ballet

ballet [Ital. ballare =to dance], classic, formalized solo or ensemble dancing of a highly controlled, dramatic nature performed to music.

See also dance ; modern dance .

The Development of Ballet in Western Europe

Foreshadowed in earlier mummeries and lavish masquerades, ballet emerged as a distinctive form in Italy before the 16th cent. The first ballet that combined movement, music, decor, and special effects was presented in France at the court of Catherine de' Medici in 1581. Organized by the violinist Balthasar de Beaujoyeux, it was entitled Le Ballet comique de la Reine. This production was the first ballet de cour, the ancestor of the modern ballet, which influenced the English court masque, a 16th-century entertainment with dance interludes. The first treatise on ballet dancing was the Orchésographie of Thoinot Arbeau (1588).

The 17th cent. saw the major development of ballet in France. At first a court entertainment, the simple entrées were extended c.1610 and joined together to form scenes, called divertissements, which culminated in a grand ballet. Louis XIV founded the Royal Ballet Academy (1661), the Royal Music Academy (1669), which became the Paris Opéra, and the first National Ballet School (1672). All parts were performed by male dancers; boys in wigs and masks took the female roles.

The first ballet using trained women was The Triumph of Love (1681), with music by Lully. Ballet remained a court spectacle and included opera or drama until about 1708, when the first ballet was commissioned for public performance. Thereafter the form, infused with new ideas, developed as a separate art (although the court ballet continued its historic traditions). Choreographic notation came into being, and for the first time mythological themes were explored.

With the increased influence of the Italian school of ballet, movement became elevated and less horizontal, and the five classic positions of the feet, which form the base for the dancer's stance and movement, were established by Pierre Beauchamps. The costumes, which had been cumbersome with decoration, long skirts, and high heels (for both men and women) were newly designed to allow greater freedom of movement. The virtuosa dancer Marie Camargo, who introduced the entrechat (elevation) for women, shortened her skirt to the middle of the calf and wore tights and what were to be the first ballet slippers (heelless shoes). Her rival, Marie Sallé (who was also the first female choreographer), was the first dancer to wear a filmy, liberating Grecian-style costume, made popular two centuries later by Isadora Duncan .

Jean Georges Noverre, a revolutionary 18th-century maître de ballet, established the determining principles of the ballet d'action, which he described in his Lettres sur la danse et les ballets (1760). He wanted the ballet to tell a story, aided by the music, decor, and dance; he wanted the performer to interpret his role through the dance and through his own body and facial expression. In stressing naturalism, Noverre simplified the costume and c.1773 abolished the mask. Other important innovations came from the great artists of the period, Gaetan and Auguste Vestris , Salvatore Vigano, and Charles Didelot. Technical innovation in dance movement was increased after further modification of the ballet costume.

The Romantic Period and Ballet's Eclipse

In Milan in 1820 Carlo Blasis first set down the technique of ballet as we know it today—with its stress on the turned-out leg, which permits great variety of movement. With the production of La Sylphide (1832) the romantic period formally began, ushering in a new era of brilliant choreography that emphasized the beauty and virtuosity of the prima ballerina. In this production Maria Taglioni first wore the filmy, calf-length costume that was to become standard for classical ballet. The great ballerinas of the era included Taglioni, Fanny Elssler , Carlotta Grisi, and Fanny Cerrito. In keeping with the literature and art of the romantic movement, the new ballet concerned the conflicts of reality and illusion, flesh and spirit. Love stories and fairy tales replaced mythological subjects.

At the same time dancing sur les pointes [on the toes] had come into favor. By the end of the century the blocked toe had appeared, and the tutu, a very short, buoyant skirt that completely freed the legs, had come into use. The male dancer functioned as partner to support the ballerina, the central focus of the dance and drama. Ballet declined progressively after 1850 with the ballet d'action giving way entirely to divertissements; finally the great stars had retired, and the sets, costumes, and choreography had become stereotyped and uninteresting. The naturalistic trend in the theater had all but destroyed the imaginative touch necessary to ballet.

The Modern Ballet Renaissance

Russian Ballet

The renaissance in romantic ballet began in Russia after 1875. The Russian Imperial School of Ballet had been founded in 1738. During the early 19th cent. the Imperial Theatre housed more than 40 ballet productions staged by the celebrated Swedish master Charles Didelot. Marius Petipa , who created a powerful sense of unity by rigorously training his corps de ballet as had not been done before, indicated in his choreography the direction of intensified romantic drama that the newly revived art was to take. Petipa contributed many of the classic ballets still considered to be the greatest expressions of the form, including Don Quixote, La Bayadère, The Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda, Harlequinade, and restagings of Giselle, Coppélia, La Sylphide, and, with Lev Ivanov , Swan Lake.

In 1909 the celebrated impresario Sergei Diaghilev took his Russian company to Paris, and for 20 years it dominated the world of dance, displaying the creative talents of such choreographers and dancers as Michel Fokine , Léonide Massine , Vaslav Nijinsky , Bronislava Nijinska , Anna Pavlova , and George Balanchine . After Diaghilev's death in 1929, offshoots were formed by René Blum and Col. W. de Basil, which kept the Diaghilev tradition alive during the 1930s. The company merged with Blum and de Basil's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, which nurtured the talents of Alexandra Danilova , André Eglevsky, and Igor Youskevitch.

Russian dancing has been maintained at the highest level of excellence to the present day. Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet , which brought fame to Galina Ulanova , Maya Plisetskaya , and V. M. Gordeyev, and the Kirov Ballet (since 1991 the St. Petersburg Maryinsky Ballet), whose dancers have included Rudolf Nureyev , Natalia Makarova, and Mikhail Baryshnikov , are the two foremost Russian companies and are ranked among the finest in the world.

British Ballet

In England around 1918, Enrico Cecchetti, who had taught many great dancers including Pavlova, Nijinsky, Massine, and Danilova, set down his method of training (which is still in practice) in collaboration with Cyril Beaumont, proprietor of "Under the Sign of the Harlequin," a world-famous bookstore specializing in the dance. The Cecchetti Society was founded in 1922 to preserve and protect that system.

In 1930 Marie Rambert founded the Ballet Club, the first permanent ballet school and company in England. A year later Ninette de Valois established what became the Sadler's Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet ). This company has drawn international attention to the work of Alicia Markova , Anton Dolin , Frederick Ashton , Margot Fonteyn , Robert Helpmann, Rudolf Nureyev, Antoinette Sibley, Svetlana Beriosova, and Anthony Dowell. Nureyev, both a choreographer and dancer, was instrumental in changing the traditional supportive role of the male dancer to a far more significant, dynamic, and athletic place in the ballet; many other contemporary choreographers have similarly given their male dancers a more flamboyant showcase.

American Ballet

In the United States, Lincoln Kirstein and Edward Warburg founded the American Ballet company in 1934. Under the direction of George Balanchine, its chief choreographer, the company established the first major school of ballet in the country, developed the talents of many notable American dancers (including Maria Tallchief , Todd Bolender, Suzanne Farrell , Patricia McBride, Jacques d'Amboise , Arthur Mitchell , and Edward Villella ), and influenced enormously the evolution of an American ballet style as parent company to the New York City Ballet (founded 1948), one of the world's outstanding companies. Other celebrated choreographers who created ballets for the New York City Ballet are Eugene Loring, Jerome Robbins , and Peter Martins .

The other major American company, the American Ballet Theatre (formerly the Ballet Theatre), was founded in 1939 as an offshoot of the smaller Mordkin Ballet. The company's principal dancers have included Lucia Chase, Anton Dolin, Nora Kaye , Alicia Alonso , Michael Kidd, Scott Douglas, Royes Fernandez, Sallie Wilson, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, performing in works designed for them by Michel Fokine, Léonide Massine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Michael Kidd, Agnes de Mille , Herbert Ross, Eugene Loring, Glen Tetley, Twyla Tharp , and many others. Through numerous tours both the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre have earned international reputations of a high order. Other American companies of note include the Joffrey Ballet (founded 1956) and the Dance Theatre of Harlem (founded 1970). In addition to these, there are many active regional ballet companies throughout the United States.

Using traditional formal training and movement, American choreographers have designed a new sort of pure, abstract ballet, far less dependent on literary plot, often using modern rock and electronic music, and have developed greatly simplified decor and costuming (e.g., Balanchine's Agon, Robert Joffrey's Astarte, and Glen Tetley's Chronochromie ). Many modern choreographers have also designed dances for stage and film musicals (e.g., Jerome Robbins's West Side Story and Agnes de Mille's Oklahoma! ). In the late 20th cent. ballet was increasingly receptive to techniques and music from many dance forms. It grew in popularity, international touring expanded, and, particularly with the collapse of the Soviet Union, international exchange was encouraged.

Bibliography

See S. Lifar, A History of Russian Ballet (tr. 1955); F. Reyna, A Concise History of Ballet (tr. 1965); A. L. Haskell, Ballet Retrospect (1965); A. Chujoy and P. W. Manchester, The Dance Encyclopedia (rev. and enlarged ed. 1967); W. Terry, The Ballet Companion (1968); L. Kirstein, Movement and Metaphor (1972); M. Clarke and C. Crisp, Ballet: An Illustrated History (1973); E. Binney, Glories of Romantic Ballet (1985); J. Anderson, Ballet and Modern Dance (1986); H. Koegler, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet (2d ed. 1987); R. Greskovic, Ballet 101 (1998); N. Reynolds and M. McCormick, No Fixed Points: Dance in the Twentieth Century (2003).

ballet is a dramatic entertainment by dancers, usually in costume with scenery and accompanied by music. Originating as elaborations of social dances in the lavish court spectacles of Renaissance Italy, it developed in France following the marriage of Catherine de Medici to Henri II in 1533. The ballet de cour mixed poetry, vocal and instrumental music, dancing, costumes, and scenery—the same recipe as that of the English masque, a similar celebratory entertainment including both professional dancers and members of the court.

The establishment of the Académie Royale de Danse in 1661 was rapidly followed by Lully and Molière's numerous comédie-ballets, and the strong influence of French dance and Lully's music is clearly apparent in late 17th-cent. English stage works such as Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Dance continued to be incorporated into opera. When Marie Sallé came to Covent Garden in 1734, creating a stir in the ballet Pygmalion with her loose muslin dress and free hair rather than panniered skirts and wig, Handel included dance music for her troupe in his operas. Also popular in London at this time was pantomime, often performed between the acts of plays or operas. The dancing-master John Weaver claimed credit for the first pantomime with The Tavern Bilkers: probably the ‘Comical Entertainment in a Tavern between Scaramouch, Harlequin and Punchanello’ advertised at Drury Lane theatre in 1703. The theatre director John Rich was a famous Harlequin in many productions, although Weaver's The Loves of Mars and Venus (1717) ignored grotesque commedia characters and offered what he termed ‘scenical dancing’ and mime.

Sallé's expressive dancing, together with the English pantomime and the acting style of David Garrick, influenced Jean-Georges Noverre, the greatest proponent of the new ballet d'action whose central dramatic narrative was conveyed entirely by dance, mime, and music without spoken or sung text. Among Noverre's pupils was Charles-Louis Didelot, who worked in London at the turn of the 19th cent. Carlotta Grisi, the first Giselle (Paris, 1841), married choreographer Jules Perrot, formerly partner of the great Romantic ballerina Marie Taglioni. The couple worked at Her Majesty's Theatre, London, in the 1840s, and Perrot's Pas de quatre (1845) brought together four of the world's leading ballerinas: Taglioni, Grisi, Cerrito, and Grahn.

As with Noverre, the concept of a unified art-work was also central to Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, whose company had annual London seasons from 1911 to 1914. Diaghilev commissioned many of the leading artists of his time: choreographers Fokine, Massine, and Balanchine; designers Bakst, Picasso, and Cocteau; and numerous composers including Stravinsky, Debussy, Satie, and Ravel. Diaghilev helped establish classical ballet as a serious art-form and trained many of the key figures in British ballet: Marie Rambert, who in 1926 formed the company that became known as the Ballet Rambert (from 1987 the Rambert Dance Company); Ninette de Valois, who established the Vic-Wells Ballet at Sadler's Wells (known as the Royal Ballet from 1956); and Alicia Markova, whose mantle as the leading British ballerina passed to Margot Fonteyn. Renowned for her effortless technique, grace, and dramatic involvement, Fonteyn's later career included an acclaimed partnership with Rudolf Nureyev.

Among leading British choreographers are Frederick Ashton, John Cranko, Kenneth MacMillan, and Antony Tudor, while important composers writing specific ballet scores included Vaughan Williams, Bliss, and Britten. Britten also exploited dance in his operas Gloriana (1953) and Death in Venice (1974). There are now numerous touring dance companies in Britain, some specializing in modern dance.

Eric Cross

ballet Theatrical dance form set to music. The first formal ballet, Ballet comique de la Reine, was performed at the court of Catherine de' Medici (1581). In 1661 Louis XIV founded the Royal Academy of Dance. Exclusively performed by male dancers, ballet was confined to the French court. The Triumph of Love (1681) was the first ballet to use trained female dancers. The first public performance of a ballet was in 1708. Choreographic notation developed, and Pierre Beauchamp (1631–1719) established the five classical positions. Jean-Georges Noverre (1727–1810), the most influential choreographer of the 18th century, argued for a greater naturalism. In 1820 Carlo Blasis (1797–1878) codified the turn out technique, which facilitated the freer movement of the dancer. The 1832 performance of Les Sylphides set the choreographic model for 19th-century Romantic ballets, stressing the role of the prima ballerina. Dancing on the toes (sur les pointes) was introduced. At the end of the 19th century, Russian ballet emphasized technique and virtuosity. Subsequently, Sergei Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes revolutionized ballet with dynamic choreography and dancing. Today, the preeminence of Russian ballet is maintained by the Kirov and Bolshoi companies. In 1930 Dame Marie Rambert founded the first English ballet school, and in 1931 Dame Ninette de Valois established the Sadler's Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet). Rudolf Nureyev influential work for the Royal Ballet enlarged the role and dramatic range of the male dancer. In 1934 the first major US ballet school was instituted under the direction of George Balanchine. The New York City Ballet was established in 1948, and is now one of the world's principal ballet companies. American ballet introduced a more abstract style and eclectic approach, fusing elements of classical ballet, jazz, popular and modern dance. See also Fokine, Michel; Massine, Léonide; masque; Nijinsky, Vaslav