Ballet

I

Introduction

Ballet, theatricalized style of dance that evolved in Western Europe during the Renaissance (1300-1600), idealizing human form through Classical principles of harmony, balance, and restraint. The form is rooted in a technique of stylized positions and movements that have been elaborated and codified over the centuries, to become widely regarded as a system called academic ballet, or danse d’école.

The term “ballet” can also refer to a created work, with choreography deriving from the technique, and often integrated with music, scenery, and costumes. The imagery most popularly associated with ballet comes from the 19th century, from both the Romantic period (La Sylphide, 1832; Giselle, 1841), and the classical period (Swan Lake, 1877; The Sleeping Beauty, 1890; and The Nutcracker, 1892). Coppélia (1870), another well-known work, served to bridge the period between Romanticism and Classicism.

There are ballet companies the world over, and among the oldest established are the Paris Opéra Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, and the Kirov Ballet in St Petersburg. These four, together with Britain’s Royal Ballet and the New York City Ballet, count among world leaders. Reputations among ballet companies fluctuate, depending upon how a company is maintaining its style and on whether it is making a significant contribution to new work. Outside the Western world, ballet in Japan and China is increasing in popularity, mostly through performances of 19th-century classics given by national and visiting companies. Among contemporary choreographers who are internationally known for breaking with ballet’s conventions and running companies of note are: Roland Petit, Ballet de Marseille; William Forsythe, Frankfurt Ballet; and John Neumeier, Hamburg Ballet.

II

Technique and Style

Ballet technique emphasizes verticality and turn-out. The body’s uprightness, together with the physical openness of turn-out, set up a system of tension and counter-tension that not only challenges gravity but also gives ballet its characteristic lightness, grace, and alignment. Almost all the steps start from one of five turned-out positions of the feet, with five corresponding arm positions serving in complementary balance. Turn-out is achieved through years of training the legs to rotate outward from the hip joint so that, ideally, the feet can form a 180^o angle on the floor (not all dancers are capable of achieving the maximum rotation).

In the early 19th century, female ballet dancers extended the challenge of lightness by rising on to their toes, and developing a style known as dancing sur les pointes, or pointe work. Early on, pointe work’s poetic effectiveness was epitomized by the Swedish-Italian star of the Paris Opéra Ballet, Marie Taglioni.

The term “line” in ballet refers to the configuration of the dancer’s body, whether in motion or at rest. Good line comes from a combination of physical attributes and training, and is dependent on the relationship between the legs, arms, torso, and head. It is effective when the extension into space suggests a reaching out into infinity.

III

Training

Different systems of ballet training have evolved in France, Russia, and Britain, and through the work of celebrated teachers such as the Italian dancer Enrico Cecchetti and the Danish choreographer August Bournonville. The difference lies not so much in the actual steps as in the nuances of execution.

Serious ballet training usually begins at around the age of 10 or 11, though sometimes boys can start a little later. Until the bones are fully formed, children wishing to learn ballet should not attempt rigorous physical training, but are advised to learn simple movements that encourage coordination and rhythmic response. Girls usually need a minimum of three years’ training with a good teacher before they will have achieved the strength necessary to begin pointe work.If training is begun after the late teens, when flexibility is waning, it is probably unrealistic to think in terms of a professional career.

All dancers, no matter how experienced or proficient, take daily class for about an hour and a half each day to keep their bodies supple and strong. Most ballet classes begin with exercises at the barre, a horizontal bar that the dancer holds on to for support. These exercises warm up and stretch the muscles, work the tendons to make them supple, and loosen the joints. The second part of the class is done without the support of the barre and is called centre practice. It usually begins with slow, sustained exercises that develop the dancer’s sense of balance and fluidity of movement. These are followed by quick movements, beginning with small jumps and beats (in which the feet change position in mid-air) and progressing to large travelling steps, turns, and leaps.

As the dancer grows more proficient, the exercises at the barre become more complicated, although based on the same movements taught to beginners. The steps performed in the centre become quicker or slower, larger, more complex, and more physically demanding. Professional dancers go to class not so much to learn new steps as to maintain their performing standards and increase their virtuosity.

Significant positions include the arabesque, in which the dancer extends one leg backward in a straight line, and the attitude, a bent-leg extension held either behind or in front of the body. Turning steps include the pirouette, a turn on one leg with the other leg raised under the knee; and the fouetté, in which the impetus for turning comes from a whipping motion of the working leg. Among steps of elevation are the entrechat, in which the dancer jumps straight up and beats the calves of the legs together in mid-air, and the jeté, a leap from one foot on to the other. These steps include many different variations.

Besides the basic class, women often attend classes in pointe work. Men and women learn to dance together in pas de deux, or partnering, class. Some ballet schools also teach mime, the conventional hand gestures used to tell the story in older ballets such as Giselle and Swan Lake. These hand gestures have become codified (for instance, an invitation to dance is indicated by the hands circling above the head) and are less realistic than the type of mime popularized by the French mime artist Marcel Marceau. Although meaning will only be understood by those who have learnt the codes (for example, the literalness of Odette’s mime in some productions of Swan Lake, where she explains that the lake is a pool of her mother’s tears, could not be interpreted by guesswork), mime also serves to enhance poetic mood.

IV

Music and Spectacle

A ballet may be choreographed either to music especially composed for it or to music already existing. Until the 20th century, specially composed music was more common. Sometimes the choreographer and composer worked closely together, but sometimes they had little or no contact.

The use of previously existing music for dance became more frequent owing in large measure to the American dancer Isadora Duncan. One of the pioneers of modern dance, she often used music by such composers as Ludwig van Beethoven and Frédéric Chopin. Existing music may be used in its original form, or adapted and arranged by another composer to suit the choreographer’s needs.

A ballet’s narrative content, whether specially written, or adapted from a book, poem, play, or opera, is called a libretto or scenario. Plotless ballets, by contrast, create a mood, interpret music, or simply celebrate dancing for its own sake.

Scenery for ballet is mainly confined to backdrops and side pieces, or wings, ensuring that the centre stage remains clear for dancing. Some modern ballets use slide projections, films, and lighting as special effects. Sometimes lighting is the sole dramatic effect.

Originally, ballet costumes were simply the fashionable dress clothes of the time. The early tutu, a bell-shaped skirt of layers of tarlatan, was popularized by Marie Taglioni in the ballet La Sylphide (1832). It was shortened in the course of the century and became synonymous with the image of the ballerina.

Ballet costume became more varied under the influence of the 20th-century Russian choreographer Michel Fokine. Dancers today perform in many types of costume, including the simple practice clothes worn in the studio. Although first used by the Russian-American choreographer George Balanchine for financial reasons, practice clothes are often a deliberate costume choice because of their simplicity and clarity of line.