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How Ballet Originated |
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By
Sophie Briggs |
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W |
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here
did it come from? |
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Any
dancer knows that ballet |
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originated
in France. Most dancers know this because of the names of the exercises.
Every exercise has a French name. The same goes for most famous
ballets. For example, Casse Noisette-The Nutcracker, La Belle au
Bois Dormant-The Sleeping Beauty, Les Wilis-Giselle and so on.
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Elisabeth
Maurin.
Danseuse étoile à l'Opéra de Paris
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As the
years went on, the technique developed. In the 18th Century dancing
was for men only. But by the 19th Century there were less and less
men who wanted to dance. The greatest discovery of the period was
"les pointes", standing on your toes. Many discovered
it was the ideal position for taking-off into a large leap or jump.
It was in the 19th century that the romantic ballets began and telling
a story to the audience was the main idea.
So now I have briefly outlined the history of ballet. It is a hard
thing to describe as the beginning of ballet is part of the beginning
of dance. You need a good understanding of both as ballet started
from the Italians, who brought it to France.
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Elisabeth
Platel. Danseuse étoile à l'Opéra de Paris.
Photo: J. Moatti.
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Despite
of this ballet wouldn't exist if an Italian named Catharine de Merdici
had not brought the "Beginning" to France. Ballet was first
a dance used to entertain the court and King. It was also used to
show other countries how good France was politically.
The first significant performance was to celebrate the Queen's sister,
Mademoiselle de Vaudemont, and Le Duc de Joyeuse's wedding. The ladies
of the court who for the first time were dancing, as it was a men's
part to dance, were unfamiliar with it but amazingly took part in
the first corps de ballet. They wore long heavy gowns and didn't really
dance. They really only hopped from one foot to another making patterns.
From this display came the first ballet that the art really originated
from. In 1581 Le Ballet de la Reyne was performed. Choreographed by
a famous violinist, Beaujoyeux.
In
1661 the art finally began when Louis XIV founded L'Academie nationale
de la Danse.
Despite of all this activity it wasn't until the beginning of the
18th century that the five positions of the arms and feet originated.
The Italians suggested a more turned out position and the French took
their advice in putting together the positions.
Today those positions are still used. The gracefulness of the French
style and the swiftness of the Italian style have been blended together
to get the styles of today. |
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As I
mentioned earlier, all the exercises have French names. This means
that you can go anywhere in the world and do a ballet class and
know exactly what to do.
Today when people think of ballet they think of arabesques and romantic
ballets such as Le Lac des Cygnes (Swan Lake) but there is more
to ballet than that.
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I hope
this has opened new thoughts of what ballet really is. Starting
off as court ladies in long heavy gowns walking around making patterns,
to corps de ballets and the professional companies of today.
Bibliography
Ballet, Arnold Haskell, Penguin Books
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