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The Origins of Classical Ballet

By: Nadya Petronas Ballet as a captivating dance form has enthralled discerning audiences for many years. It is a form of dance that combines beauty and grace to tell a story in a dance form. Generally performed in theatres, ballet has always been a favoured dream of many little girls. While ballet dancers need to work very hard for many years to perform in a professional ballet company - this does not deter the aspirants.

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.

By the mid 1600s ballets consisted of not only beautiful dances, but extravagant costumes, sets, and props as well. Professional ballet continued to grow, and it was very popular with royalty. For the next few hundred years the ballet's costumes continued to become more intricate, and toe dancing was introduced. The block toe shoes were not yet invented and so the dancers could only hold their positions for a second or two.

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.

Women were the feature of the romantic ballet, and ballerinas were even coming out of the United States. During this time ballet was also very popular in Russia and Denmark. However, in France the ballet was seeing a decline. Throughout this time ballet was seen as being very other worldly, with the ballet steps being very mythical and not resembling the way a human would move.

As the 20th century advanced, ballet definitely became more representative of how humans actually move. This was due in part to the popularity of other dance forms. These changes continue today, as ballet often includes other dance styles when it's performed.

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.

Today many more modern ballets are being performed, while at the same time audiences still love the classical and romantic forms. All of these styles are still taught and performed as ballet is immensely popular. People are constantly impressed at the variety and complexity of movements that humans are capable of. Even though most of us will never be able to perform these moves, we can marvel and dream when we see ballet on stage.

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About the author: Nadya Petronas is the proprietor of Ballet @, the #1 source on the internet when you are searching for the latest knowledge, accurate up to date advice and commentary to do with Ballet. For questions or comments about this article visit: www.balletat.com/articles
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