Ballet – A Dance, An Art, A Culture!
June 20th, 2009
Ballet has a similar technique to other dance forms mainly in choreography. Dances that are choreographed are called ballets. These ballets include acting, dance, music and miming. Ballet is usually accompanied by classical music or the music can be vocal.
In the 1600’s, ballet first emerged and it was performed in Renaissance Italy. In 1661, France opened the very first ballet school. Ballet soon developed more in France when King Louis XIV was impressed by the costumes and the dancing. He played a vital role in ballet, which lead to the french vocabulary we know of today. The french vocabulary was kept but ballet spread throughout Europe. During this era, men were only allowed to perform ballet. Women began to perform ballet in 1681.
From the beginning until about 1789, ballet dancers danced, sung their own songs and recited poetry. Every dance step that was created in France is still used in modern ballet. Majority of the dance steps in ballet still keep their French names.
A french dancer and choreographer named Pierre Beauchamp, created the five basic ballet positions in 1661. These positions help the dancers with balancing while maintaining the correct postures to execute graceful ballet movements.
Today ballet is more mainstream. Each continent around the world has its own professional ballet schools, and some such as New York, London and Moscow have schools that are the ambition of every would-be ballerina to attend.
Female dancers who dance on their toes with the use of specially made shoes are known as ballerinas. Although they train for years to get the balance and strength to be able to control their weight distribution, it’s their shoes with foam or lamb’s wool cushioning that help them achieve their graceful fluid movements. Dancing “En Pointe” isn’t something that every female ballet dancer will be capable of doing, but those who can earn their title of ballerina by the dedication they put into being able to achieve the difficult balance steps.
Most ballerinas will wear a tutu on stage. These skirts, whether short or long, will allow the ballerina to look as though she is floating as she dances her way across the stage.
Danseurs are male ballet dancers and they never dance ‘En Pointe’. As they are usually required to lift a ballerina during the ballets, danseurs have to have a great level of physical fitness.
Modern ballet is as popular as it once was back in Seventeenth century France. If you’ve never seen a professional ballet performed on stage – try and get tickets to a live performance. You might be surprised!
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