Russian Ballet History

The repertoire includes such classics as Tchaikovsky‘s "Eugene Onegin" and "Swan Lake" and works by Mozart, Verdi and Rossini. Other popular productions are Massenet‘s ballet "Manon" and the operas "Don Juan" by Mozart, "War and Peace" by Prokofiev and Wagner‘s "Das Rheingold". The latest productions are Tchaikovsky‘s "The Nutcracker" Puccini‘s "La Boheme" and Verdi‘s "Macbeth". The most famous Russian ballet companies are; Tatchkine, St. Petersburg, Bolshoi companies just to name a few of the most famous.

Dance is found in all cultures. It is considered a way to communicate without talking. During the Renaissance period, 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. It took place throughout the 20th century, currently known as the Russo-American Era.

For the history of Russian Classical ballet, it originated in a group of dance academies in Moscow and St Petersburg in the eighteenth century. At first the dancers were from poor backgrounds - usually from orphanages - but the Tsars were particular ballet enthusiasts and so the profile grew. However, in the nineteenth century some of the best French and Italian dancers and teachers went to Russia and ballet developed considerably more than in Western Europe where opera was preferred. It was under this climate that Russian ballet led the way in classical dance with such famous stars as Anna Pavlova, Mikhail Foskine and the legendary Nijinsky, who all trained with the Frenchman Marius Petipa at the St Petersburg Imperial Ballet.

They followed the steps on how to get an audience attention when telling a story or doing a presentation. First, they told us what they are going to do which was to kill the king, and how they are going to do it, and lastly why they did it. One thing I found really successful was even though the play was really comical the actors were able to keep the storyline in a way that I could understand. The show kept me on edge, it kept me wondering what craziness is going to happen next. Although the show was really comical it also had a lot of life lessons that I learned. Firstly, one thing I learned from watching the performance is that” Once a traitor always a traitor.” In the show, there was a guy that plotted a coup with a soldier so they could overthrow the king so that soldier “ “captain Bondure” could take over. In the end, the traitor ended up betraying the soldier and stole the crown. The second thing I learned from this performance is never let anything bring you down no matter what the circumstances are. In the case of Ubu Roi, the princess lost her dad. Then her mom died right in her hands while they were on the run hiding in a cage. She never gave up on her idea to revenge her families’ death.

While observing this dance ballet, there were many things that caught my attention. First, the theater itself was extremely large, and the stage itself was big, and the dancers had plenty of room to move across the stage and perform their routines. There were many dancers, and they all played various roles that ranged from Clara, Fritz, Herr Drosselmeyer, the Rat King, the Nutcracker, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier, and many more. All of the performers wore vivid costumes

Which choreographer created several famous full length ballets, including Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker?

Another one of the main differences between Russian ballets and Balanchine ballets are the people or items of importance that might inspire a ballet to be created. There are so many ballets that have been inspired by things like old folklores or ancient fairy-tales. These ballets are likely to be of Russian origin. Many ballets such as Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, or even The Nutcracker are just few of the many examples of Russian originated ballets based on fairy-tales. “Petipa’s later works showed the way to much of the innovation of the future, and the choreography and pedagogy of Balanchine (though carried on primarily in the United States) represent the most important creative response to the legacy of Petipa’s nineteenth-century ballet academy - and the most significant twentieth-century development of Russian ballet traditions.” (Scholl 2) However, Balanchine was not so quick to rely on thing such as old stories or folkloric tales. Many of Balanchine’s ballets rely on the things that were around

The stage travels, and outbursts, many swirling, dazzling colors, followed by a stampede of footwork accompanying the sound of the mariachi. Envision it. Mesmerizing isn't it?

The New York City Ballet conducted a dance performance titled “New Beginnings” on the 57th floor of the Four World Trade Center in New York. The performance took place September 12th, 2013 and was intended to commemorate September 11th, 2001. A tragic event, such as September 11th, tends to leave a bitter taste in one 's mouth. The public is generally heartbroken, angry, and distressed. This performance seeks to influence the general US audience by using dance as a means of changing the perception of the aftermath of disaster. By following a narrative structure, the dance performance begins by setting the scene of New York City. The performance is then followed with analogies through dance designed to provide moments of action, climax, and resolution. The New York City Ballet uses pathos and an instance of logos through movements to enforce their attempt to alter one’s perspective. There is plenty of pathos used throughout the dance performance in order to motivate a change in thinking from the audience. I believe this strategy was extremely effective because by influencing how the audience emotionally reacts to the performance there is more likely to be a change in audience perception. The ballet incorporates inductive reasoning by taking the specific situation of September 11th and implying that, after tragedy, we will ultimately have a “new beginning”. I believe the logical appeal of this implication is effective because the audience is naturally inclined to believe if

Ballet is one of the most beautiful, graceful dances known to the dancing world. From the tutu to the pointe shoes the need to see the expression of the steps given. Being able to see how the illusion of a flying princess is one of the most mysteries that come with a ballet show. The history of Ballet has evolved into one of the most well-known type of dances in the world this is from only the men having roles in the ballet to women being able to express emotion.

French Ballet began in the 17th century. It was a flamboyant entertainment presented in front of the aristocracy and royalty in the courts. French Ballet was also performed when they were celebrating marriages and showing off the wealth and power of the ruler. Besides, Ballet was called “la belle danse”, and it means “the beautiful dance.” In order to help the audience to recognize the characters in the story, dancers usually wore extravagant costumes. Moreover, the idea of different ballet movements was based on the social dance of royal courts, like beautiful arm and upper body movements and floor patterns were included. Also, in the beginning, only men were allowed to dance ballet, and women played the first ballet with parts until 1681.

Aurora, as the perfect woman, is depicted as extremely demure” (Castillo 1). He claims that the princesses in these films are helpless and cannot stand up for themselves.

Disney’s animated film, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, centres around the female lead, Aurora, and from the very beginning, a huge emphasis is placed on her physical characteristics and unrealistic body proportions. In a scene at the start of the film, infant Aurora is blessed with magic gifts from each of the three fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. Each of the fairies bestowed upon Aurora one gift; the first of which, from Flora, was beauty, and the second of which, from Fauna, was the gift of song. Aurora was to have, ‘Sunshine in her hair,’ with, ‘Lips that shame the red, red, rose.’ This strong emphasis on physical traits and beauty reinforces gender ideals in women and carries the negative message that being beautiful is more important than having other traits such as kindness and

While watching the video “Ballet, Sweat, and Tears,” I noticed that the Ballet teachers in Russia are more strict and severe than the ones in America. The teachers at the Russia academy yelled a lot and physically touched the students, while here I America that is not allowed. In my opinion a difference that I saw was that the students over at the Vaganova Ballet were not lazy at all. The students from the Russian academy were more focused and traditional. Russian ballet also focuses on moving the body as a “whole,” their moves are more controlled and precise. They also tend to focus on flexibility and endurance as well as the positions of the arms. I also noticed that the students attending the Vaganova academy were more willing to make sacrifices. And example, would be the little girl that stated that she has not been able to watch television for over two months now. Now, the typical student here in the United States tends to be lazy and usually has a careless attitude. I know the students over here in America would not wake up at six in the morning just to keep practicing, especially in today’s generation. While, I also watched some ballet videos from the school of American Ballet I saw that the diet is not as firm as the one from the Vaganova Ballet Academy. Many people have also stated that compared to the Vaganova Ballet Academy the school of American ballet is a breeze. A major difference that I saw was the performance while the Russian ballet performance was precise

The Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky is another ballet that is based on a fairy tale, and was first presented to the Tsar of Russia.