The Romantic History of Ballet

The art of ballet dance is actually very old. It takes a disciplined and athletic body to perform the beautiful movements that tell us a story. Performances usually take place in a theater. Many young girls fantasize about becoming stars in the ballet world. In actuality it takes a lot of hard work and many years if they make it at all.

Since so many French names are given to ballet postures, for instance the plie, most people think that the dance itself began in France. Actually ballet is known to go back as far as 15th century Italy. These movements performed during the Renaissance led to the French development of ballet as we now know it. The Queen's Ballet Company was the very first and was located in France.

Development of ballet and its popularity can be credited to the royalty. Popularity led to creation of beautiful dances, extravagant costumes, sets, and props. With passage of time, the costumes continued to become more intricate, and toe dancing was introduced. However, the dancers could only hold their positions for just a few seconds as block toe shoes were yet to be invented.

In the 19th century, romantic ballet came along. This was partly due to the ballet La Sylphide. It brought many changes to ballet and toe dancing was more in evidence. Most of us are familiar with tutus, and if you were wondering where it came from, it is attributed to the ballet Giselle. In this dance there were ghostly spirits and they were costumed in tutus.

All romantic ballets focused on women and this encouraged women to take on increasingly to become ballerinas. They grew up in Russia, Denmark and even the United States. While ballet prospered in other nations, it started declining in France. The decline could be because ballet was seen as being very other worldly with mythical steps.

The shift from mythical steps to a more reasonable style that could be co-related to human movements came about in the twentieth century. This was because of the many different styles of dance that were becoming increasingly popular. The change that started in the twentieth century continues to transform ballet even today where it incorporates different styles of dance.

One of the first instances of this was in 1944 when the Fancy Free was introduced. This revolutionary dance combined jazz dance and ballet steps. It was an immediate hit.

With time, ballet has evolved and changed in many forms. While connoisseurs of the traditional ballet have remained steadfast, the new avatars have also. A well executed ballet by professionals continues to enthral audiences despite the fact that most of us cannot even dream of performing most of the steps and moves of a ballet dancer.

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About the author: Nadya Petronas is the chief editor for Ballet @, a fantastic website to visit when you are searching for the latest knowledge, accurate up to date advice and commentary aboutBallet. For questions or comments about this article why not visit: www.balletat.com/articles
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