Ballerina Thesis

The applauding audience, the lights, sequins and feathers, the colorful, elaborate tutus, and satin pointe shoes capture the hearts of young girls. Where else can a young girl dream of becoming a princess, a swan, a dancing snowflake or flower, or a sugarplum fairy? Where else can she be a fairy tale character like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty? Where else can she be rescued by her handsome prince and collapse into his arms? Ballet is the magical world where these dreams can come true. Young girls and women can be all of these things, symbolizing femininity in a culture that teaches young girls to be and want everything pink and pretty.

In accordance with today’s standards, every serious ballet dancer should have ‘dancing en pointe’ in their repertoire. Yet there was a time when dancing en pointe was a mysterious and mystical practice that one young woman brought on stage for the entirety of a ballet, changing the dance world forever. Marie Taglioni was a trailblazer in many aspects of dance, including technique, style, and costume. Her legacy lives on in the romantic ballets of yesteryear, still performed today for thousands of audiences worldwide.

The first experience of watching a ballet, for me or any little girl, can be fascinating and exhilarating. Wondering how a dancer can be so steady on her toes as she spins in circles and leaps through the air. Watching a ballet, there is a feeling of wanting to be graceful, as well as the warm sensation felt by a little girl as she slips into dream land. My mom had taken me to my first ballet when I was 11 years old. When we returned home home, she signed me up for classes at the local dance center. The expectations to become a prima ballerina would involve much hard work and concentration. I knew when I started it would take years of steady practice and commitment. Learning the history of ballet and the famous

Dance began as a form of communication and storytelling. Thousands of years ago dancing served as a way for people to tell a story and helped distract themselves of the hardships they faced. Furthermore, dance was a form of storytelling through communication, which then turned into using storytelling through dance as entertainment. According to the History World, many dancers during the BC time danced in front of only a few people to get a story across. That later turned into hundreds of thousands of people as dance was used by many. Today, dance is also a form of entertainment and storytelling, but in a modern sense. However, today perfection and technique are stressed more than they were in the past. Yet, the passion for dance has not changed. Many dancers who share this passion also have many of the same qualities. Among a discourse community of trained dancers, one expects to find individuals who are healthy and active athletes, expect perfection from themselves through competition, and religiously attend dance performances.

When one hears the word ballerina, most picture a pretty, delicate dancer in a music box. The word is associated with grace and beauty. A ballet company would be considered a utopia for many little girls. They imagine being center stage with a tiara and a big tutu on. The public would not consider the world of professional ballet to be as corrupt as it is. There is trickery, politics, discrimination, and even self-sabotage in the seemingly harmless world. The tinkling music box world suddenly becomes a startlingly bleak place.

Dancers often focus on the external image found in the mirror in front of them, however, in the chapter “Psychological Wellness”, the internal cognitive processes are declared to be just as important, if not more important than the physical body of a dancer. I chose to read and reflect on this chapter because I am fascinated with psychology and the mental processes of people. Currently, I am striving to earn both a degree in dance and a degree in psychology in order to obtain a career as a dance therapist. Dance therapy is an emerging form of art therapy with the goal of aiding those who struggle in communicating their thoughts. I hope to utilize my knowledge of movement and psychology to help those with communicative disorders find a healthy form

Miss Farrell has a wonderful talent that allow her to let you vividly experience the true life of a performer. It is not a surprise that she has this wonderful gift. In fact, a ballerina is naturally a story teller, but instead of using words to illustrate her tale a ballerina will use movements and sounds to tell a story. Farrell does not hold back a single bit of her tragic but fulfilling life from us. She honestly puts her true self into the book showing us the somewhat odd but beautiful quirks in her

At the age of four my mother enrolled me in my first dance class. I dread going for many years; however, whenever I complained, she would say “you will thank me later” and mercilessly dragged me off to class. Fortunately, at about nine years old, my mother’s prophecy came to pass when suddenly I fell in love with what would become a passion. Dance began invoking feelings of strength, comfort and empowerment. Imagine, feeling the smooth and polish surface of a studio floor as it supports the movement necessary to strengthen and form a graceful tempo. Somehow, like a

Sally Banes is an American writer and dance historian and critic. She is also a professor of theater history and dance studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Banes has written multiple books and contributed to many documentaries and films. The book Moving History / Dancing Cultures, which Banes contributed to, includes the article “Choreographic Methods of the Judson Dance Theater”. This book was published in 2001.

The history of ballet is rich, complex and full of powerful meanings depending on the time period. Ballet in the 15th century was seen as something that only select individuals could do, whereas, the 20th century ballet can be preformed by anyone. By thinking about how ballet performers have changed, a question may be thought is, have the people attending these ballet performances changed as well as the performers themselves? Today, children from ages two and up start taking ballet and family members come and watch their final recitals. National ballet companies are also an event and often draw attention to the higher-class individuals who have a taste for ballet. The ballet world could be seen as to having a quite array of attendees, events and functions, but that might not have always been the

For many critics, “the ballerina’s shiny surface unnecessarily masked whatever strength she had, and her technical mastery, achieved through rigorous daily routine, was confused with total submission to the multifarious technologies of power” (Fisher, 15). Yet, for ballet followers, the ballerina’s strength and fortitude are evident. She is the “prima ballerina”, the principal or leading woman in the ballet company. Even with this proposal, there may still be problems with how ballet is viewed that might be keeping the female dancer within certain predetermined

The world of ballet is generally seen as the art of stick thin, white, high-class girls dressed in pointe shoes, glamorous tutus, and tiaras, dancing with their prince in the spotlight. Considering the history of ballet, it is not surprising that it has gained this reputation. The term ‘ballet blanc’ originates from the excessive use of white in many professional ballets. As glamorous as it is, ballet has been considered ‘racist’ since many non- white dancers do not seem to fit the body type ‘standards’ created by George Balanchine. This ideal body type describes what is perceived to be the perfect ballet body. In recent years, the issues of ballet’s lack of diversity and

During its development as an individual art, modern ballet has an impact on key stakeholders and the wider society – children, students, schools and colleges, individuals, sponsors, spectators.

The word ‘Ballet’ stems from the Italian word “Ballo” deriving from the Italian verb to dance. The use of the Italian term ‘ballo’ (referring to dancing to varied rhythms) instead of the Italian verb ‘danza’ (to dance) did not only represented the inclusion of Italy into the ballet history timeline, but also it indefinitely transformed the culture of ballet as it was known until that time in the mid-thirties of the seventeenth century (Greskovic, 2005, p. 6) The identity of ballet during its early development stages (pre twentieth century) shows how language can be used to enrich ballet.

For centuries peoples have been dancing as an art form that allows them to physically express themselves without using words. These are times when simple dignity of movement can fulfill the function of a volume of words (Humphrey, 1937). A great deal can be understood when a person watches a person dances. The message that is related is strong and clear. When you understand the types of dance the message is clear. I will attempt to examine the different forms of dance. We will look at the forms of dance like Ballet, Modern World/Ritual, Folk, and jazz. Never the less it helps construct a better understanding of the different forms.