Ballet left Italian courts for Louis XIV's academy rules
Fifteenth-century Renaissance festivals dressed nobles in motion-limiting costumes; France then professionalized the art. Louis XIV founded a dance academy in 1661 and later placed Lully over the Paris Opera, from which the first professional company and the five foot positions grew.
Ballet is a highly technical concert dance that began in Italian Renaissance courts of the fifteenth century, matured in France and Russia, and now trains dancers worldwide with a shared vocabulary that seeds many other genres. A ballet work pairs choreography and music; classical productions often use elaborate design, while modern ones may strip sets and dress. The English word arrived from French around 1630, itself from Italian balletto, Latin ballare, and Greek ballizo, to dance or jump about.
Under Catherine de' Medici the form crossed into France, still mostly danced by noble amateurs. From 1618 the proscenium arch separated viewers from professionals' feats. Louis XIV's Académie Royale de Danse (1661) set teaching standards; in 1672 Jean-Baptiste Lully directed the Académie Royale de Musique, breeding the Paris Opera Ballet with Pierre Beauchamp as ballet-master—partners credited with the five major positions. By 1681 trained ballerinas appeared. After about 1830 French ballet waned while Denmark, Italy, and Russia advanced; Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes revived European interest before the First World War.
Romantic ballet in the early to mid-nineteenth century elevated pointe work, female stars, and spirit narratives from La Sylphide (1827) to Coppélia (1870), with Giselle among the most celebrated. Neoclassical abstraction is often dated from Balanchine's Apollo (1928); Ashton, Tetley, Joffrey, and others pushed athleticism and rock-scored experiments such as Astarte (1967). Contemporary ballet keeps classical technique while borrowing modern floor work—Balanchine and Twyla Tharp among pioneers. Six widely taught methods include French, Vaganova, Cecchetti, Bournonville, Royal Academy of Dance, and Balanchine schools.
Source: Ballet
