Ballet

Ballet has come a long way since it began as aristocratic court dances. Classical ballet, danced to classical music, is typified by its pointe work, elegant extensions, lifts and jumps acquired through training of precise techniques. The dance form has also seen influences from modern dance, permitting more innovations that break from traditional movement vocabulary. Termed contemporary ballet, it sees a wider range of movements and athleticism, the use of a wide variety of music and exploration of abstract themes.

The history of ballet shows an art form that may have traditions going back centuries but one that has also seen great innovation and change. Ballet repertoire we see today offers great variety. Reconstructions and restaging of older ballets co-exist with new works created by modern dance choreographers for ballet companies. Choreographers experiment with both new and traditional forms and styles, and dancers constantly seek to extend their technical and dramatic range. Ballet will no doubt see a continuous evolution into the times ahead.

Beginnings
The earliest origins of ballet began as entertainment for aristocracy in the courts of Renaissance Italy. Often, painting, poetry, music and dancing were used in a single performance. Unlike today, there were no clear boundaries between the various art forms. The Italian court ballets were further developed in France. Lines and groups of dancers moved in elaborately choreographed floor patterns, accompanied by poetry and songs. Rich costumes, scenery, and elaborate stage effects were emphasized. The court ballet peaked during the reign (1643-1715) of Louis XIV, whose title the Sun King was derived from a role he danced in a ballet.

Early Professional Ballet
In 1661, Louis XIV established the Acadamie Royale de Danse, a professional organization for dancing masters. At first all the dancers were men, and men in masks danced women’s roles. Eighteenth-century dancers were encumbered by masks, wigs or large headdresses, and heeled shoes. Women wore panniers, hoopskirts draped at the sides for fullness. Men often wore the tonnelet, a knee-length hoopskirt.

Breaking tradition, French dancer Marie Camargo shortened her skirts and adopted heelless slippers to display her sparkling beats and jumps. She had a rival, Marie Sall, who discarded her corset and wore Greek robes to dance in her own ballet, Pygmalion(1734).

Other significant developments include the innovations of English choreographer John Weaver, who eliminated words and tried to convey dramatic action through dance and pantomime, and French dancer and choreographer Jean Georges Noverre, whose Letters on Dancing and Ballets (1760) influenced many choreographers both during and after his lifetime.

Romantic Ballet
The 19th century was a period of great social change, including the second industrial revolution. People in Western Europe led hard lives and the Romantic Era of dance began. People saw theatre as a form of escapism from the toils of society and ballet moved into portraying an ethereal world full of sylphs and fairies.

The first romantic ballet La Sylphide was first performed in Paris in 1832. Marie Taglioni danced the part of the Sylphide to choreography created by her father, Filippo Taglioni. It was in this ballet that pointe work for female dancers was invented, emphasizing an otherworldly lightness and insubstantiality. The other change was that women dominated the romantic ballet.

The Romantic Era saw the rise of other major figures that established many of the ballets and dance techniques we see today. Danish choreographer August Bournonville, who led the Royal Danish Ballet, set up a system of training and created a large body of works, including his own version of La Sylphide. Many of these ballets are still performed by the Royal Danish Ballet today. Marius Petipa from France perfected the full-length story ballet that combined set dances with mimed scenes. His best-known works are The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and Swan Lake (co-choreographed with the Russian Lev Ivanov), both set to commissioned scores by Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky.

20th Century
With time, Petipa’s choreographic method became a formula. Russian dancemaker Michael Fokine added greater expressiveness and authenticity in choreography, scenery and costume. He carried out his ideas through the Ballets Russes, a company organized by the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Diaghilev commissioned many Western European artists and composers, such as Pablo Picasso and Maurice Ravel, to collaborate on the ballets. Diaghilev’s choreographers included Fokine, Branislava Nijinska from Poland, Russian-born American George Balanchine. They experimented with many new themes and styles of movement that is reflected in dance today. Balanchine was invited to work in the United States by Lincoln Kirstein, a wealthy American patron of the arts, and later founded the New York City Ballet.

Two former members of the Ballets Russes, Polish-born British dancer Dame Marie Rambert and British dancer Dame Ninette de Valois, became the pioneers of British ballet. Rambert’s students included the British choreographers Sir Frederick Ashton, Antony Tudor and John Cranko. De Valois founded the company that became Britain’s Royal Ballet.

In the 1920s and 1930s, modern dance began to be developed in the United States and Germany. The American dancers Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey, the German dancer Mary Wigman, and others broke away from traditional ballet to explore their own expressive movement styles, creating dances that were more closely related to actual human life. Ballets also made a move toward realism. Modern dance greatly extended the movement vocabulary of ballet, particularly in the use of the torso and in movements done lying or sitting on the floor. With time, the idea of pure dance grew in popularity. Balanchine also began to create plotless ballets in which the primary motivation was movement to music. His ballet Jewels (1967) is considered the first evening-length ballet of this type.

In 1956, Russian ballet companies such as the Bolshoi and Kirov performed in the West for the first time. The intense dramatic feeling and technical virtuosity of the Russians made a great impact.
From the mid 1960s, ballet began to show the influence of a younger audience, in both themes and style. The athleticism of dancing was enjoyed in much the same way as sports, and virtuosic steps were admired for their challenge and daring. Popular music such as rock and roll and jazz was used to accompany many ballets.

Techniques
Throughout the history of ballet, numerous schools of ballet technique have been established as the dance developed and evolved. Today’s training draws from these different techniques. The major ones include:

Vaganova (Russia)

Vaganova style was developed by the Russians and it boasts long lines, virtuosic movements emphasizing the use of upper back, epaulement and port de bras. Many Russian schools and companies are distinctive of this style. It is highly dramatic.

Bournonville (e.g. Royal Danish Ballet)

The famous Cechetti School of training uses August Bournonville’s emphasis on quick footwork, simple port de bras and strong epaulement. A lot of tricky petit allegro work is used.

English (e.g. Royal Ballet Company)

The English style has been developed over time, and uses a combination of many schools of training. There is also the strong emphasis on very quick footwork (beats, petit allegro>). There is also the use of mime through simple upper body movements. The English style boasts clean, square lines and neat technique. Arms are usually more “carried” and rounded, with simple port de bras.

Balanchine (America)

The famous George Balanchine created the ideal “modern ballerina”. Exaggerated extensions, very fast movements, “open fingers”, twisting of hips and lines and the use of “off-balance” movements are some characteristics of his style. It is showy and exciting to watch and boasts both grace and athleticism.

Contributed by Grace Wee