Ballett

History:

• Ballet is one of the most demanding disciplines in the arts.

• A dance of beauty and grace.

• Classical ballet is considered an independent art form and is thus a form of stage dance.

• Court ballet originated in the Middle Ages – during this time, the dance roles were reserved for men, who wore wigs and masks.

  • During the Renaissance, women danced exclusively in partner dances.

• In 1581, the first professional ballet performance took place in Paris – the "Ballet comique de la reine" ("Comic Ballet of the Queen").

• Louis XIV (1638-1715) of France also loved dancing, though it was still not very technically focused.

• It wasn't until 1661 that Louis XIV founded the first ballet company: the "Académie Royale de la Dance."

  • The teacher of this company was Pierre Beauchamp, who established the five ballet positions.

• In 1669, Louis XIV founded the Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris – the ballet company of the Paris Opera.

• France was the dance capital of Europe in the 17th century.

  • Since Louis XIV himself stopped dancing at the age of 32 in 1670, dance also declined in popularity among the aristocrats of the court. Significance - at this point, ordinary people began to dance, and the first professional dancers were able to establish themselves.

  • Just a few years later, the first professional female dancers included, for example, M. lle de la Fontaine.

• At the beginning of the 18th century ("the age of choreographers"), ballet became its own art form, completely separating itself from traditional performances.

• Today's classical ballet technique originated in the 18th century.

  • It was influenced by Françoise Prévost, prima ballerina at the Paris Opera and teacher at the Royal Ballet Academy.

• The most famous students of the time were Marie Anne de Camargo and Marie Sallé.

• Modification of long dresses to shorter ones to simplify the new movements—jumps and running.

• Italian dancers were very technically oriented, while the French were characterized by their expressiveness.

• Pointe shoe technique at the beginning of the 19th century.

  • Choreographers of the time:

    • The Italian ballet master Philippo Taglioni (1777-1871) - first version of "La Sylphide"

    • The Danish choreographer August Bournoville (1805-1879) - second version

    • Bournoville was the greatest choreographer of his time.

      • Major works: La Sylphide (1836), Napoli (1842), The Fair in Bruges (1851), and A Folk Tale (1854)

• The first dancer to perform professionally on pointe shoes was Marie Tagelioni (1804-1884).

• Italy was the leading country in the technical development of ballet in the 19th century.

• A shortage of young talent characterized the second half of the 19th century in Europe until the end of World War II.

• Russia increasingly dominated ballet during this period.

• In the 1840s, the Imperial Ballet School was founded. (The Mariinsky Ballet (now called the Kirov Ballet) was founded in Saint Petersburg.

• In 1876, the Bolshoi Theatre (Ballet Company) was founded in Moscow.

• The companies were supported by Catherine the Great.

• Marius Petipa (1818–1910) from France also had a very strong influence on the development of ballet in Russia.

• Famous Russian dancers include Olga Preobrazhenskaya, Mathilda Kshesinskaya, and Anna Pavlova.

  • Through collaborations with composers such as Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), works like The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Don Quixote were created.

  • The classics La Sylphide, Giselle, and Swan Lake were also performed in modified versions.

• In 1909, Serge Diaghilev (1872–1929) Les Ballets Russes, the Diaghilev Ballet, in Paris

• Michel Fokine produced the dancers Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, and Vaslav Nijinsky

  • In 1909, he founded the first modern ballet company, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, in Paris

  • He achieved success at the premiere in 1909 with the abstract ballet Le Sylfides

  • Other works include Scheherazade and the Firebird

  • His greatest masterpiece was The Poem of the Rose in 1912, and in 1912 his success culminated in Petrushka

  • He ran his own school in New York – the Fokine School – until 1942