Yes, I know..it's been over ten days since I've posted any picture. I could just take a jillion photos today, upload them, and pretend like I was doing what I said I'd be doing. But..I won't. I've been dancing, hanging with my best friends, going to graduations, and dancing some more. Sadly, I've also been to the doctor/chiropractor and have been told that I need to stop dancing for a while. I told them that "a while" can only mean "two weeks" because I'm auditioning for a dance company in two weeks. So, pray I heal enough within that time. Doubtful, though. My chiropractor said she thinks I have a cracked vertebrae and doesn't want me bending backwards. Who knows. I just want to start dancing again.
Anyway, to compensate for the lack of photo-posting, I thought I'd post this article instead. I'm currently studying the 1600/1700's and the establishment of American colonies, English civil wars, etc. While researching this time period, I came across this article that, naturally, interested me greatly. I love history. I love dance. I love the history of dance. I apologize if this is agonizingly boring. I'm pretty sure the only people who will be moderately interested in this are history nerds and dancers. The rest of you lovely individuals can carry on. (:
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Ballet originated in Italy in the 1400's and 1500's, during a cultural movement called the Renaissance. At the time, Florence and other powerful Italian cities made up nearly independent units called city-states. The wealthy families who ruled the city-states did much to promote the arts. The ruling families competed with one another in giving costly, fancy entertainments that included dance performances. The dancers were not professional. They were nobles of the court who danced to please their ruler.
Catherine de Medici, a member of the ruling family of Florence, became queen of France in 1547. She introduced into the French court the same kind of entertainment she had known in Italy. The dances were staged by Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx, who moved from Italy in 1555 and became Catherine's servant and dancing master.
Many historians consider the first ballet to be Beaujoyeulx's Ballet Comique de la Reine, performed in Paris in 1581 in honor of a royal wedding. It was a magnificent spectacle that lasted more than five hours. The ballet included specially composed music, singing, and spoken verse as well as dancing. Because dance technique was limited, Beaujoyeulx relied on lavish costumes and scenery to impress the audience. The ballet was a great success and was widely imitated in other European courts.
Italian dancing masters taught European courtiers how to dance, and they wrote manuals that preserved many steps for modern historians. Choreography was based on the social dances of the 1500's, such as the fast paced courante, the lively galliard, and the stately pavan.
Because dancing was an activity of the royal court, it emphasized refinement, elegance, and grace. Women wore such long, heavy dresses that their movements were difficult to see. Men's clothes gave them more freedom for fancy footwork and jumps. Performers often wore masks. Many ballets dealt with love and tales from Greek and Roman mythology. In England, court spectacle took the form of masques. This entertainment, which reached its peak in the early 1600's, often included music and dancing as well as dialogue by leading writers.
As ballet developed, it required greater skill. As a result, professional dancers began to replace courtiers, who became the audience rather than the performers. The Ballet Comique de la Reine helped make Paris a center of the ballet world. King Louis XIV, who ruled France from the mid-1600's to his death in 1715, promoted ballet further during his reign. Louis enjoyed dancing both as a spectator and as a participant. In 1661, he founded the Royal Academy of Dancing, and in 1669, the Royal Academy of Music. The music academy, soon known as the Paris Opera, established a dancing school in 1672. Ballet as a profession can be dated from this period. Through serious training, professional dancers developed skills that had been impossible for amateurs, and dancing became more athletic and lively.
Louis's dancing master was Pierre Beauchamps. Beauchamps is credited with defining and naming many of the ballet steps used today, including the five positions of the feet. Most ballet steps have French names because of France's central role in developing the art form.
In the early 1700's, two famous ballerinas in Paris came to represent the two main styles in ballet. Marie Salle gained her fame for her dramatic expressiveness. Her rival, Marie Carmago, was known for her technical brilliance. Carmago shortened her skirts to make her steps more visible. (This was the birth of the tutu and, as you could imagine, was an extremely daring and controversial act for the period she lived in).
Professional dancers gradually moved from royal courts to performing for the general public in theaters. Dancers, teachers, and choreographers traveled from country to country. One of the greatest companies formed during this period was the Russian Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, now widely known as the Kirov Ballet. Its ballet school was founded in 1738.
-Excerpted from a World Book article entitled Ballet. Contributor: Katy Matheson, M.A., Free-lance Writer; Dance Historian.
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