What do you know about ballet. The most amazing facts about ballet

An art such as ballet has existed for several centuries, and all this time it continues to become more complex and develop. Ballet connoisseurs before, in a bygone era, sometimes traveled hundreds and thousands of kilometers long to enjoy a performance, but now, fortunately, everything is much simpler. However, not everyone likes such dances - it's a matter of taste.

Facts about ballet

• Italy is the birthplace of the art of ballet. From there it came to France, and from there it spread throughout Europe.
• Its name comes from the Italian “ballo”, which simply means “dance”.
• At the dawn of ballet, dance did not require significant physical training. And then the Italian ballerina Maria Taglioni began dancing on her fingertips, which set a new vector for the development of ballet art.
• For several centuries, Russian ballet was so popular that European performers often took Russian pseudonyms.
• Sergei Yesenin's lover was the famous ballerina Isadora Duncan, who died tragically during a car ride ().
• On average, a prima ballerina needs about 300 pairs of ballet shoes every year, that is, their consumption is more than 1 pair per day, including weekends. An ordinary ballerina uses about 100 pairs per year.
• Most ballerinas are very petite. Their average weight does not exceed 50 kg.
• Ballet classes at a professional level entail a huge load on the body, which is why ballet dancers get sick on average 3-4 times more often than ordinary people.
• The legendary ballerina Olga Lepeshinskaya broke her leg in three places right on stage, and the crack of the bone was heard even by the audience. However, she ended the performance as if nothing had happened. Neither she nor the doctors understood how she did it.
• Initially, only men danced in ballet.
• The equivalent of throwing rotten tomatoes in ballet is a broom wrapped in newspaper thrown onto the stage.
• On average, a ballet dancer lifts his partner about 200 times per performance, thus lifting about 10 tons of total weight.
• Since 2001, ballet has been banned in Turkmenistan ().
• Ballet tutus are made by hand, and one piece requires several days of labor and 13-15 meters of tulle.
• Many ballet dancers are quite superstitious. One of the common superstitions is to enter the dressing room only with your left foot.
• Ballet tutus were invented about 180 years ago, and they have remained virtually unchanged since then.
• The most popular ballet work in the world is Swan Lake.

Did you know that some ballet dancers use a hair dryer to prepare their pointe shoes? And that a prima ballerina's pointe shoes can only withstand half a performance? Ballet is often described as a graceful, feminine and delicate art form. But in reality, in the incomprehensible world of ballet, everything is not at all as we imagine. In this article we want to present you with amazing facts about ballet dancers and the art of theatrical dance.

Initially, men danced in ballet

In the 15th century, when Catherine de' Medici, one of the earliest patrons of ballet, married the French king Henry II, France became central to the development of ballet. For the first few centuries, courtiers danced, and professional dancers did not perform major roles. Moreover, most of the dancers were men. The first female ballerina did not appear until 1681, and it was only forty years later that women began to rival men's dance technique. And although today ballet is considered a female art form, there are still more choreographers and company directors than women.

Ballet dancers train harder than most professional athletes

It takes up to ten years to train a single professional dancer, and many of those years will be spent in over twenty hours of training per week. Not only do dancers learn ballet, but they must also take modern dance and acting classes, learn to collaborate with a partner, and perform variations. And this is not just the number of hours required to be worked. National Football League football player Steve McLendon says ballet is the hardest part of his training regimen. Despite McLindon's bulky muscles, his dance teacher pushes him to achieve strength and grace in the art form. The combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercises in a ballet class ensures that all muscles are trained.

Most professional ballet dancers eat healthy

The often cited ideal body type for a ballerina is very thin, having long, thin legs and arms, a short torso with narrow hips, and a thin neck. This type has inspired countless young dancers to focus on their weight to an unhealthy degree. However, contrary to popular belief, few dancers suffer from anorexia. While aspiring dancers often have an unhealthy relationship with food, and some may suffer from an eating disorder, this is not the case for the majority. In recent years, companies have made efforts to develop healthy dancers. The Royal Danish Ballet is known to have interviewed staff members who exhibited unhealthy eating habits. Additionally, many professional troupes use nutritionists and physical therapists to help keep their dancers' figures in good shape.

Meanwhile, on our website you can find healthy breakfasts that can be prepared in no more than five minutes.

Permission to wear pointe shoes is not given immediately

The most important step for an aspiring ballerina is putting on pointe shoes. The graceful act of climbing on your toes in satin shoes inspires many young girls to take up ballet. But it's not as harmless as it seems. Starting too early can cause serious injury to a student. As a rule, until the age of ten or eleven, the bones are too soft and many experienced teachers allow dancing on pointe shoes no earlier than the second half of the year of study. Additionally, the dancer's technique must be strong enough to use the shoes safely. Exact numbers vary, but most professional teachers agree that two or more years of teaching several times a week is required.

New pointe shoes must be damaged

The new pointe shoes are very heavy and dangerous for dancing. Over the course of many years of training, each dancer discovers how they like to adjust or break their shoes to suit their feet. Some of these measures are quite unusual. For example, some dancers scratch the bottom of their pointe shoes to make them less slippery, slam them on the ground to reduce the sound on stage, cut out part of the shank—the inside of the sole—to make them more pliable, or apply shellac to harden them. One particular brand even requires the dancer to use a hair dryer to melt and mold the shoes onto the foot, then place them in the refrigerator to harden.

Some pointe shoes have a shelf life of one hour.

During one season, which usually lasts only a few months, a ballet dancer can use up to 120 pairs of shoes. Because pointe shoes are so expensive, ranging from $60 to over $100 per pair, they are one of the major expenses of professional companies. One company, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, reports spending nearly $100,000 a year on women's dance shoes. Some ballet primas are known to use multiple couples in one performance, especially if they are dancing leading roles in ballets such as Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty.

Male ballet dancer

Although much of the emphasis in classical ballet is on the ballerina, the male dancer is just as important. He supports the ballerina in some of the most beautiful and challenging parts of the classical repertoire. Many dancers, like American Ballet Theater's Marcelo Gomez, pride themselves on being good partners. His job is as much about creating safety on stage for the ballerina as it is about how the lines of her body appear in the icy light. Meanwhile, most men are forced to fight the stereotype of femininity in ballet. The art form is often perceived by the general public as a feminine realm. Smaller dance studios usually only have a few boys mixed in with the girls. Many of these schools do not have the resources or knowledge to properly train young people, especially when it comes to partnerships and more complex jumps and turns. This is why many successful male dancers, including Gomez, left their homes at a young age to teach at prestigious schools.

Ballet accompanist - pianist playing live

When you think of a ballet company, an accompanist is probably not the one who comes to mind. However, pianists play a critical role both in the everyday classroom and during rehearsals and performances. Since they replaced violinists in the late 19th century, pianists have helped shape the musicality of young dancers and have accompanied countless rehearsals and even performances. And their job is by no means easy. Not only do they need to be able to play different parts at different tempos for each part of the class, but they also need to be fluent in ballet terminology. If the teacher says, “We'll go from the glide path,” every dance accompanist will know where to start.

Not all ballet dancers are young

Just as ballet is stereotyped as a feminine art, it is also considered a youthful art. And while most professionals retire between the ages of 30 and 40, some are retained by large companies as hero artists. These tend to be dancers in companies such as London's Royal Ballet who have held positions as principal dancers or principals during their primary careers. They now take on roles that are less physically demanding but artistically challenging. For example, the artist's male character may no longer play the prince in Sleeping Beauty, but he will portray Van Rothbart, the evil wizard.

Tutus - handmade

In addition to pointe shoes, a ballet tutu is also very important for a ballerina's performance. This is also a big expense for professional companies, as one high-quality pack can cost $2,000. But they last a very long time - sometimes up to 30 years, and several generations of dancers can wear them. It is traditional for dancers to write their name on the inside of the tutu so that future performers know who wore it before them. The top layer of a classic tutu extends 33 to 38 centimeters from the hip joint, but underneath there are more than ten additional layers of tulle supported by a metal hoop. Sewing a tutu is an extremely labor-intensive and prickly process. One pack can take 120 hours!

The roots of Russian ballet, like any art form, lie in dance folklore. Most likely, these were cult dances (all kinds of round dances) and play dances (“Pere-dance”, “Kuma, where was I”, etc.). Russian ballet not only preserved all aesthetic canons, but also became a trendsetter in the world of ballet.

Origins

In Kievan Rus at the turn of the 8th-9th centuries, the first dancers began to appear, professionals in their field - buffoons... After a while, when Moscow became the capital, buffoons were no longer necessarily men.

In the 15th-16th centuries, cheerful spectacles of mummers with faces hidden by masks, the so-called “mashkars,” amazed and surprised visiting foreigners.

In the 17th century, the history of Russian ballet was marked by the opening of the Kremlin Theater. According to the established tradition, each production in this theater always ended with intersenes (special performances of ballet). These so-called entrée were performed by men dressed in pompous clothing. The actors demonstrated several elements of ballroom dance.

Royal fun

The first full-scale ballet performance in Russia is considered to be a performance staged on February 8, 1673. This significant event took place at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and it was called “The Ballet of Orpheus and Eurydice.” The history of Russian ballet describes it as a change of ceremonial poses, slow dances, bows and transitions. Between them, the actors spoke memorized words or sang. All this bore little resemblance to a real theatrical performance. It was just royal fun, enticing with its obscurity.

Meanwhile, I. Gregory, the organizer of the theater, invites Nicola Lima to organize training courses in theatrical skills for the royal theater. At first, 10 children of noble townspeople, then 20, successfully completed their training and showed the ballet “Orpheus” in the French style to the Tsar.

The task has been set

Only after a quarter of a century had passed, Peter I, having set out to reform the cultural life of Russia, introduced music and dance into the life of Russian society. He decides to instill art in the elite layers of St. Petersburg residents. To achieve this, Peter I closes the Moscow theater of Alexei Mikhailovich and issues a revolutionary decree. This Assembly Decree made it compulsory for all government institutions to teach ballroom dancing. These reforms made the position of dance master unattainably high. It is to these stewards of the assemblies that ballet owes the appearance of innovations in ballet dance movements that came from abroad in the form of elements from national Slavic dances.

Author V. Krasovskaya (“History of Russian Ballet” - Leningrad Art, 1978) believes that thanks to the energy and peremptory nature of Peter I, performances by ballet troupes, musicians and opera artists invited from abroad began to take place in the palace halls.

At the beginning of 1738, a school of ballet art was organized in the country, which became, in fact, the first. The history of Russian ballet briefly talks about this period. Graduates of the school worked in ballet groups of foreign theaters as so-called figurants (corps de ballet actors). And only much later were they allowed to join the main parties.

First vocational training

Historians consider Sukhuputny to be the cradle of modern ballet. The famous Jean Baptiste Lange worked there, and he and his students staged three court ballet performances. As the history of Russian ballet shows, they became practically the first ballet performances that complied with all the laws and norms of the Royal Academy of Dance in the capital of France.

Cadets of the gentry corps took part in an academic, lyrical, semi-characteristic and at the same time comic ballet performance by the Fessano troupe from Italy.

Elizabeth I, in order not to lose trained ballet dancers, opens Her Majesty's Own Dance School, the first intake of which was 12 children of commoners.

And by the end of 1742, the empress signed a decree ordering the establishment of a ballet troupe of Russian dancers. It was here that the first Russian stars appeared - professional ballet dancers: Aksinya Baskakova and Afanasy Toporkov.

Breaking the Deadlock

The death of Baptiste Lande brings confusion to the choreographic business in the country. The performances directed by Fessano become monotonous and boring burlesques. The audience is not attracted to such productions.

The history of Russian ballet briefly describes that period. At this time, in Europe there is a question about the reform of choreography. Rousseau and Saint-Mars demand that ballet dancers get rid of their pompous clothes and masks and wigs. Diderot strongly recommends changing the storylines of ballet performances. Meanwhile, John Weaver, without waiting for general changes, stages a dance performance with a well-thought-out plot, and Georges Nover writes the legendary “Letters on Dance.”

Russian ballet is not far behind. The appearance of Hilferding is proof of this. This German specialist established plot choreographic performances in St. Petersburg. In Paris, story ballet productions appeared only 15 years later. Hilferding was assisted by Leopold Paradiso. Already by the 50s of the 18th century they were creating independent ballet plays.

Beginning of dramatic productions

The first drama in Russian ballet belongs to A.P. Sumarokov. He promoted laudatory dance performances and composed the literary basis for the ballet performances “Refuge of Virtue” and “New Laurels.”

Gasparo Angiolini, a choreographer invited by the Tsar, intensifying the brightness of Slavic folk song notes, staged the ballet performance “Fun about Christmastide.” Catherine II highly praised the performance. In 1779, the entire Legislative Commission approved the ballet, the music for which was written based on Slavic folklore.

After such enormous success, Angilini moved on to entertaining theater productions that satirized topical issues. These were panegyrics that caused a stir: “Triumphing Russia” (the defeat of the Turkish army at Kagul and Larga was praised), “New Argonauts” (a glorious ode to the fleet of the Russian Empire) and “Victory Reasoning” (the question of concern to everyone about the need for vaccination against the rampant smallpox was raised).

A little earlier, the first heroic ballet performance of “Semira” was staged. From that moment on, choreographers began to pay great attention to the expressiveness of ballet dance. For dancers can simultaneously be engaged in amusing opera performances of non-state theaters, and in pseudo-Russian opera shows, the libretto for which was composed by the Empress herself.

By the new year of 1778 in St. Petersburg (as the history of Russian ballet shows, books vividly describe this unique event) two theaters await the audience: the commercial “Free Theater” and the court one.

The first serf groups

In the second half of the 18th century, mastering the art of dancing became fashionable. And already at the beginning of 1773, under the tutelage of Leopold Paradise, the first educational center was opened in the capital on the basis of the Orphanage, which later became the first public theater. The first intake included 60 children. Yu. Bakhrushin talks about the first choreographic performances staged by the famous Cosimo Meddox in his books.

The history of Russian ballet, studied and described by him in great detail, fully reveals this period of dance art. Medox, with a team of young dancers trained in Russia, staged comic operas, choreographic performances dedicated to real events (for example, “The Taking of Ochakov”), and divertissements.

Against this background, the serf theater began to develop rapidly. In the last decade of the 18th century, large groups of serf actors were already well known. Zorich, Golovkina, Apraksin, Sheremetyev, Potemkin and other landowners had such groups.

The same period was marked by the development and staging of women's dance techniques and stage decoration for performances. A new tradition is emerging of specifying the scene of action on stage, painting scenery in a realistic style, and using the play of penumbra and light.

Celebration of Russian ballet

The history of Russian ballet of the 19th and 20th centuries is rich and diverse. By the beginning of the 19th century, the art of ballet reaches the maturity that is appreciated by the audience. Russian ballerinas bring airiness, nobility and expressiveness to their choreography. This is very aptly noted by A. S. Pushkin, describing the beauty of the dance movements of his contemporary, the star of the ballet stage, Istomina: “soul-filled flight” (the phrase has become synonymous with ballet). Her facial expressions and refinement of dance movements evoked admiration. Most of the spectators went to

Anastasia Likhutina, Ekaterina Teleshova, and Maria Danilova were no less beautiful.

Ballet performances are gaining popularity. Ballet dance, as an art, becomes privileged, and state subsidies are allocated for it.

By the 60s of the last century, the cultural elite was embraced by the newfangled movement of “realism”. A crisis is coming to the Russian theater. Regarding choreographic performances, it was expressed in the primitivism of the storyline, which was adjusted to a specific dance. Ballerinas who have achieved perfection are offered to dance in realistic performances.

The history of the creation of Russian ballet is entering a new phase. The revival began with Pyotr Tchaikovsky, who was the first to write music for a choreographic production. For the first time in the history of ballet, music became as important as dance. And it even found itself on a par with opera music and symphonic compositions. If before Tchaikovsky music was written for dance elements, now the ballet actor, with plasticity, movement and grace, sought to convey the musical mood and emotion, thereby helping the viewer to unravel the plot transcribed by the composer to notes. The world still admires the famous Swan Lake.

Choreographer A. Gorsky introduced elements of modern directing into his productions and began to pay great attention to the artistic framing of the stage, believing that the viewer should be completely immersed in what is happening on stage. He prohibited the use of elements of pantomime. M. Fokin radically turned the situation around. He revived romantic ballet and made body language in dance understandable and speaking. According to Fokin, each stage production should be unique. That is, the musical accompaniment, style and dance pattern must be unique to a specific performance. In the first years of the 20th century, his productions “Egyptian Nights”, “The Dying Swan”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Acis and Galatea” and others were sold out.

In 1908, P. invites Fokin to become the main director of the Parisian “Russian Seasons”. Thanks to this invitation, Fokin becomes world famous. And Russian ballet dancers began to perform triumphantly in the French capital every year. The history of Russian ballet glorifies the dancers of the Russian troupe, whose names the whole world knows: Adolf Bolm, Tamara Karsavina, Vaslav Nijinsky, etc. And this during the decline of European ballet!

Diaghilev took a risk and won. He assembled a troupe of young and talented ballet actors and gave them freedom of action. He allowed us to act outside the known framework set by the famous, but already quite elderly Petipa.

Freedom of action gave the dancers the opportunity to discover and express themselves. In addition to these revolutionary innovations, Diaghilev attracted his most famous contemporaries (J. Cocteau, A. Derain, P. Picasso) and composers (C. Debissy, M. Ravel, I. Stravinsky) to the artistic design. Now every ballet production has become a masterpiece.

After the October Revolution, many dancers and choreographers left rebellious Russia. But the core remained. Russian ballet is gradually becoming closer to the people. The pages of history during the period of formation have seen a lot...

After the mid-20th century, dancers and choreographers of a new generation returned to the stage the forgotten dance miniature, symphony and one-act ballet. The number of studios and theaters began to steadily increase.

"Triumphator", ballerina, ballet critic

The famous Russian dancer Vera Mikhailovna Krasovskaya was born in the Russian Empire on September 11, 1915. After high school, she entered and successfully graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School in 1933. She studied with the famous Vaganova Agrippina. From that time until 1941, Krasovskaya served at the Theater. Kirov. She is busy with ballets of the academic repertoire.

In 1951, Vera Mikhailovna completed her postgraduate studies at the Theater Institute in Leningrad. A. Ostrovsky, after basic training at the Faculty of Theater Studies.

The school of professionalism received by Krasovskaya first in the class of Agrippina Vaganova, then in the ballet productions of the Mariinsky Theater, together with an encyclopedic knowledge base, aristocracy, cultural traditions and amazing command of languages ​​(French and English), allowed her to become a brilliant and definitely the largest ballet art critic.

In 1998, good news spread throughout the theater world. The Triumph Award was received by Vera Mikhailovna Krasovskaya. The history of Russian ballet, which she described in books (some of them translated into foreign languages) and articles (more than 300) as an art historian and critic, made Vera Mikhailovna a laureate of the free Russian Triumph Prize. This award recognizes excellence in art and literature.

In 1999, Vera Mikhailovna Krasovskaya passed away.

Epilogue

The history of Russian ballet gratefully preserves the names of the masters of dance art who made a colossal contribution to the formation of Russian choreography. These are the well-known C. Didelot, M. Petipa, A. Saint-Leon, S. Diaghilev, M. Fomin and many others. And the talent of Russian artists attracted and today attracts a huge number of spectators in different countries of the world.

To this day, Russian ballet troupes are considered the best in the world.

As children, all girls dream of becoming ballerinas; for most, this remains just a dream. But even as adults, we know very little about ballet

Children's dreams are like ballerinas - light and airy, in beautiful dresses, surrounded by admiration. With small heads with pigtails, ballerinas appear as nothing more than airy clouds - beautiful and weightless. Then the girls grow up, their pigtails are cut off, and their dreams give way to goals.

And today we decided to return to these childhood dreams and find out about ballet what we didn’t know then, and maybe don’t even suspect now.

1. Only men

Ballet is a woman's world, in which a man is only an honored guest. (George Balanchine)

Today, ballet is considered mainly a female art, a woman reigns and rules in it. And when ballet had just appeared and until the very end of the 17th century, only men danced in it. For women, this was considered indecent, since their massive dresses with long skirts and rigid corsets did not allow noble ladies to move normally, they literally pressed them to the ground.

Mademoiselle de La Fontaine

Mademoiselle de La Fontaine is considered the first professional ballerina in history. She performed the main role in the ballet "Triumph of Love". It began the penetration of women into ballet, and in the 17th century a turning point came and women began to play the main role.

2. Turnout

We have all seen how ballerinas stand: their feet unnaturally turn their toes apart. There are actually 5 basic hand and foot positions in ballet (and they are all reversible). And they came from fencing art. After all, only men, and of noble birth, took part in the ballet, and fencing was then a mandatory skill for a nobleman.

Positions in ballet and fencing are very similar, and the eversion of the legs helps to move from each position in any direction. In fact, dancing and wrestling have a lot in common - much more than just body positions.

3. Without words?

The first ballets were not wordless at all. And they included not only dancing. More precisely, these dances were part of grandiose performances that could last for 17 hours and included dramatic readings, dialogues, singing, horse shows, battles, and dancing too.

But the first silent ballets appeared only two centuries later. They were called “action ballets” and appeared thanks to innovative choreographers (Noverre, Weaver, Angiolini), who made a whole revolution in artistic costumes. Bulky, restrictive clothing was rejected, as were masks (mandatory for performances). And the dancers now have free body flexibility and the opportunity to help dance with facial expressions. The performances became much more expressive and lively, and the dance could already tell the story without words.

4. Unclear names

In fact, they are understandable, but to the French. All ballet movements are traditionally named in French, because it was in France that the first Academy of Dance was founded. And all terms come from ordinary French words. For example, a grand jeté (grand - big, jeté from the verb jeter - to throw, throw) - it turns out that a “big throw” is a jump from one leg to the other with moving forward, backward or to the side and maximum opening of the legs.

From France, the passion for ballet spread to other countries, but the terms remained in French; such uniformity helped students overcome the language barrier and calmly comprehend the art of dance in any country.

5. Pointe shoes

Now pointe shoes are the calling card of ballet. However, this was not always the case either. At first, high-heeled shoes (invented by Louis XIV) were used for dancing. The first ballerina to abandon heels in favor of soft shoes was Marie Salle, who also shortened her skirt and dropped her corset shell. Such a flexible and fragile image of a ballerina, with a short skirt and tight-fitting tunic, was considered the height of indecency in the 17th century, but it looked very artistic.

Maria Taglioni in the ballet La Sylphide. Lithograph of Chalon and Lane

But despite these early attempts, the laurels of the first pointe dancer went to Maria Taglioni. And this is justified. Maria was preparing to perform in the leading role in the ballet La Sylphide, which tells about a folklore character, a fairy, the spirit of the air - the eternally young and light, winged Sylphide. To convey this airiness and weightlessness, Maria came up with the idea of ​​balancing on the very toe of her foot - on pointe (en pointe - in French means “on the toe”, “at the peak”, “at the tip”). In order to be able to do this, Maria's shoemaker created a shoe that was secured at the toe with a cork so that all the weight could be transferred to it - and thus pointe shoes were born.

6. Tutu

Another characteristic feature of ballet is the tutu. And we also owe her appearance to Maria Taglioni. Her sylph outfit - a light sleeveless dress with a bell-shaped skirt - became the basis for a “romantic costume”.

Now there are two types of packs. “Romantic” (I also call it “Chopin”) looks like this: flowing fabric, a fluffy skirt knee-length or lower, sometimes airy sleeves are added to the look - such a costume gives the ballerina’s image lightness and airiness.

But with the development of ballet technique, even greater freedom of leg movement was needed, and the tutu was shortened and thickened. This tutu is a little like a saucer, its standard radius is about 50 cm, and ballets that are considered classical today are danced in it.

There is another option for ballerina clothing. It is called "chiton". The outfit in which Juliet is danced is the most striking example.

What is ballet, history of ballet

“We want not just to dance, but to speak through dance”
G. Ulanova

The amazing, beautiful and multifaceted world of ballet will not leave anyone indifferent. This word was first heard in Italy, the genre itself arose in France, in addition, ballet is the real pride of Russia, moreover, in the 19th century it was the Russian performance created P.I. Tchaikovsky , became a genuine example.

Read about the history and significance of this genre in the cultural enrichment of a person on our page.

What is ballet?

This is a musical and theatrical genre in which several types of arts are closely intertwined. Thus, music, dance, painting, dramatic and visual arts are combined with each other, building a coherent performance that unfolds before the public on the theater stage. Translated from Italian, the word “ballet” means “dancing.”

When did ballet originate?

The first mention of ballet dates back to the 15th century; there is information that the court dance teacher Domenico da Piacenza proposed combining several dances for the next ball, writing a solemn finale for them and labeling them as ballet.

However, the genre itself arose a little later in Italy. The starting point is 1581; it was at this time in Paris that Balthazarini staged his performance based on dance and music.In the 17th century, mixed performances (opera and ballet) became popular. At the same time, greater importance in such productions is given to music rather than dance. Only thanks to the reformative work of the French choreographer Jean Georges Novera, the genre acquires classical outlines with its own “choreographic language”.

The formation of the genre in Russia

There is information that the first performance of “The Ballet of Orpheus and Eurydice” was presented in February 1673 at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The most talented choreographer Charles-Louis Didelot made a great contribution to the formation of the genre. However, the famous composer is considered to be a real reformer P.I. Tchaikovsky . It is in his work that the formation of romantic ballet takes place. P.I. Tchaikovsky paid special attention to music, turning it from an accompanying element into a powerful tool that helps dance subtly capture and reveal emotions and feelings. The composer transformed the form of ballet music, and also built a unified symphonic development.The work of A. Glazunov also played a significant role in the development of ballet (“ Raymonda "), I. Stravinsky (" Firebird ", "Sacred spring", " Parsley "), as well as the work of choreographers M. Petipa , L. Ivanova, M. Fokina. Creativity stands out in the new century S. Prokofiev , D. Shostakovich, R. Gliera , A. Khachaturyan.
In the 20th century, composers began searching to overcome stereotypes and established rules.

Who is a ballerina?

Not everyone who dances in ballet was previously called a ballerina. This is the highest title that dancers received upon achieving a certain amount of artistic merit, as well as several years after working in the theater. Initially, everyone who graduated from the Theater School was accepted as corps de ballet dancers, with rare exceptions as soloists. Some of them managed to achieve the title of ballerina after two or three years of work, some only before retirement.

Main Components

The main components of ballet are classical dance, character dance and pantomime.Classical dance originates in France. It is incredibly flexible and elegant. Solo dances are called variations and adagios. For example, the well-known Adagio from the ballet by P. I. Tchaikovsky. Moreover, these numbers can also be performed in ensemble dances.

In addition to the soloists, the corps de ballet takes part in the action, creating crowd scenes.
Often the dances of the corps de ballet are characteristic. For example, “Spanish Dance” from “Swan Lake”. This term refers to folk dances introduced into the performance.

Films about ballet

Ballet is a very popular art form, which is also reflected in cinema. There are many beautiful paintings about ballet, which can be divided into three broad categories:

1. Documentary films are documentaries of a ballet performance, through which you can get acquainted with the work of great dancers.
2. Film-ballet - such films also show the performance itself, but the action no longer takes place on stage. For example, the film “Romeo and Juliet” (1982), directed by Paul Zinner, where the main roles were played by the famous R. Nureyev and C. Fracci; “The Tale of the Little Humpbacked Horse” (1961), where the main role was played by Maya Plisetskaya.
3. Feature films, the action of which is related to ballet. Such films allow you to immerse yourself in the world of this art and sometimes the events in them unfold against the backdrop of a production, or they tell about everything that happens in the theater. Among such films, Proscenium, an American film directed by Nicholas Hytner, which the public saw in 2000, deserves special attention.
4. Special mention should be made of the biographical films: “Margot Fonteyn” (2005), “Anna Pavlova” and many others.

One cannot ignore the 1948 film “The Red Shoes” directed by M. Powell and E. Pressburger. The film introduces viewers to a performance based on Andersen's famous fairy tale and immerses the audience in the world of ballet.

Director Stephen Daldry presented the film “Billy Elliot” to the public in 2001. It tells the story of an 11-year-old boy from a mining family who decides to become a dancer. He gets a unique chance and enters the Royal Ballet School.

The film “Giselle Mania” (1995), directed by Alexei Uchitel, will introduce viewers to the life of the legendary Russian dancer Olga Spesivtseva, whom her contemporaries nicknamed Red Giselle.

In 2011, the acclaimed film “Black Swan” by Darren Aronofsky was released on television, which shows the life of the ballet theater from the inside.

Modern ballet and its future

Modern ballet is very different from classical ballet with more daring costumes and free dance interpretation. The classics included very strict movements, in contrast to the modern, which is most appropriately called acrobatic. A lot in this case depends on the chosen topic and idea of ​​the performance. Based on it, the director already selects a set of choreographic movements. In modern performances, movements can be borrowed from national dances, new directions of plastic arts, and ultra-modern dance movements. Interpretation is also carried out in a new way, for example, Matthew Byrne's acclaimed production of Swan Lake, in which girls were replaced by men. The works of choreographer B. Eifman are a real philosophy in dance, since each of his ballets contains a deep meaning. Another trend in modern performance is the blurring of genre boundaries, and it would be more correct to call it multi-genre. It is more symbolic compared to the classic one, and uses many quotes and references. Some performances use the montage principle of construction, and the production consists of disparate fragments (frames), which all together make up the overall text.

In addition, throughout modern culture there is a huge interest in various remakes, and ballet is no exception. Therefore, many directors try to force the audience to look at the classic version from a different perspective. New readings are welcome, and the more original they are, the greater success awaits them.

Pantomime is an expressive game using gestures and facial expressions.

In modern productions, choreographers expand the established framework and boundaries; in addition to classical components, gymnastic and acrobatic numbers are added, as well as modern dancing (modern, free dance). This trend emerged in the 20th century and has not lost its relevance.

Ballet– a complex and multifaceted genre in which several types of art are closely intertwined. No one can be indifferent to the graceful movements of the dancers, their expressive performance and the enchanting sounds of classical music. Just imagine how ballet will decorate a holiday; it will become a real pearl of any event.