Ballet through a cultural lens

What is Ballet?
Ballet is a form of performance dance that came from the Italian Renaissance court in the 15th century but later became a concert dance form in France.




History

Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th/16th century. The genre was carried from Italy to France by Catherine de Medici where it became a concert dance form in not only France but Russia also. This genre of dance is a highly technical form of dance with its vocabulary based on French terminology. This dance style has been and continues to be a very influential style, paving the way for many other genres of dance. After the genre had been carried over by Medici, she continued to develop the style with her aristocratic influence. The dancers in this time were all noble amateurs who danced in the court ballets, the ballets in this time were lengthy and elaborate, they also served a political purpose. The costumes in this era were very ornamented which was made specifically to catch the eye of the audience. However, this made the costumes very difficult to move in. The ballets were performed in chambers with viewers on three sides until the proscenium stage was invented. The new type of stage distanced the performers from the audience, not only did it do this is also allowed the audience to be able better to appreciate the professional dancers and the performance. By this point French court Ballet had reached its peak under King Louis XIV however in 1661 he created the Academie Royal de Danse ( Royal Dance Academy). He created this academy with the hopes of improving the standards of not only the performers but the quality of the teachers too. In 1672 Lully was introduced as the director of the Academie Royale de Musique (Paris Opera), this them created the first ballet company, the Paris Opera Ballet. The whole genre went into decline in 1830 however the art form continued to develop in Denmark, Italy and Russia. In the 20th century, ballet had a big influence on other genres. Because of this sub-genres have been introduced, for example, George Balanchine developed what is today called neoclassical ballet. Other developments consist of contemporary ballet and post-structural ballet.

Culture

The culture of Ballet includes the romantic era, classical era, neoclassical, contemporary ballet, post-structural ballet.

Romantic era:

• The romantic ear started in the first half of the 19th century (1827) with the ballet La Sylphide.
• It reached its high point in 1845 with the Ballet Divertimento Pas de Quatrain
• It was though to have ended in 1870 with Coppelia. 

Costumes:

The costumes in this period included items such as the Romantic Tutu. It was white, full and had a multi-layered skirt made of tulle- this was often referred to as the Belle tutu. They would also wear pointe shoes

to give the effect of floating.

Special effects:

The romantic era saw the development of the gas lighting as they had previously used candles to light up the stages and theatres.The gas lighting allowed for the lights to be dimmed they also began using wires. The gas lighting helped aid a supernatural effect on stage.

The Classical era:

• The Classical era began in the second half of the 19th century (1890) 
• this era brought other ballets such as The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake
•  these were created in Russia.

Costumes:

The costumes in this era included items such as the traditional pancake tutu which was used in ballets such as swan lake for the swans. The modern tutu is a skirt worn as a costume in a ballet performance, often with attached bodice. It may be made of tarlatan, muslin, silk, tulle, gauze, or nylon. Modern tutus have two basic types: the Classical tutu is short and stiff, projecting horizontally from the waist and hip

Neoclassical Ballet:

• Neoclassical ballet is a style that uses the original classical ballet technique and vocabulary
•  strays from classical ballet in its use of the abstract
•  In Neo-Classical Ballet, there is often no clear story line, scenery or costumes. Music choice can be varied and will mostly include music that is also neo-classical for example music by Stravinsky, Webern.
•  Neo- Classical ballet opens up the use of space to many different opportunities, as the elimination of the necessity of formalities and storytelling allows far more possibilities for architecture and design in choreography.
• George Balanchine's Apollo performed in 1928 is considered to be the first neoclassical ballet

Costumes:

The costumes in this style of Ballet are sometimes the same as classical ballet (the pancake tutu) however more often than not the costumes are very minimal and abstract for example a tunic is worn in Fredrick Ashton’s Symphonic Dances.

Contemporary Ballet

Contemporary Ballet is a type of dance that opens up the doors for any and all styles to influence a work made using ballet technique. Contemporary Ballet can take on a wide range of aesthetics, using pedestrian, modern, jazz, or ethnic forms, so long as the roots of classical ballet are still present. Some examples of this would be Twyla Tharp’s Deuce Coupe (1973) for the Joffrey Ballet. In the 1980s, William Forsythe made important innovations in contemporary ballet with a range of works, including In the Middle Somewhat Elevated (1987). This work featured a strong sense of athleticism and electric score. Forsythe took classical ballet vocabulary and embellished it, making the dancers move even bigger, faster and in more directions than before.

Examples

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rJoB7y6Ncs  (swan lake)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtLoaMfinbU  (The Nutcracker)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLqAFvzDGe0 (Giselle)

Dance companies

Here are a few companies that i have found, unfortunatly there are far to many too mention:

• The Royal Ballet
• Salzburg Ballet
• Danish Royal Ballet
• English National Balle

Terminology

Foot positions:

• First position
• Second position 
• Third position
• Fourth position
• Fifth position

Footwork:

• Batterie
• Coupé
• Couru
• Demi-pointe
• Échappé
• Failli
• Glissade

Jumping steps:

• Grande Jete
• Pas de chat
• Tours en l'air

Turns:

• pirruette 
• Fuette
• pique turns