Evolution Of Ballet Essay

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.

Whether we look at a romantic ballet like La Sylphide or a classical ballet such as Sleeping Beauty, audiences are constantly mesmerized by the gracefulness and weightlessness of the ballet dancers. They seem to defy the laws of physics, which is greatly possible due to the use of the pointe shoe. However, many masterworks that were created in the Romantic era did not solely rely on the pointe shoe to help convey messages. Instead, the choreography, dancers, scenic elements, subject matter, and music all helped shaped masterworks such as La Sylphide, Napoli, and Giselle. Similarly, in the Classical era, these elements all played a role in shaping famous ballets like La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. But once we take a closer look at these ballets from the Classical era, we can see how much ballet evolved. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the Romantic era was the stepping stone for this pure art form that we have been able to preserve for more than 160 years.

Mrs. Farrell’s book is quite technical when it comes to the lengthy descriptions of the dances she rehearses and performs; from a dancer’s view these varied conclusions of the types of movements she was dancing is quite astonishing. In fact, it adds a whole new level to the imagination that can come alive in a person’s thoughts when they read an expressive book. Although the technical explanations will excited, astound, and reveal how much passion and deep meaning ballet had in Suzanne Farrell’s life, but a reader, who may not be involved in the arts will be unfamiliar with the ballet and musical terms in

Marie Taglioni was one of the pioneers during the Romantic era whose contribution to ballet still strongly influences the ballet performers today. Before Marie Taglioni, dancers had gone on pointe but only to pose. She was the first ballet dancer to make the weightless gravity-defying pointework popular among both the performers and audience in the 19th century. Today, pointework has been intergrated into ballet training and is still a strong definitive characteristic in classical and contemporary ballet.

During the Romantic era of the 19th century, creativity within the arts was flourishing and as a result, ballet developed many of its defining characteristics that many recognize it by today. After the French Revolution which ended at the close of the 18th century, the people of France were divided and aristocracy fell, and this led to a decline of monarchy around world. As a result, ballet became an art form that no longer represented the absolute monarchy. Furthermore, ballets told stories and portrayed emotions that were relatable to the audience, while still allowing the viewers to escape into these dream-like performances. These carefully choreographed ballets were well thought out and rehearsed countless times before the actual performance. It was during this time that ballet became a combination of refined technique and emotional storytelling. Female ballerinas quickly dominated the ballet world, and inventions including pointe

Dance critic Théophile Gautier states, “Nothing resembles a dream more than a ballet...” (Anderson 77). The effortless technique of the ballerina paints most ballets as exactly this. Consequently, there is more to a ballet than technique and dancing. Different types of ballets and their structural components separate one ballet from the next. It is important to understand the difference between the two main types of ballets: Romantic Ballet and Classical Ballet. Romantic ballet in the 19th century differs from Classical ballet in the 20th century structurally, technically, and socially. The two dance forms also vary in costumes and narrative. However, with all of those differences, they both use ballet technique for a specific purpose.

Even though ballet was great at court it was never reached a status among the highly accounted liberal arts. Even though ballet never reach highly in ranks of the liberal arts it served well as a tool for the social aspects of one’s life, “as an art…it was a vision and defense of nobility–not as a social class but as an aesthetic and way of life,” allowing social mobility and social stratification ballet had a manner of getting people from lower ranks to greater levels in

Chasse ! Développe ! Coupe ! Ever head this terminology and wondered what on earth it means ? Well these our a few terms used in a type of style of dance called ballet. Ballet originated from the Italian Renaissance in the 15th century and to this day It’s one of he most popular performances in both France and Russia. Ballet is absolutely one of my favorite types of dance style there is. I believe ballerinas or danseur (referred to as a male ballet dancer) are absolutely strong, dedicated and hard driven performers in both the dancer and theatre world. They contribute to intensive years of training, beautiful storyline that utilizes different types of ballet, and lastly the famous dancers that participated in the history of ballet.

Ballet aesthetic includes a slim, extend, unbroken body line from top to toes. I started my ballet life since I was 4. Body figure is always the key for a dancer to show the beauty of body movement. As a dancer, I started my path to lose weight when I was 15 years old. I tried many extreme ways.

In fact, the term “ballet” comes from the Italian word ballare, meaning to dance. As dance was becoming popular in the Italien world, it took the marriage of Catherine de Medici of Italy to the French King Henry II, for dance to become popular throughout the European world. After this marriage was arranged Catherine de Medici began to introduce early dance into court life. Life as a “professional dancer” was quite different in the early days, where dancing was common in the court. “Professional Dancers” were hired for occasions where the king, and other nobles became tired of dancing. For many, it required masks, layers, and layers of brocaded costuming, as well as large headdresses. Due to this restrictive clothing, early dance steps were composed of small hops, slides, curtsies, and small turns. Additionally, dancing shoes had small heels, and more closely resembled a modern day formal dress

Have you ever thought about Ballet from years past? What about nowadays? Ballet is an thought-provoking way of dance, and there are many forms of it. It has helped advance into new styles of dance today. Some people think Ballet is the most elegant and poised type or style of dance. Ballet is very similar and different from the early days and now.

Ballet III has become the most stressful class for me, which means surpassing all of my academically hard classes such as General Chemistry, classes for my majors, and Spanish. I truly enjoy the art of Ballet; however, I have only really learned ballet from my high school. I have taken ballet since 4th grade, but I think, after taking this ballet class in college, I am introduced to a different version of ballet. The different style of ballet and the fast pace of class has proven challenging for me. I enter class feeling like about to take a final, and I leave feeling discouraged. My comparison of myself to other experienced dancers has left me unconfident on most class days; I do feel as if I am missing the basics of ballet. Every class I

La Sylphide and Giselle, romantic ballets written in the Romantic era of the 19th century, revolutionized ballet by introducing the spirituality of Romantic poetry and literature to the world of dance. These ballets were brought to life through the tip of Marie Talioni’s toes, an Italian-French ballerina who is known for her graceful, almost evanescent dancing. La Sylphide and Giselle played an important role in creating a fundamental change in ballet through its portrayal of supernaturalism.

Marie Taglioni was a famous ballerina. She had danced the leading role in the opera’s ghostly ballet of dead nuns, choreographed by her father Filippo. Taglioni made female pointe standard by demonstrated the expressive potential of the pointe technique. Her effortlessness, lightness and fluidity of move made her appear like a fairy. She also starred in “La Sylphide”, and was more of a Christian dancer.

Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th and 16th centuries. Court musicians and dancers collaborated to make flowy dances. These were just the roots, if you were to watch a tape of this early form of ballet (which you can't) you would notice that it looks absolutely nothing like anything that you see today. Every ballet of the time was not choreographed and often had the audience partake in the festivities. As the 15th century went on Ballet evolved into choreographed steps and the dance was more often being used at aristocrats weddings and anniversaries. One of the most famous choreographers and dancers of the time was a man by the name of Domenico da Piacenza, he with his students created some of the first recognizable ballet numbers. There were others after him who had similar roles in the development and evolution of Ballet. The dance had then moved with the Aristocrats of the time to France where another big stage of evolution occurred. As it moved to France it made a jump from wedding performances to large theatre shows. The king at the time; Louis the 14th developed a true passion towards the art and set aside ministers and other officials solely in charge of Ballet. Many Italian choreographers had traveled to France to follow their passion and had trouble mixing in with the French appointed choreographers and dancers. At the time many of the Italian choreographer's shows would not sell well and the dancers would often go on strike. This