenza (1390–1470) is credited with the first use of the term ballo (in De Arte Saltandi et Choreas Ducendi) instead of danza (dance) for his baletti or balli which later came to be known as Ballets. The first Ballet per se is considered to be Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx's Ballet Comique de la Royne (1581) and was a ballet comique (ballet drama). 1581 also saw the publication of Fabritio Caroso's Il Ballarino, a technical manual on ballet dancing that helped to establish Italy as a major centre of ballet development.
History of ballet
Ballet has its root in Renaissance court spectacle in Italy, but was particularly shaped by the French ballet de cour, which consisted of social dances performed by the nobility in tandem with music, speech, verse, song, pageant, decor and costume. Ballet began to develop as a separate art form in France during the reign of Louis XIV, who was passionate about dance and determined to reverse a decline in dance standards that began in the 17th century. The king established the Académie Royale de Danse in 1661, the same year in which the first comédie-ballet, composed by Jean-Baptist Lully was performed. This early form consisted of a play in which the scenes were separated by dances. Lully soon branched out into opéra-ballet, and a school to train professional dancers was attached to the Académie Royale de Musique, where instruction was based on noble deportment and manners.
The 18th Century was a period of vast advancement in the technical standards of ballet and the period when ballet became a serious dramatic art form on par with the Opera. Central to this advance was the seminal work of Jean-Georges Noverre, Lettres sur la danse et les ballets (1760), which focused on developing the ballet d'action, in which the movements of the dancers are designed to express character and assist in the narrative. Reforms were also being made in ballet composition by composers such as Christoph Gluck. Finally, ballet was divided into three formal techniques sérieux, demi-caractère and comique. Ballet also came to be featured in operas as interludes called divertissements.
The 19th Century was a period of great social change, which was reflected in ballet by a shift away from the aristocratic sensibilities that had dominated earlier periods through Romantic ballet. Ballerinas such as Marie Taglioni and Fanny Elssler pioneered new techniques such as pointework that rocketed the ballerina into prominence as the ideal stage figure, professional librettists began crafting the stories in ballets, and teachers like Carlo Blasis codified ballet technique in the basic form that is still used today. Ballet began to decline after 1850 in most parts of the western world, but remained vital in Denmark and, most notably, Russia thanks to masters such as August Bournonville, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa. Russian companies, particularly after World War II engaged in multiple tours all over the world that revitalized ballet in the west and made it a form of entertainment embraced by the general public. It is one of the most well preserved dances in the world.
Ballet production
Seminal artists involved with ballets include:
Directors
Gerald Arpino, Jean Dauberval, Robert de Warren, Sergei Diaghilev, Robert Joffrey, Louis XIV, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Catherine De Medici, Marie Rambert, Ninette de Valois, Diana Waldron
Choreographers
Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Pierre Beauchamp, Erik Bruhn, Peter Darrell, Deborah Engerman, Mikhail Fokine, William Forsythe, Yury Grigorovich, Lev Ivanovich Ivanov, Serge Lifar, Kenneth MacMillan, Leonide Massine, Vaslav Nijinsky, Bronislava Nijinska, Jean-Georges Noverre, Rudolf Nureyev, Jules Perrot, Marius Petipa, Jerome Robbins, Filippo Taglioni, Antony Tudor, Ian Steyn du Toit
Dancers
Carlos Acosta, Alicia Alonso, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Michael Beare, Maxim Beloserkovsky, Jeremie Belingard, Julio Bocca, Jean-Pierre Bonnefous, Ashley Bouder, Erik Bruhn, Darcey Bussell, Jose Manuel Carreno, Fanny Cerito, Vakhtang Chabukiani, Alina Cojocaru, Angel Corella, Anton Dolin, Aurelie Dupont, Irina Dvorovenko, Fanny Elssler, Megan Fairchild, Suzanne Farrell, Alessandra Ferri, Margot Fonteyn, Yekaterina Geltzer, Adeline Genée, Pavel Gerdt, Marcelo Gomes, Lucile Grahn, John Grensback, Carlotta Grisi, Sylvie Guillem, Evelyn Hart, Rex Harrington, Melissa Hayden, Paloma Herrera, Laurent Hilaire, Greta Hodgkinson, Rowena Jackson, Charles Jude, Karen Kain, Allegra Kent, Julie Kent, Darci Kistler, Mathilde Kschessinska, Johan Kobborg, Maria Kowroski, Pierina Legnani, Manuel Legris, Nicolas Leriche, Agnes Letestu, Emma Livry, Joaquin de Luz, Vladimir Malakhov, Alicia Markova, Jose Martinez, Elisabeth Maurin, Patricia McBride, Briely Movric, Gillian Murphy, Kyra Nichols, Peter Naumann, Vaslav Nijinsky, Marianela Nunez, Rudolf Nureyev, Karen Paisey, Anna Pavlova, David Peden, Elisabeth Platel, Maya Plisetskaya, Sergiu Pobereznic, Olga Preobrajenska, Laetitia Pujol, Olivia Russel, Rolando Sarabia, Moira Shearer, Yuri Soloviev, Ethan Stiefel, Marian St Claire, Sofiane Sylve, Marie Taglioni, Maria Tallchief, Ludmilla Tchérina, Emmanuel Thibault, Mel Tomlinson, Galina Ulanova, Edward Verso, Michael Vester, Auguste Vestris, Gaetan Vestris, Diana Vishneva, Wendy Whelan, Rosalyn Whitten, Svetlana Zakharova Uliana Lopatkina.
Teachers
Thoinot Arbeau, Cyril Atanassoff, George Balanchine, Pierre Beauchamp, Carlo Blasis, Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky, August Bournonville, Enrico Cecchetti, Raoul-Auger Feuillet, Elisabeth Gerdt, Stanley Holden, David Howard, Attilio Labis, Nicolai Legat, Sulamith Messerer, Peter Naumann, Valentina Pereyaslavic, Jules Perrot, Domenico da Piacenza, Lauren Plutachuvzo, Sergiu Pobereznic, Olga Preobrajenska, Pierre Rameau, Jerome Robbins, Agrippina Vaganova, Auguste Vestris, Vera Volkova, Diana Waldron, Stanley Williams.
Designers and scenographers
Léon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, Christian Bérard, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, John Craxton, Salvador Dalí, André Derain, Barbara Karinska, Barry Kay, Pablo Picasso, Pavel Tchelitchev, Maurice Utrillo
Balletomanes
See also: Dance personalia
Ballet education
Canada
- The National Ballet School of Canada, a boarding school which trains dancers for the National Ballet of Canada and other world-class dance companies.
- Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, the official school of Canada's acclaimed Royal Winnipeg Ballet
- Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, a classical ballet company based in the francophone province of Québec
- Alberta Ballet School Official school of the Alberta Ballet Company
- The Quinte Ballet School of Canada located in Belleville, Ontario.
Denmark
- Royal Danish Ballet School, Copenhagen, the training academy for the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen.
- Royal Danish Ballet School, Holstebro, the training academy for the Royal Danish Ballet in Holstebro.
- Royal Danish Ballet School, Odense, the training academy for the Royal Danish Ballet in Odense.
Germany
- Akademie des Tanzes at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts in the city of Mannheim, Germany.
- Ballettschule R. Lekovic, Berlin.
- Staatliche Ballettschule Berlin und Schule für Artistik Fachrichtung Bühnentanz, Berlin.
- Ballettschule des Hamburg Ballett, Hamburg. Director John Neumeier (see de:John Neumeier).
- The Forsythe Company, Frankfurt and Dresden.
Hong Kong
Russia
- Bolshoi Ballet Academy Located in Moscow.
- Vaganova Ballet Academy Located in St. Petersburg.
- Perm State Ballet School Located in Perm.
Switzerland
- Dance Art Studio Ballettschule Luzern / Lucerne Ballet School Professional ballet school in Switzerland for aspiring dancers and teachers
United Kingdom
- Royal Ballet School [1]
- English National Ballet School [2]
- Royal Academy of Dance [3]
- Laban Dance Centre [4]
- British Ballet Organisation [5]
- Elmhurst School for Dance [6]
USA
- North Carolina School of the Arts, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
- School of American Ballet, located in New York City. Official ballet school of the New York City Ballet
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, located in New York City. Official Ballet School of American Ballet Theatre.
- Houston Ballet Academy, located in Houston, Texas. Official school of Houston Ballet.
- The Washington School of Ballet located in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.
- Atlanta Festival Ballet, located in Atlanta, Georgia
- The San Francisco Ballet School, located in San Francisco, California
- The Pacific Northwest Ballet School, located in Seattle, Washington.
- The School of Oregon Ballet Theatre, located in Portland, Oregon.
- The Central Pennsylvannia Youth Ballet, located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
- The Rock School for Dance Education, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- Boston Ballet and Boston Ballet School, located in Boston, Massachusetts
- Chicago Festival Ballet, located in Naperville, Illinois and Joliet, Illinois, in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois
- Miami City Ballet Company and School, located in Miami, Florida.
- Midland Festival Ballet, located in Midland, Texas.
- Ballet Hawaii, located in Honolulu, Hawaii.
- Pacific Ballet Academy, located in Honolulu, Hawaii.
- The Dance Company Located in Salt Lake City, Utah
Australia
- Australian Ballet School. 95 % of the Australian Ballet Company members are graduates from this school.
- Priemere Dance Acadmeny in Prior Lake
- Perth City Ballet 100% of Perth City Ballet members are graduates from this school.
Norway
See also
- Glossary of ballet terms
- Ballet company
- Dance
- List of dance basic topics
- List of dance style categories
External links