Going all the way back to the 15 century, imagine noblemen dancing in courts, showing off their abilities and riches. This is where ballet originated. Noblemen wanted to look different from peasants, so they stood with their feet turned out, knees pulled up, shoulders back, chin up and a straight back, creating the proper ballet stance. This originated in Italy, but was quickly brought to France by Catherine De Medici. She married King Louis XIV of France and together they popularized the dance form. Hence, why ballet is French.
By 1661, the Royal Academy of Dance formed. Due to the overwhelming popularity, court dances quickly became performances. Nobility could no longer participate in the long rehearsals, training and shows. Peasants were then hired to entertain the noblemen, creating the professional dancer. Soon after, the Paris Opera Ballet was formed creating the first ballet company, which still exists today. The art forms made Paris a place that everyone wanted to see. There were extravagant fabrics, architecture and money making it a huge tourist attraction. Since so many people wanted to visit, ballet spread quickly. Eventually all over the world, ballet companies and training centers were forming.
The first big change in costuming was the romantic tutu. Dancers went from wearing pants and party dresses to more light and airy material to portray different characters. The romantic tutu was perfect for portraying characters such as nymphs, fairies and sylphs. The romantic tutu was created first for Marie Taglioni, a famous Italian dancer, to show off more of her legs and to give her the appearance of floating. Another tutu that was created is the bell shaped tutu which is made famous in paintings by Edgar Degas. Lastly, the pancake tutu is a stiff tutu that goes out from the hip and shows a majority of the legs. The ballet skirt is a simple skirt that is short and flows, often seen in Balanchine’s works.
One of the biggest innovations in ballet was the ability for a dancer to dance “en pointe.” The idea was first created by Charles Didelot. He created a “flying machine” that lifted the dancers by wires. However, this inhibited the ability for dancers to move freely. During this time, majestic fairytale creatures had never been seen. Audiences loved that ballet took them to another world. Again, Marie Taglioni was first seen standing on her toes. During this time, dancers could only stay up for a few seconds due to lack of support. Shoes were simply a slipper, which we see today in ballet class, with added leather to the arch and padded toes. Anna Pavlova was a dancer with very high arches and slender feet, this made her more susceptible to injury. She is the first to be known to add more leather to the sole of her shoe and add a box to the toes, creating the pointe shoe. Since then, many innovations have been made to make the shoe more supportive and comfortable.
Since ballet was created, the styles have been altered by many dancers and other dance forms. Today, we have classical ballet and contemporary ballet, most professional dancers are expected to be able to do both.
I want to say a huge thank you to USF professor, Andrew Carroll for a fabulous and comical ballet history class. I hope this article meets your expectations.
