The Progression of Ballet

From prehistory to modern day the world of dance has been, and will forever be, evolving. The beautiful and respectable art form of what is known today as ballet was inspired by the past, just as the entirety of the liberal arts have been. Throughout its evolution ballet has maintained to be a popular form of dance all over the world. This paper will describe the transition of ballet from an emergent art form to a structured discipline and then finally to modern variety.

While its original conception is debatable, it is believed by many historians that pantomimes of Greco-Roman times inspired the later creation of ballet. Pantomimes, which are thought to have been perfected around 22 B.C., were theatrical plays performed in Rome in which a pantomimos, or solo dancers wearing masks, told a story through dance. These solo dancers were only male during this time and acted as all of the main characters in each story by changing masks for each role. What made the pantomime different from theatrical plays of its time was that the stories were told solely through dance and this dancing was often accompanied by a flute and sometimes pipe instruments and stomping feet. These performances were often of mythological stories and many came from Homer's Iliad. Through pantomime not a single word needed to be spoken nor a facial expression shown because it was discovered that through body movement alone a dancer could tell an entire story.

Like pantomime, ballet is the interpretation of a story through dance. This type of voiceless theater, which was sometimes very risqué, changed from being used for controversial story lines to a tool for the church to display biblical stories. During the Middle Ages the use of pantomime was primarily used by the church because the church had banned public theater unless it was part of the church. After the formation of guilds during the High Middle Ages members of theatrical guilds tried to restore the art of pantomime, but were limited to street performances because priests still disapproved of the art.

It wasn't until the Early Renaissance in Italy, from 1400 - 1494, that pantomime returned to the theater. The development of humanism had emerged and people had started to believe that worldly happiness led to acceptance into heaven. Because of this, a focus on classic liberal arts, including dance, became the focus of society's attention. During this time a newly renovated form of dance emerged that was inspired by pantomime, and this was ballet. Young boys and girls were to be taught about the arts, including ballet. For the first one hundred years of ballets conception women did not perform main roles in ballet publicly and most ballets were performed by males; however because of the concepts adopted during the renaissance women were to be knowledgeable of the arts including ballet. Ballets were performed for the royal court and aristocrats in banquet halls and stages were soon designed to incorporate this dance with orchestras and operas. The Milanese Court often held festivals and ballets became a part of these affairs. Leonardo da Vinci helped to create settings for these ballets of the Milanese Court. Some ballets performed were done so in accordance with paintings, literature, and even the dinner menu. Albert Durer a well known artist of this time wrote a letter in 1506 while visiting Venice to a friend explaining the difficulties and expense of learning this new art called ballet. In his note Durer states, "I set to work to learn dancing and twice went to school. There I had to pay the master a ducat. Nobody would make me go there again. I would have to pay out all that earned, and at the end I still wouldn't know how to dance!" Ballet was very eloquent and formal and dance masters included choreography that was difficult to remember and the costumes and lessons were so expensive that only the very wealthy could take part in performances. Nobles and aristocrats, such as Queen Henrietta Maria who had performed since childhood, were the only people recorded performing in early ballets because of their expense.

Catherine de Medici, granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, fell in love with the art of dance as a young child in Italy and is known as one of the most important people in the history of ballet. Catherine introduced the art of ballet to France in 1581. She was attending the wedding of the Duke Joyeuse and Margarite of Lorraine in France and brought Italian ballet dancers with her to perform as entertainment. The danseurs and ballerinas performed an Italian ballet titled Le Ballet Comique de la Reine which translates to The Comic Ballet of the Queen. While many small ballets were performed in Italy, the Le Ballet Comique de la Reine is said to be the first recognized full length ballet in history. The French audience enjoyed the performance so much that they soon adopted this dance style and began giving the art more structure. Because of this many tie France to the birthplace of ballet and accredit Catherine Medici as its founder.

In France ballet became formed into a structured discipline and when Louis XIV took the throne he developed the first ballet academy called Acad'emie Royale de la Danse which opened in 1661. This first ballet school was in a room of the Louvre. At the academy the five positions of the feet were developed by Pierre Beauchamps, a dance master, and have been used in ballet to modern day. Also, much of the ballet language that is used today was also created here. King Louis then established a second ballet school, Académie Royale de Musique, which was run by his personal dance master, Jean Baptiste Lully. This dance school still exists today under the name Paris Opera and is the oldest dance company in the world. Jean Jacques Rousseau further developed the term noble savage which gave new inspiration to artists and ballets. Rousseau revised a number of ballets including Les Festes de Ramire inspired and some later productions co-created by Voltaire in 1745. Jean Georges Noverre was also influential dance master of this time period.

Ballet costumes during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were heavy and constricted dancer's movements, but by the beginning of the nineteenth century the costumes were made lighter and easier to move in. During the reign of Louis XVI ballet skirts that were worn by both female and male, were designed with rococo prints and were often ankle length. Soft pastels and floral prints captured the femininity of ballet. Women often played male roles that were very feminine and were required to wear large wings which made dancing difficult. Beginning in the nineteenth century, during the Romantic Movement, male ballet dancers wore tights and females wore form fitting outfits with corsets. Ballet dancers were also wearing pointe shoes which allowed them to stay on their toes for longer periods of time. Females had now become the main dancers in ballet with most stories revolving around female characters, which is a tradition carried on to modern ballet. The first tutu was made by Marie Taglioni and debut in 1832 in the production La Sylphide. This much shorter skirt made of gauze allowed females to move more freely and show off their footwork. While today many ballet skirt variations exist, the tutu is the most popular choice.

In the nineteenth century ballet was well known throughout Europe and was beginning to make its way over to the New World. Russia had become a leading contributor to the art of ballet and had many schools of ballet, including the Russian Imperial Ballet which first started in St. Petersburg in 1738. By the late eighteen-hundreds Russia was the home of some of the most influential and well known dance masters and ballerinas in the world. It was the Russian dance master Marie Taglioni who created the highest rank a ballerina can achieve which is Prima Ballerina Assoluta. The first ballerina awarded Prima ballerina Assoluta was European dance Pierina Legnani. Another person who was very influential on ballet from Russia was composer Petr ll'ich Tchaikovsky. It was Tchaikovsky that created the everlasting ballet symphonies of Swan Lake in 1876, Sleeping Beauty in 1890, and The Nutcracker in 1892.

At an estimated date of 1785 was when the first ballet was performed in America in Philadelphia by John Durang who was the first American dancer. The debut of ballet for many Americans came primarily in the form of print. Despite the heavy Puritan influence Americans were becoming interested in ballet by reading the American Dance Magazine which started in 1926 and is now the oldest arts magazine in America. Lincoln Kirstein, an American writer traveled to London in 1933 in hopes to influence Russian ballet choreographer George Balanchine to return with him to the states and open the first American School of Ballet. Balanchine accepted and in 1934 the School of American Ballet was establish in New York City. The school's first performance, Serenade, took place in March of 1934. In 1936 Lincoln formed the American ballet Caravan which consisted of the school's students and they performed only American themed ballets. One of the most popular of the Caravan's performances was Billy the Kid. In 1948 the school changed their name to New York City Ballet, at Lincoln Center which it remains to this day. Ballet swept across America during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and there are now ballet schools in each state which also often offer tap, jazz, and gymnastic courses.

Through evolution modern ballet has clashed with other dancing styles. The American spirit of freedom runs strong through contemporary ballet which is evident in the less strict dance styles we see today. Often, American ballets incorporate choreography from many forms of dance including tap and jazz. In fact, younger generations of Americans use ballet, tap, and jazz almost interchangeably. Ballet now is more creative than the planned dance moves of the past. Music is now more important to ballet because movements are created based on the dancer's interpretation of the music rather than the select few movements allowed.

The eloquence and beauty of ballet has remained within the art form throughout history. Ballet will forever be recognizable by pretty ballerinas performing gracious movements with pointed toes. However, with modern creativity incorporation, ballet performances are now also linked to upbeat, fun stories performed by a multitude of dance skill. Once new evolution is discovered, ballet, like all of the arts, will be moving on to a new stage of development and only time will tell what that may be.

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