Romantic Ballet

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

Ballet was rooted in court life, and it was not as widely available to the common people. As such, it had to adapt in order to survive this particularly deadly and brutal period in time. The ballet’s that the court was accustomed to seeing were disconnected from the lower class, just like the actual courtiers themselves. Ballet is just one example of why exactly the French people rose up against their government. They spent massive amounts of money on an opulent lifestyle while the peasants could not even afford bread.

“Le Corsaire” is a well-known ballet originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to music composed by Adolphe Adam. The ballet was first performed in Paris in 1856 but was made famous by a revival choreographed by Marius Petipa. The original “Le Corsaire,” which is based off of the poem titled “The Corsair” by Lord Byron. Many individual works from this ballet, such as “Le Jardin Animé”, “the Pas de Trois des Odalisques”, and the “Pas de Deux”, all of which are in our adaption of “Le Corsaire”, are celebrated and performed independently from the full-length work. These excerpts are some of the most widely known and performed excerpts in classical ballet. Many different ballet companies have performed these works as well as the ballet in full. After dancing and watching our version of “Le Corsaire”, I was interested in learning more about the story behind the movement. After learning more about the story, I became interested in how the excerpts I have become familiar with through this course fit to tell this detailed story of a pirate and a slave woman. In this paper, I will share my interpretation of the story and how it is shown through our slight variation of Petipa’s choreography.

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

The romantic era had begun in the early 19th century and was the most innovative era for the ballet. Known for the reflection of art and literature, the romantic era was the time of fantasy, etherealism and supernaturalism. Female dancers became the superstars of the ballet especially with the introduction of pointe work, the iconic romantic tutu and themes of a love that could never be. On a softly lit stage lights flickered over ghostly forms.

This image of the desired ballet body has been a demand by artistic directors, yet the media has allowed the public to become more aware of it. The fact that anyone has access to this information through the World Wide Web, creates a consciousness of the issue.

There are certain dances that took the public by surprise during the period of the Ballets Russes, one specifically being The Rite of Spring, its choreography going against the specific expectations of classical ballet at the time. The performance itself even managed to incite riots within the public, not for being graphic or of a lude quality, but instead for the fact that it challenged the traditional choreography. It’s interesting to note the strong negative reaction that The Rite of Spring received when all it did was broach classical ballet stylistically. Especially when comparing it to two of the more surprising and innovative, in choreography, performances that directly explored male and female sexual awakening, those two being Afternoon

“Russian ballet dancers seem to have no limits! Their arabesques and battement are sweeping, dimensional and yet very light and flexible. An expert can immediately distinguish them from artists belonging to other schools.” (Gureev, 2016)

For the Romantics, women were beautiful prizes to be won through gallant actions; life should be a fairytale with a happy ending. In her dissertation analyzing six distinct Romantic ballets, Tamara Gebelt concludes that “the idolized ballerina, the supernatural creature on the stage, epitomized women’s fascinating combination of sensuality and innocence. Balletomanes [ballet enthusiasts] found the duality erotic, and Romanic men sought simultaneously to exploit and protect the “weaker” sex” (Gebelt, vi). Ballet during the Romantic age became a vehicle in which to reaffirm societal norms, in most cases women are this unachievable dream who needs protecting. In the case of Swan Lake for example, a ballet produced in Russia in 1875, Odette, the prima ballerina, has been cursed.

It brought a new poetry to the dance and created a greater illusion as if they were floating across the stage like mystical creatures. Pointe work was compulsory for the interpretation of a wili and sylph as it was seen to be the most transcendent example in these acts of romantic mystery (Guest, The Romantic Ballet in Paris, 18). Marie Taglioni as the role of Giselle, was able to achieve grace and spiritually of movement. Her attention was given to the minutest details. This marked her as one of the greatest leading Giselle’s of her time. “She seemed to float and bound like a sylph across the stage, never executing those tours de force that we know to be difficult and wish were impossible, being always performed at the expense of decorum and grace” (Guest, The Romantic Ballet in Paris, 104). During this era, tricks and so-called tours de force were not something that was prominent or important to the appeal of the choreographers. The true distinction during the Romantic period was the story line about love, madness, good vs. evil, and the supernatural. The Romantic Era shifts away from the early 18th century style and move away from the rational. This is an era of elusive dreams and life beyond death; an area that cultivates audience to feel and not to

Last Tuesday, we talked about the changes of dance positions and partner relationships. The classical ballet dancers had to follow strict rules: heels touching with toes turned out, arms shaping an oval, and necks staying upright. More interestingly, a couple of ballet dancers did not face each other because it could bring something out between the man and woman partner. However, contemporary choreographers have broken the taboos and opened the new prospects in dance field. Unlike Isadora Duncan who subverted the traditional dance style, some choreographers maintained beautiful customs while they made small cracks in the classical dance forms. For instance, George Balanchine introduced incurved legs, and designed face-to-face ballet choreography.

In 1581, the Balet comique de la Royne, or “The Dramatic Ballet of the Queen”, initiated a series of court ballets that became the central that became the central tradition of French musical spectacle for the entire Baroque era, and had more dramatic continuality than most of the court ballets that followed it.

Topic: This article delves into comparisons and differences of contemporary and older forms of ballet.

Contemporary dance is a dance performance genre that developed during the mid-twentieth century it incorporates elements from many styles of dance. And due to its technical similarities, it is often perceived to be closely related to modern dance, ballet and other classical concert dance styles. It was originally developed as a reaction against the more rigid techniques of ballet. The Sleeping Beauty, ballet was first performed in 1890. The music was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the choreographer of the original production was Marius Petipa. Having given bold contemporized dance-theatre makeovers to both The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, Matthew Bourne started turning his attention, in 2011, to that other great 1890s Tchaikovsky/Petipa ballet, The Sleeping Beauty. The result detailed sets and costumes, evocative lighting and a story line that transports the audience in time from the halcyon days of the late Edwardian era through to the modern day. In a world full of magic, fairies, vampires, love and romance. This essay will outline the choreographic intent of this dance being intentionally stunning especially in the genre of classic story turned modern. This piece of dance plays a tremendously important role in the overall explanation of the entire narrative. It does an impressive job at introducing and communicating the characters of the all the main characters of the story, it also effectively heightens the mood and effects the emotion of the viewers. The dance

Dance is a major part of culture, which is why in all cultures dance can be found. For the longest time, ballet was considered a Russian specialty. The highly qualified and sought after dance companies would tour the world performing in front of those who had never experienced ballet before. By exposing ballet to the United States of America, the Russians inspired and sparked a demand for legitimate ballet in America. This event took place in throughout the 20th century. It is currently known as the Russo-American Era.