History of Ballet in France

Hello. Today I am going to give a brief history of ballet and its connections to France. Then I will go over a few terms, positions, and common questions about ballet. In actuality, the history of ballet begins around 1500 in Italy. Terms like ballet and ball stem from the Italian word ballere, which means to dance. When Catherine de' Medici of Italy married the French king Henry II, she introduced early dance styles into court life in France. At first, the dancers wore masks, layers upon layers of brocaded costuming, pantaloons, large headdresses, and ornaments. Such restrictive clothing was sumptuous to look at, but difficult to move in. Dance steps were composed of small hops, slides, curtsies, promenades, and gentle turns. Dancing shoes had small heels and resembled formal dress shoes rather than any contemporary ballet shoe we might recognize today. The official terminology and vocabulary of ballet was gradually codified in French over the next 100 years during the reign of Louis XIV. In 1662, Louis XIV established the Académie royale de danse. The Academy's mission was to develop the theatrical dance style performed in court, which noblemen and the king himself took part in. With the establishment of the Académie royale d'opera in 1669, dance went from being performed at court to a professional art performed on stage. Of diversement as part of larger opera ballets, dance had a symbolic, sometimes even allegorical purpose, often representing divinities and idealism. The trio formed by Jean-Baptiste Lally, a composer, Pierre Bouchon, a ballet master, who codified the five positions of the feet, and Philippe Cuenant, the liportiste, laid the foundations of the French technique. It was set with precision, elegant, and noble in style. The French technique was representative of the classicism of the time. During the early 18th century and the reign of King Louis XV, classicism gave way to Baroque styles. The varied forms of dances flourished in opera ballets, the gavotte, the minuet, the chaconne, and the jig. While it diversified and evolved significantly, ballet remained a symbolic part of opera ballets. Jean-Baptiste Rameaux's Le Indie Galant in 1732, a masterpiece of the time, characteristically embodies the Baroque style of the period. Choreographically, two schools opposed themselves. Le Conmargo was technical and virtuous. Le Salle, in contrast, was expressive and graceful. It's the latter that took over from 1760, favored by prominent choreographer and theorist Jean-Georges Nauvert, who would become director of the ballet in 1770. Nauvert took dance from its opera ballet form into an expressive genre, the action ballet. Not altogether abandoning the noble style of the court, dance evolved significantly as the choreographer weaved dramaturgy and pantomime into choreography. Costumes also evolved significantly, revealing more of the dancer's bodies and face, thus allowing for more technique and expression. Under Nauvert's directorship, the opera's ethnos and outlook became more spiritual, in line with the contemporary Enlightenment movement. From 1781, three directors succeeded each other as artistic directors of the opera. The third, Pierre Gardel, who directed the company until 1820, took inspiration from neoclassic artistic movement, embodied by artists such as Jacques-Louis David and Antonio Canova. Despite the political instability of the period in France from the French Revolution in 1789 until the mid-1800s, the Paris opera ballet continued to develop. Building on Nauvert's foundations, pirouette and allegro technique developed, and dancers' legs started to lift higher in adagio. As the Romantic movement washed over literature and visual art, artists who didn't adhere to the codes of the long-established classical convention found their inspiration elsewhere, in nature, the early medieval period, German and Northern European mythology. From 1827, Italian ballerina Marie Taglioni was a game-changer at the Paris opera. Her erythral grace and her outstanding ability to raise herself up on the very tip of her toes, as Taglioni is actually credited with the invention of the pointe shoe, facilitated the development of Romantic ballet. Jean Coralli, director of the Paris opera ballet, from 1831 to 1850, named Marie Taglioni danseuse étoile, and encouraged choreographers such as Philippe Taglioni, her father, Jules Perrault, and Joseph Maslier. Philippe Taglioni created for his daughter Marie the first ballet blanc, or white ballet, called Les Sylphides, in 1832. Nearly ten years later, in 1841, Coralli and Jules Perrault choreographed and staged Giselle, on a libretto by the famous poet and art critic, Theophile Gartier. Giselle was young Italian dancer, Carlotta Grisi's first steps on the Paris opera stage, where she reigned over the ballet company for many years thereafter, performing in Romantic ballets. She also shone in character roles, most notably, perhaps, in Joseph Maslier's Paquita, in 1846. During the second half of the 19th century, Saint Petersburg took over from Paris as the epicenter of dance, where Tchaikovsky and Petipa's ballets were a triumph. Despite notable choreographies by Joseph Maslier, with Les Corsaires in 1856, and Arthur Saint-Leon's Capella in 1870, a humorous ballet, Paris was overshadowed by the great Russian ballets and the Italian technique, which most of Paris opera's étoiles of the times trained in, from Carolina Rosari, Giuseppina Bozzacchetti, Rosie de Marie, and Carlotta Zembeli. In the early 20th century, the Russian theatre producer, Serge Diaghilev, brought together some of the country's most talented dancers, choreographers, composers, singers, and designers to form a group called the Ballets Russes. The inaugural season of Ballets Russes, in 1909 at the Théâtre du Chatelet, created a storm in Paris. It had innovative, bold choreography by Michael Fokine and Václav Nijinsky, and unsurpassed virtuosity, notability, from male dancers such as Nijinsky, and exposed the archaic style of the Paris opera. Thankfully, the Ballets Russes also sparked Paris' appetite for dance again. After the death of Serge, in 1929 the Paris opera hired one of his dancers, Serge Lefort, to direct its ballet company. His directorship spanned three decades, during which the aura of the Paris opera was restored. Virtuosity and lyricism became staples of the French technique, and many French masterpieces, such as Giselle, were revived in a modern fashion. Lefort gave Albrecht, Giselle's masculine lead, a deeper psychological dimension, which in turn gave male dancers a chance to develop artistically and as well as technically. Casting himself as the lead in most of his ballets, Lefort allowed, nonetheless, other dancers to shine, from Serge Peretti, Jean Bebris, Yvette Chavier. His choreographic signature became resolutely neoclassical, such as the Suite en Blanc in 1943. He was forced to leave the Paris opera in 1945, as he was accused of collaborating during the occupation period. Lefort came back to the Paris opera in 1947 with one of his most important works, Les Mirages. In the meantime, a Russian dancer was brought in to stage some of his ballets, George Balanchine. In 1983, Rodolphe Nurev took the lead at the Paris opera. Twenty years after defecting from Russia, he was the most famous idol of the ballet world. His most precious gift to the Paris opera, unarguably, is the legacy he leaves in the repertoire. During his tenure as artistic director, Nureliev revived Romanda in 1983, Romeo and Juliet in 1984, Swan Lake also in 1984, and La Bidaire in 1991. He also pushed center stage a group of young emerging dancers who would become the stars of their generation. Isabelle Guerin, Sylvie Guilliam, Laurent Taylor, Manuel Lacry, Elizabeth Marin, and Nicolas Leriche. There is so much more history in the world of ballet, but today we only were looking at its history in France with the Paris Opera Ballet. Now I will introduce a few ballet terms and positions, including Pierre Bouchamp's Five Positions of the Feet that form the foundation of ballet. Pierre Bouchamp's Five Positions First Position Second Position Third Position It is important to note that third position is rarely used in contemporary ballet classes. Fourth Position And finally, Fifth Position Other terms and positions Plié Meaning to bend or bent of the knee or knees. Passé A balancing position where a ballerina balances on one leg. This may be en flat, or en pointe, or en demi-pointe. Pirouette A pirouette is a passé, but it means to spin or turn. This can be done on demi-pointe or pointe. Arabesque A position on one leg with the other leg raised behind the body and extended in a straight line. Attitude A variation on the arabesque. The extended leg is raised behind the body, but bent at the knee at an angle of 90 degrees. Croisé A dancer stands with legs crossed at an angle to the audience. This disengaged leg may be crossed in the front, or in the back. Turn out The dancer turns his or her feet and legs out from the hip joints to a 90 degree position. No ballet terms. Bar Bar can refer to a horizontal bar, usually made of wood, along a studio wall for class exercises. It can also refer to these class exercises. Every ballet class begins with bar exercises. Center practice is a group of exercises similar to those at the bar, but performed in the center of the room. These exercises are done without the support of the bar and are normally performed with alternate feet. Tutu The short classical ballet skirt made of many layers of net. A romantic tutu is a long net skirt reaching below the calf. Pas de deux A dance for two. You commonly see this in ballets. It can be a woman with another woman, a man with another man, or a man and a woman. Each works together in the dance. Adagio is a succession of slow, soft, lyrical, and continuous movements. Adagio creates the illusion that the positions flow from one into another. And Allegro Allegro in ballet involves fast and dynamic movements, usually jumping steps and sequences. Finally, I will answer some common questions about ballet. What are male dancers called if female dancers are called ballerinas? A male dancer is called a danseur or a principal dancer if he is ranked highly in a professional company. What do dancers do when they aren't on stage? When not on stage, dancers take daily ballet technique classes and rehearse for upcoming or current programs. A typical day of work for a dancer starts early with an hour and a half class to warm up and refine their technique. Class is followed by four to six hours of rehearsals, sometimes followed by an evening performance. Dancers often get one to two days off a week where they are found doing normal activities just like you and me. Grocery shopping, laundry, a stroll through the park, or capturing a movie or two. What do dancers eat? Dancers eat just about anything. They do not all survive on carrots, sticks, and celery. Dancers must eat a good balanced diet that provides plenty of oomph in order to maintain the level of energy needed to exert their bodies during demanding physical rehearsals and performances. And yes, you may occasionally see a dancer in line for a double dip chocolate chip ice cream cone. What are pointe shoes made out of? Is it metal? Cement? Wood? Pointe shoes are made of layers of fabric and glue covered with satin. Pointe shoes do not have a heel like normal street shoes, but have a sole which is made of hard leather. Dancers sew satin ribbons and elastics around the ankle to keep the shoes on securely. The price of pointe shoes varies between fifty to a hundred or more dollars depending on the make and style of the shoe. Many professional dancers have shoes custom made to their feet, which cost quite a bit more than a standard pair of pointe shoes. How long do pointe shoes last? The life of the pointe shoe depends on the dancer's individual feet and what they are dancing in at the time the shoe is worn. Most ballerinas go through a pair of pointe shoes in one performance, sometimes more. How long does it take to become a professional dancer? Training to become a professional dancer takes between eight to ten years. Students begin at about age seven. Beginning ballet usually consists of one to two ballet technique classes a week. As the student gets older, around fourteen, they are heavily involved in about ten to fifteen classes a week made up of ballet technique, pointe for women, jazz, modern, partnering, and more. How long is a dancer's career? The length of a dancer's career is very similar to any other professional athlete, depending on the dancer's individual body and avoidance of injuries. After retiring from the stage, dancers can continue a career as a ballet mistress or master, choreographer or instructor, or choose a different career altogether. Many dancers today are getting degrees through universities and programs that are tailored around a dancer's vigorous schedule.