Ballet Research Paper

In the Italian Renaissance it was a court dance for nobility, a serious theatrical art form in seventeenth century France, moved it’s way up to an acclaimed fine art in twentieth century Russia and America, and is now bigger than ever world wide in the twenty-first century. Stemming from the latin word ballere, Ballet has turned into the technically perfect, incredibly athletic, and jaw-droppingly beautiful dance form it is today thanks to the hard work of choreographers and musicians of these four major periods of time. I intend to use this paper to answer the Who, What Where,When and Hows of ballet. “Who brought ballet to where it it today?”, “When and How was ballet used throughout history?”, “What makes it the foundation of all dance?”,

Catherine married King Henry II of France and brought her form of entertainment with her. Moving to the French court, ballet was given a makeover and was shaped into ballet de cour, performed by the nobility accompanied by music, speech, sets, and costume all thanks to funding by Medici. The original choreography was inspired by fencing. The goal was to imitate the movement, add acting to it, and that is where the light footwork and carriage of the arms originated. Despite the same name as today’s ballet, a Renaissance take on Giselle or Swan Lake would look nothing like it does today. Tutus and toe shoes were years away; the only common denominator would probably be the tights which were part of the everyday wardrobe anyways. The choreography was adapted from court dance steps which were quite easy to ensure all of the party goers could learn them and join in towards the end. Thanks to the success and development of ballet in France and the work of Catherine and Henry II acting as a catalyst for what you see today on the stages of American Ballet Theatre, the technical work was being developed back in

Considered a professional at the time, trained in the art of dance, he was responsible for teaching nobles the art. His manual De arte saltandi et choreus ducendi (On the Art of Dancing and Conducting Dances), was the first how to guide for dance anywhere. The first ballet however was produced by a servant of Catherine de Medici, Balthasar de Boaujoyeulx. Ballet Comique de la Reine, put on in 1581, was a five and a half hour dance extravaganza put on for the wedding of a Duke at the time and is considered the first real ballet with an original score written, new choreography, and a set making the whole production cost over a million écu (the currency of the time.) That same year Fabritio Caroso published Il Ballarino, the second manual on court dancing that had specifics on performance and social dance which helped to establish Italy as a center of technical ballet