Ballet | Dance

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Ballet

What is Ballet?

BALLET IS AN ART FORM CREATED BY THE MOVEMENT OF THE HUMAN BODY.

It is theatrical – performed on a stage to an audience utilizing costumes, scenic design and lighting. It can tell a story or express a thought, concept or emotion. Ballet can be magical, exciting, provoking or disturbing.

 

Is Ballet good for Athletes?

BASIC BALLET

Types of Ballet

Story ballets (not surprisingly!) tell a story. They contain narrative action, characters, a beginning and an end. The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty are famous story ballets from the 19th century; classic stories and novels such as The Great Gatsby and The Three Musketeers also have been transformed into ballets.

Plotless ballets have no storyline. Instead they use the movement of the body and theatrical elements to interpret music, create an image or express or provoke emotion. Choreographer George Balanchine was a prolific creator of plotless ballets.

Styles of Ballet

Classical ballet is what people generally think of first when it comes to “ballet.” Classical ballet reached its height in 19th- century Russia through the work of choreographers like Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. The following elements characterize this style:

graceful, flowing movements

classical form: turn-out of the legs and pointe work

balance and symmetry

ethereal quality

emphasis on story ballets and narrative

elaborate sets and costumes

Neo-classical ballet was introduced in the 20th century by choreographers like George Balanchine. It generally includes:

increased speed, energy and attack

manipulation of the classical form

asymmetry, an off-balance feel

non-narrative, often one-act ballets

pared-down aesthetic with simple sets and costumes

Contemporary ballet is influenced by modern dance. Renowned contemporary ballet choreographers include Twyla Tharp, Jiří Kylián, Paul Taylor, William Forsythe and Dwight Rhoden. In contemporary ballet, you may see:

floor work

turn-in of the legs

greater range of movement and body line

pointe shoes but also bare feet

A Brief History of Ballet

Scroll through a brief history of ballet from its origins in the 15th-century Italian renaissance courts to what it looks like in the 21st century.

Origins

King Louis XIV in Ballet de la nuit, 1653. Source: Wikipedia

Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century. Noblemen and women were treated to lavish events, especially wedding celebrations, where dancing and music created an elaborate spectacle. Dancing masters taught the steps to the nobility, and the court participated in the performances. In the 16th century, Catherine de Medici — an Italian noblewoman, wife of King Henry II of France and a great patron of the arts — began to fund ballet in the French court. Her elaborate festivals encouraged the growth of ballet de cour, a program that included dance, decor, costume, song, music and poetry. A century later, King Louis XIV helped to popularize and standardize the art form. A passionate dancer, he performed many roles himself, including that of the Sun King in Ballet de la nuit. His love of ballet fostered its elevation from a past time for amateurs to an endeavor requiring professional training.

By 1661, a dance academy had opened in Paris, and in 1681 ballet moved from the courts to the stage. The French operaLe Triomphe de l’Amour incorporated ballet elements, creating a long-standing opera-ballet tradition in France. By the mid-1700s French ballet master Jean Georges Noverre rebelled against the artifice of opera-ballet, believing that ballet could stand on its own as an art form. His notions — that ballet should contain expressive, dramatic movement that should reveal the relationships between characters — introduced the ballet d’action, a dramatic style of ballet that conveys a narrative. Noverre’s work is considered the precursor to the narrative ballets of the 19th century.

The 19th Century

Carlotta Grisi, wearing a romantic tutu, as Giselle, 1841. Source: Wikipedia

Early classical ballets such as Giselle and La Sylphide were created during the Romantic Movement in the first half of the 19th century. This movement influenced art, music and ballet. It was concerned with the supernatural world of spirits and magic and often showed women as passive and fragile. These themes are reflected in the ballets of the time and are calledromantic ballets. This is also the period of time when dancing on the tips of the toes, known as pointe work, became the norm for the ballerina. The romantic tutu, a calf-length, full skirt made of tulle, was introduced.

Julia Erickson & Robert Moore in PBT’s Swan Lake. Photo: Rich Sofranko

The popularity of ballet soared in Russia, and, during the latter half of the 19th century, Russian choreographers and composers took it to new heights. Marius Petipa’s The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, by Petipa and Lev Ivanov, represent classical ballet in its grandest form. The main purpose was to display classical technique — pointe work, high extensions, precision of movement and turn-out (the outward rotation of the legs from the hip)—to the fullest. Complicated sequences that show off demanding steps, leaps and turns were choreographed into the story. The classical tutu, much shorter and stiffer than the romantic tutu, was introduced at this time to reveal a ballerina’s legs and the difficulty of her movements and footwork.

Ballet Today

Julia Erickson & Robert Moore in Balanchine’s Agon. Photo: Rich Sofranko

In the early part of the 20th century, Russian choreographers Sergei Diaghilev and Michel Fokine began to experiment with movement and costume, moving beyond the confines of classical ballet form and story. Diaghilev collaborated with composer Igor Stravinsky on the ballet The Rite of Spring, a work so different —with its dissonant music, its story of human sacrifice and its unfamiliar movements — that it caused the audience to riot. Choreographer and New York City Ballet founder George Balanchine, a Russian who emigrated to America, would change ballet even further. He introduced what is now known as neo-classical ballet, an expansion on the classical form. He also is considered by many to be the greatest innovator of the contemporary “plotless” ballet. With no definite story line, its purpose is to use movement to express the music and to illuminate human emotion and endeavor. Today, ballet is multi-faceted. Classical forms, traditional stories and contemporary choreographic innovations intertwine to produce the character of modern ballet.

The Point of Pointe Shoes

What are pointe shoes?

Pointe shoes are specially made shoes worn by ballerinas to allow them to dance on the tips of their toes.

What are pointe shoes made of?

Pointe shoes look dainty, but they really aren’t. The tip of the shoe is a rigid box made of densely packed layers of fabric, cardboard and/or paper hardened by glue. The dancer depends on it to be extremely sturdy: The entire weight of her body is balanced on a small platform in that box! The rest of the shoe is made of leather, cotton and satin. Each shoe is custom made, and hand crafted to fit each dancer’s unique specifications. No two pairs of pointe shoes are identical!

The darned platform of Marisa Grywalski’s pointe shoe. Photo by: Luca Sbrizzi

Why do ballet dancers wear pointe shoes?

Pointe shoes make ballet dancing look magical and even daring. They create an illusion of lightness and give a sense that the ballerina is floating on air.

Do male dancers wear pointe shoes?

Not normally. Sometimes men will wear pointe shoes for comedic effect, such as for the Stepsister characters in Cinderella(men are often cast as the sisters). Male ballet dancers usually wear a leather or canvas slipper with a soft sole, which allows the foot flexibility when jumping.

Can a dancer just put on a pair of pointe shoes and start dancing?

No! Each time a dancer gets a new pair of pointe shoes, she has to break them in. Some methods include:

darning the platform of the box to provide traction and prevent the satin from fraying

pounding the box of the shoe with a hammer to soften it

opening and closing a door on the box

cutting the satin off the box and using a carpenter’s file to rough up the sole

lining the inside of the box with floor wax or shellac to mold the shoes and prolong wear

All dancers sew on their own ribbons and elastic to hold their shoes in place. Click here to learn more about Principal Dancer Alexandra Kochis’ pointe shoe process.

PBT dancer Marisa Grywalski sewing her pointe shoes. Photo by: Kelly Perkovich

How long do pointe shoes last?

Not long — and sometimes for just one performance (or part of a performance!), depending on the difficulty of the ballet. A professional ballerina can dance through 100-120 pairs of pointe shoes in one season. At a cost of about $80 each, PBT spends close to $100,000 on pointe shoes per year.

When can a ballerina start dancing on pointe?

In most cases, somewhere between age 11 and 13. A young dancer must have several years of good dance and strength training to ensure that her feet, ankles and legs are strong enough to handle the stress of dancing on her toes.

When did ballerinas begin dancing with pointe shoes?

Italian ballerina Maria Taglioni was the first ballerina that we know of to dance on pointe in the early 1830s, but the method probably began earlier. Taglioni and her contemporaries stuffed the toes of their soft shoes with starch and other materials, but soon Italian cobblers made harder shoes for them using paper, burlap and satin. This prototype evolved into the modern pointe shoe.