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Ballet - The History Of A Divine Dance
by Nadya Petronas
http://www.balletat.com
The art of ballet dance is actually very old. It takes a
disciplined and athletic body to perform the beautiful
movements that tell us a story. Performances usually take
place in a theater. Many young girls fantasize about
becoming stars in the ballet world. In actuality it takes a
lot of hard work and many years if they make it at all.
Contrary to belief, ballet as a dance form originated in
Italy during the Renaissance period of the 1400s. Most
people associate ballet with France owing to the fact that
ballet steps have predominantly French names, such as the
plie. France is where ballet as a dance form was developed
and the first ballet company 'The Queen's Ballet Company'
came up in France.
Development of ballet and its popularity can be credited to
the royalty. Popularity led to creation of beautiful dances,
extravagant costumes, sets, and props. With passage of time,
the costumes continued to become more intricate, and toe
dancing was introduced. However, the dancers could only hold
their positions for just a few seconds as block toe shoes
were yet to be invented.
In the 19th century, romantic ballet came along. This was
partly due to the ballet La Sylphide. It brought many
changes to ballet and toe dancing was more in evidence.
Most of us are familiar with tutus, and if you were
wondering where it came from, it is attributed to the
ballet Giselle. In this dance there were ghostly spirits
and they were costumed in tutus.
Romantic ballet featured many women dancers. Some
ballerinas came from the United States. Ballet was also
embraced in Russia and Denmark, but was actually declining
in France. During these years ballet was considered ghostly
and mythical, unrelated to natural human movement.
In the twentieth century however, ballet began to see a
shift where the moves started to resemble human movement,
thanks in part to the many different styles of dance that
were becoming increasingly popular. This change has
continued until today where many ballets incorporate
different styles of dance as inspiration.
Some ballets today have even gone so far as to combine
another style of dance into the ballet. In 1944 a ballet was
introduced called Fancy Free that used jazz dance with the
ballet steps to create a revolutionary ballet, and it was
well received.
With time, ballet has evolved and changed in many forms.
While connoisseurs of the traditional ballet have remained
steadfast, the new avatars have also. A well executed ballet
by professionals continues to enthral audiences despite the
fact that most of us cannot even dream of performing most of
the steps and moves of a ballet dancer.
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