Ballet

For other uses, see Ballet (disambiguation).

Act 4 of Swan Lake: choreography by Petipa and Nureyev, music by Tchaikovsky. The Vienna State Opera Ballet's 2004 production.

Ballet is a specific academic dance form and technique which is taught in ballet schools according to specific methods. Works of dance choreographed using this technique are called ballets, and usually include dance, mime, acting, and music (usually orchestral and occasionally sung). Ballet is best known for its unique features and techniques, such as pointe work, turn-out of the legs, and high extensions; its graceful, precise movements; and its ethereal qualities.

Etymology

The word ballet comes from French and was borrowed into English around the 17th century. The French word in turn has its origins in Italian balletto, a diminutive of ballo (dance). Ballet ultimately traces back to Latin ballere, meaning to dance.

History of ballet

Engraving of a ballet before Henri III and his court. Click to enlarge.

Ballet originated in the Renaissance court as a 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.

Domenico da Piacenza was one of the first dancing masters. Along with his students, Antonio Cornazano and Guglielmo Ebreo, he was trained in dance and responsible for teaching nobles the art. Da Piacenza left one work: De arte saltandi et choreus ducendi (On the art of dancing and conducting dances), which was put together by his students.

The most important early ballet, if not the first, produced and shown was Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx's Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581) and was a ballet comique (ballet drama). In the same year, the publication of Fabritio Caroso's Il Ballarino, a technical manual on court dancing, both performance and social, helped to establish Italy as a centre of technical ballet development.

Ballet developed as a separate, performance-focused 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. King Louis XIV established the Académie Royale de la Danse (which is now the Paris Opera Ballet) in 1661.

Jean-Baptist Lully's form consisted of a play in which the scenes were divided 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.

File:MayaPlisetskaya.jpg

Dancers appear delicate and airy when dancing en pointe, a unique feature of the ballet form of dance.

Reforms were 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 began 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.

After 1850, ballet began to decline 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. Today, ballet is one of the most well-preserved dances in the world.

Technique

Ballet, especially classical ballet, puts great emphasis on the method and execution of movement. Young dancers receive a rigorous education in their school's method of dance, which begins when they are young and ends with graduation from high school. Students are required to learn the names, meanings, and precise technique of each movement they learn. Emphasis is put on building strength in the legs and upper body, and on developing flexibility.

Some methods use Ballet Examinations, to grade students on their dance technique. Sometimes, students take written tests on the theory taught in class.

Methods

Ballet techniques are generally grouped by the area in which they originated, such as Russian ballet, French ballet, Italian ballet, and American ballet.

Specific methods are named after the ballet master or mistress who originated them, such as the Vaganova method after Agrippina Vaganova, the Balanchine method after George Balanchine, and the Cecchetti method after Enrico Cecchetti.

Illusion of flight in ballet

To perform the more demanding routines, a ballet dancer must appear to defy gravity while working within its constraints. Basic physics and the science of human perception provide insight into how this is accomplished.

For example, during the grand jeté, the dancer may appear to hover. Physically, his/her center of mass describes a parabola, as does a ball, when thrown (or, indeed, any object when in flight and acted upon by only the gravitational force alone). However, advantage is taken of the limitation in the human ability to calculate center of mass when a projectile changes its configuration in flight. When leaping, the dancer extends the arms and legs and lowers the head. The manoeuvre camouflages the fall and leads the audience to perceive the dancer is floating.

A Pas de Chat (step of the cat) creates a similar illusion. The dancer starts from a plié, then during the ascending phase of the leap, successively lifts and rotates each shin inward. For a moment, the dancer appears suspended in air.

The fall must be performed carefully. The laws of physics decree that momentum must be dissipated but a crash landing would destroy the impression of airiness and likely injure the dancer. Part of the solution is a floor designed to absorb shock. The dancer also bends at the knees and rolls the foot from toe to heel. For artistic as well as safety reasons this technique must be taught by a qualified instructor.

Depending on where the dancer places his or her arms and legs, the dancer can make them look longer or shorter depending on their preference. By placing them farther behind the body it creates the illusion of shorter arms or legs, and by moving them forward, longer.

See also

• The Sergeyev Collection
• Ballet styles
  • Classical ballet
  • Contemporary ballet
  • Neoclassical ballet
• Ballet technique
  • French ballet
  • Russian ballet
    • Vaganova method
  • Balanchine method
  • Cecchetti method
• En pointe
• Glossary of ballet
• Ballet (music)
• Ballet company
• Risks of classical ballet

References

Notes

Sources

• Anderson, Jack (1992). Ballet & Modern Dance: A Concise History (2nd ed. ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton Book Company, Publishers. ISBN 0-87127-172-9. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• 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.
• Kirstein, Lincoln (1952). The Classic Ballet. New York: Alfred A Knopf. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Lee, Carol (2002). Ballet In Western Culture: A History of its Origins and Evolution. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-94256X.

External links

• English National Ballet
• History of Ballet
• Electric Ballerina
• Physics of Dance
• Ballet Tips and Useful Articles
• Ballet Photo & Video Galleries
• Beginner's Guide to Ballet