Ballet

By: Paige Ney and Emily Johnson

What is Ballet?
❏ Ballet is an artistic dance form performed to music using
precise and highly formalized set steps and gestures. Classical
ballet, is characterized by light, graceful, fluid movements and
the use of pointe shoes.
❏ Pointe shoes are specially made for ballerinas to allow them to
dance on the tips of their toes.
❏ In order to master ballet you must have years of classical
training
❏ performed mostly with classical music
❏ In latin, ballet means to dance
Origin
❏ The origins of ballet are the Italian Renaissance courts of the
15th and 16th centuries.
❏ Ballet spread to France later thanks to a dancer named
Catherine De’ Medici and spread like wildfire with the help of
the french aristocrats who helped fund the art for their
entertainment
❏ Uses french terminology Ex: pas de chat-the jump of the cat
❏ dancing was mostly used in balls and was never performed
on stage.
 History
❏ Ballet originated in Italy in the 1500's and spread to France by mainly one person Catherine De’ Medici a French queen
that grew up in Italy and brought ballet to France. In France the aristocrats loved the art and spread it though elaborate
festivals.
❏ King Louis XIV was the next in line to fall in love with ballet, he became a dancer and made standards such as the
positions of ballet.
❏ In 1661 a dance academy opened in France and not long after (1681) the first ballet was performed on stage, even
though it was just some simple steps in a opera.
❏ In the 1700's a ballet master Jean Georges Noverre believed that ballet didn't have to be preformed with the singing but
could be done by itself. He later created the first narrative ballet (one that told a story)
❏ In the 1900's the romantic movement began and ballet exploded it became a huge influence on ballet this was when
pointe work began (pointe is dancing on the tip of your toes) and was the creation of the first tutu. The popularity of
ballet also extended to Russia and some of the most popular ballets were created such as: Swan Lake, Sleeping
Beauty, and The nutcracker. Though these ballets the classical form of ballet was made this included fancy footwork
higher extension and complicated pointe work.
❏ Today ballet includes all of the traditional aspects and a little more technique it has become a worldwide dance form.
Gender Inequality
❏ Clothing
❏ Men:
❏ Tights
❏ Women:
❏ heavy wigs
❏ large headdresses
❏ heels
❏ corsets
❏ heavy skirts
Important figures
❏ Catherine De’ Medici: brought ballet to France
❏ King Louis XIV: Developed the foundations of dance.
❏ Marie-Anne Cupis De Camargo: shortened skirts (Created the romantic tutu)
❏ Jean Georges Noverre: created narrative ballets (his B-day is international dance day after him)
❏ Gaetan Vestris: called himself the “God of the dance” he was the first dancer to take off his mask (before that
time all dancers wore masks while dancing)
❏ Marie Taglioni: First dancer to ever dance on pointe the original point shoes were made of satin and had no
support.
❏ Marius Petipa:An influential ballet master said to help create over 60 ballets
❏ Sergei Diaghilev: introduced ballet to the rest of the world through his travels
❏ Anna Pavlova: added a shank to point shoes changed the body form from muscular dancers to thin slender
dancers.
❏ George Balanchine: A choreographer and dancer that incorporated more meaningful music into the ballets
Pointe Shoes
❏ The very first ballet shoes for women were heels
❏ The original pointe shoes were leather ballet slippers
❏ The next adjustments were small until Pierina Legnani did
thirty-two fouettes on pointe ( 32 Fouettes example)
❏ After that point shoes started to evolve dancers had their shoe
makers harden the leather sole/shank and create a hard vamp
and a flat platform.
❏ there are mainly 2 types of pointe shoes currently:
● Russian: harder shoes because there is more focus on
turns
● Italian: a little softer because there is more focus on
jumping (when you jump you roll through your feet)
Bibliography
❏ Primary sources:
❏ Pittsburgh ballet theatre.”The History of ballet.” http://www.pbt.org/ community-engagement/
brief-history-ballet
❏ Sas school of dance “HISTORY OF BALLET.” http://www.sasschool ofdance.com/history-ballet
❏ Chantrell, Glynnis (2002). The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Word Histories. New York: Berkley Books.
ISBN 0-425-19098-6.
❏ Lee, Carol (2002). Ballet In Western Culture: A History of its Origins and Evolution. New York: Routledge
❏ Secondary sources:
❏ Gordon, Suzanne (1984). Off Balance: The Real World of Ballet. McGraw-Hill
❏ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ballet". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
❏ Bland, Alexander (1976). A History of Ballet and Dance in the Western World. New York: Praeger
Publisher
❏ Craine, Deborah; MacKrell, Judith (2000). The Oxford Dictionary of Dance. Oxford University Press. p. 2.
ISBN 978-0-19-860106-7. It is from this institution that French ballet has evolved rather than the
Académie Royale de Danse.