2. Ballet Beginnings
Catherine de Medici- Italian Princess,
brought Italian performers & culture to
France
October 15, 1581- First ballet performed called
Comique de la Reine, political satire
Became very fashionable for all the wealthy
to learn to dance
The first ballet “stars” were all kings
3. Ballet Codified
Louis XIV, Sun King- 1650’s
Used dance as a way to control his court. Where you
danced & how good you were affected your power with
the king. Everyone was so busy trying to win favor with
their dance skill, no one tried to plot against him.
Opened Paris Opera & Paris Opera Ballet School
Louis hired Pierre Beauchamps to define specific
steps, name them, turn-out, positions, & technique
Marie Camargo- shortened skirt to show off her feet
when she jumped, scandalous!
Costumes- heavy tight, constricted use of arms,
high heels
Ballet d’Action- story is told though gesture &
pantomime
4. Louis XIII, the Sun
King, performing as
Apollo, the Sun God
Marie Camargo
5. Romantic Ballet: Early 1800’s
Themes:
foreign lands
escaping daily human life- the working class became more important
during the French & Industrial Revolution, fewer stories about royalty
Feminine- ballerina worship
unattainable love- supernatural beings, depressing endings,
Forest settings- more magical than cities, most people lived in cities &
worked in factories, new technology for forest effects (gas lights,
pointe shoes, tulle-light, hid human legs, floating & supernaturally
white)
Famous Ballets: Giselle, La Sylphide, & Pas de Quatre
August Bournonville- began Danish school of Ballet
Technique, have the same class for each day of the week!
Marie Taglioni-huge star of the era, first to dance en pointe,
“In 1837 she traveled to Russia, where sweets and hairstyles were names after
her. After her last performance a group of ardent fans purchased a pair of her
pointe shoes for two hundred roubles and put them into a sauce which they ate.”
6. La Sylphide
Pas de Quatre Giselle
Marie Taglioni
7. Classical Ballet
1783, Catherine II, the Great, Czarina of Russia,
began the Marriinsky Ballet Theatre (Kirov Ballet) in
St. Petersburg, government paid for everything
Marius Petipa- Russian ballet master & renowned
choreographer, choreographed over 50 ballets,
Petipa/Classical Style: Showed off technique while
the plot was secondary
5-6 acts long, at least two acts were pantomime or party scenes
Lavish and expensive
Usually about royalty, nobility or fantasy & fairy tales
Divertissement- diversion from the story, danced just to show off
technique, lots of peasant character dances from around the world
Bigger Corps de Ballet
8. Grand Pas de Deux- for male & female principal
dancers, four parts
Entrée (entrance) & Adagio
Male Variation
Female Variation
Coda
Famous Ballets: Swan Lake, The Nutcracker,
Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Pharoh’s Daughter, La
Bayadere, Les Corsaire, Don Quixote, Paquita
Classical Tutu- designed by Petipa to show off his
choreography, has as much fabric as length of a
football field (100 yards)
Enrico Cecchetti- developed Italian training
method
9. Sleeping Beauty
Swan Lake
The Nutcracker
La Bayadere
Coppelia
10. Contemporary Era, 1909-
Now Diaghilev- began the Ballet Russe company
Sergei
that toured all over the world
Diaghilev Style: total theatre- idea that music, dance,
costume, setting, light, & design were all equally important,
collaboration in the arts
The dancing told the story not the mime, full body expressiveness,
less corps de ballet
Many famous dancers: Vaslav Nijinksy, Anna Pavlova
Artists, Choreographers, & Musicians- Bakst, Benois,
Mikhail Fokine, Vaslav Nijinsky, George Balanchine & Igor
Stravinsky, Picasso, Dali
Famous Ballets: Les Sylphides, Petrushka, La Spectre de
la Rose, Afternoon of a Faun, Rite of Spring, Les Noches,
Apollo, Prodigal Son
11. Petrushka Apollo
Les Noches
Afternoon of a Faun
Les Sylphides
La Spectre
de la Rose
12. George Balanchine-
Invited by Lincoln Kirstein to leave Russia & Ballet
Russe & come to America
1948-first to create a successful American
company, New York City Ballet
Famous Ballets: Serenade (based on rehearsal
mishaps), Jewels, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Concerto Barocco, Prodigal Son, Apollo, Stars &
Stripes, Steadfast Tin Soldier, Sylvia Pas de Deux,
Western Symphony,
13. Jewels- Rubies Western
Symphony
Sylvia
Serenade
Stars & Stripes
14. Major Companies
Around the World
United States
American Ballet Theatre (JKO School)
New York City Ballet (School of American Ballet)
Russia
Mariinsky Theatre Ballet, called Kirov Ballet during Communism,
(Vaganova Institute)
Bolshoi Ballet Theatre
England
Royal Ballet Theatre (Royal Ballet School, Royal Dance Academy)
France
Paris Opera Ballet (Paris Opera School)
Denmark
Royal Danish Ballet (Bournonville School)
Italy
La Scala (Checcitti School)