T he History of Ballet
by Lily Brice
Contents What is Ballet? 4 Where is ballet from?
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When did ballet first come about?
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Who invented ballet? 7 What was the first ballet school?
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What kinds of ballet are there?
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Who was the first ballerina?
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What are the most famous ballets?
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What music do they play in ballet?
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What ballet costumes did they where?
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Famous art of ballet
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What is Ballet? Ballet is fun to do and watch. It is an entertaining theatrical art that is performed on stage to an audience in costumes. Ballet is a story told through movement of the body with music, it is also about life.
References
http://www.australianballet.com.au/education/about_ballet/what_is_ballet http://www.pbt.org/community-engagement/what-ballet
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Where is ballet from? The Balleto is from Italy but it changed to ballet in France and Russia.
Image reference Google images
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When did ballet first come about? The word ballet is from France, in the 1400’s a man called Domenico Di Piacenze invented a performance called a balletto, a balletto was performed at banquets between each course, it was performed to Dukes, Duchesses, Kings and Queens. But that is only the beginning. In the 1500’s Catherine de’ Medici, the queen of France said she loved ballet so they made them for her. It was called Le Ballet comique de la Reine and it went for five hours! Then in the 1600’s they created a dance school in France and in the 1700’s the costume was invented and in the 1800’s the point shoe was invented.
References
https://www.tiptoedancewear.com/ballet-history/ http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/the-history-of-ballet http://www.coreofculture.org/ballet.html
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Louis XIV in 1661
Who invented ballet? A long time ago not just one person invented Ballet but a whole group of people invented it and it took over centuries of time to evolve.
What was the first Ballet school? The first ballet school was in France it was founded by Louis XIV in 1661 who was a very enthusiastic dancer, it was called ‘Acad’emie Royale de la Danse’ The Royal Dance Academy. Reference
http://stason.org/TULARC/sports/dance-ballet-modern/4-5-When-wasthe-first-ballet-school-started.html#.UjqakbxjAy5 http://dance.lovetoknow.com/Who_Invented_Ballet
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What kinds of ballet are there? Classical ballet in the classical ballet different regions have used different styles, Russian Ballet, Italian Ballet and French ballet. In those styles different people have made up moves like the Cecchetti method. Neo classical ballet is a more modern ballet with classical ballet in it, making it a fast moving dance, showing character. Contemporary Ballet is mixture of classical ballet and modern dance and they don’t wear ballet shoes. I study the Cecchetti method it is based on a technique developed and taught by the Italian dancer Enrico Cecchetti (1850–1928).
Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballet
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Anna Pavlova
Who was the first ballerina? Pierina Legnani (1863-1923) was the first ballet dancer to be called a prima ballerina. She was from Italy. Another famous prima ballerina was called Anna Pavlova (1881-1931). She was Russian and a principal dancer at the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes.
References
http://www.dancer.com/legnani.php http://www.step-by-step-dance.com/famousballerinas.html
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What are the most famous ballets? Matt Schiesl thinks that these are the top ten most famous ballets: Cinderella Don Quixote The Sleeping Beauty A Midsummer Nights Dream Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) La Bayader (The Temple Dancer) The Nutcracker Giselle Romeo and Juliet Swan Lake People fight over which ballet is the best but most people say that Swan Lake (1877, Choreography by Julius Reisinger, Music By Pyotr Tchaikovsky) is the best and others say that the Nutcracker is the best because it popular at Christmas. Swan Lake is about a girl called Odette getting turned into a swan and can only be a human at night time. She meets a prince and they instantly fall in love but because she will be a swan forever they kill themselves.
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The Nutcracker (1892, Choreograpy by: Petipa and Ivanov, Music by Pyotr Tchaikovski) is about a girl called Clara who shrunk to the size of a mouse and her friend nutcracker get sent to war with other toys to fight the evil mouse king. After the nutcracker is turned into a handsome prince and they become king and queen and live happily ever after.
My favourite ballet is Giselle (1841, Choreography by Coralli and Perot, Music by Adolphe Adam) because I am going to be performing some of the moves in my end of year concert. Giselle is based on a poem by Heinrich Heine, it is very sad and emotional. It is sad because Giselle falls in love with a nobleman and there is another guy who loves Giselle. When she finds out she can not marry the nobleman she goes mad and dies of a weak heart. Here are some more ballets Paquita Coppellia Spartacus Peter Pan Anastasia Firebird
Reference
http://listverse.com/2011/02/16/top-10-greatest-ballets/
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Pyotr Tchaikovsky
What music do they play in Ballet? Ballet is danced to lots of different orchestral instruments but it is also mostly danced to piano. When it is being danced to an audience a big orchestra is being played.
Who wrote the music? There are many composers who write ballet music. But one of the most famous composers was Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840- 1893) who wrote the music for the Nutcracker and Swan Lake.
Reference
My ballet teacher, Miss Tara & Miss Lauren
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1400’s
1500’s
1600’s
1800’s
The ballet costume through history. The first ballet dress was floor length and heavy. Then a ballet dancer shortened her dress enough so you could see her fancy foot work, the audience was shocked but liked it. After that it just got shorter and shorter till it got to what we call now the tutu. Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballet_tutu
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1950’s
1990’s
2000’s
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The Little Dancer of Fourteen Years by Edgar Degas (1881)
Famous art of ballet Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917) was a painter, a drawer, a sculpture and a printmaker he did lots of paintings of ballet and this is one of them.
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Reference
http://www.edgar-degas.org/
Dance Class by Edgar Degas (1871)
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Some new words I learnt:
Evolve
(Change over time)
Enthusiastic Banquet
(Encouraging & excited)
(Special dinner with lots of dishes)
Orchestral
(Lots of instruments that make up the orchestra)
Choreography
(Making dance moves & picking music)