Armstrong
Film and Lit Period 2
09 Mar 2015
A Deeper Look Into The Arts :Many physical activities are healthy, but ballet raises high about most of them, due to all of the strength needed, balance, posture, flexibility and others. History of Ballet
What is Ballet? A form of dancing performed for theatre audiences. Ballet may tell a story, express a mood, or simply reflect the music.
The Beginnings of Ballet Can be traced to Italy during the 1400's at the time of the Renaissance. The dukes did much to promote the arts. Catherine de Medici introduced into the French court the same kind of entertainments that she had known in Italy.The French professional dancers became so skilled that they began to perform publicly in theatres.
The Italian choreographer Filippo Taglioni created the first romantic ballet, La Sylphide (1832), for his daughter Marie. Around the 1400s, as the court dances became more detailed and complicated, it became necessary to formally codify these dances to maintain consistency. In 1661, King Louis XIV established the world’s first ballet school, the Academie Royale de Danse (Royal Academy of Dance). The Pre‐Romantic period is most noted as the origin of pointe work. The Italian dancer Marie Taglioni, who was eighteen years old at the time, is generally considered to be the first ballerina to dance en pointe, balancing and moving on the ends of her toes. The period from 1830‐1870 is considered the Romantic Period of classical ballet. Romantic is now used to refer to a specific style of movement that was popular during that era. Following the Romantic Period, Russian classical ballet took off in St. Petersburg in the late 1800s with the choreography of Marius Petipa and his associate, Lev Ivanov. In 1926, the Royal Ballet opened in England, with Sir Frederick Ashton as the choreographer. Ballet in America began in New York City with the formation of the Ballet Theatre (presently the American Ballet Theatre) in 1940 and the