Dance History Exam 2 - The First Ballet and The Golden Age of Ballet

The First Ballet - Catherine de Medici (Italy) (1519-1589)

brings Italian culture to France

The First Ballet - was the ballet only for the nobility to come and watch?

no, the commoner would allowed to come and watch too

The First Ballet - did noblewomen perform?

generally didn’t, men dressed as women + performed the female

What was the first ballet and why was it known to be the first ballet?

Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581) because it had one theme (Legend of Circle, Greek enchantress)

Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581) - produced…

• at the court of Henry iii of France

• by the Queen mother Catherine de Medici in honor of her daughter-in-law and for unity

Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581) - who was the ballet master?

Balthdsar de Beaujoyeux and he was Italian

Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581) - what was created for this spectacle?

original music, sets, scenery, poetry, songs, and dances

Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581) - what was the time the ballet took place?

10pm - 3am

Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581) - what was France considered?

the center of development of ballet because flyers were sent out to all the courts of Europe with pictures of this great spectacle

Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581) - definition of ballet, what word did the definition derive from?

ballare meaning “to dance” and eventually coming to mean a form of theatrical storytelling through dance

Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581) - ballare is an Italian word because…

Catherine is Italian

Great Patrons of the Arts - Louis XIV, the Sun King

great dancer, danced in over 26 ballets

Great Patrons of the Arts - Louis XIV, the Sun King - considered as the….

greatest patron of the arts where ballet developed most under his reign and added women

Great Patrons of the Arts - Louis XIV, the Sun King - who did he hire as the dance master?

Pierre Beauchamps

Great Patrons of the Arts - Louis XIV, the Sun King - who was Pierre Beauchamps and what did he define?

frenchman who formulated beginning principles of ballet and defined the 5 basic positions of the feet

Great Patrons of the Arts - what did Louis XIV, the Sun King start?

the first dance academy, Academie Royale de Danse (1661), known as the Paris Opera Ballet (1669) and still exists today, oldest in the world!

Great Patrons of the Arts - Louis XIV, the Sun King - developed…

ballet technically, a school devoted to dance training

Great Patrons of the Arts - Louis XIV, the Sun King - Professional Ballet

all court members could, but the development of standard positions and vocabulary heightened virtuosity and technical training became required to perform the steps

Great Patrons of the Arts - Louis XIV, the Sun King - gestures were…

symmetrical + harmonious all opening from a central axis based on turned-out leg and port de bras

Great Patrons of the Arts - Proscenium Stage, development of….

• frontal stage forced dance to think about the auidence’s perspective

• turn-out

• performers now are seperate from the audience

Great Patrons of the Arts - The Turn-Out Machine - what did turning out allow dancers to do?

move from side across the stage more easily and aesthetically

Great Patrons of the Arts - The Turn-Out Machine - what is the translation?

fourne haunche

Great Patrons of the Arts - The Turn-Out Machine - what did it do?

forced the feet into a straight line

Great Patrons of the Arts - The Turn-Out Machine - how did it work?

the candidate placed their feet on the soles of the apparatius which were adjusted with the pins to increase the angle

Ballet - dance becomes more

• vertical

• virtuosic

Ballet - terre a terre

close to the earth

Ballet - haute

leaps, springing steps

Ballet - who became more of a role in ballet?

Women

Ballet - Marie Camargo - who was she?

the first women to be a lead in ballet as a women

Ballet - Marie Camargo

extremely lofty dancing smile, expressions, virtuoso

Ballet - Marie Camargo - what could she do?

could beat her legs multiple times in the air (entrechat)

Ballet - Marie Camargo - what did she do to a ballet skirt?

shortened it so the audience could see her feet —> development of shorter ballet costumes, tights, and ballet slippers

Ballet - Marie Camargo - she started the _____________movement

Women’s Liberation

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - 18th century

lines drawn between virtousity + expression

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - 19th century

Romanticism brought passionate aesthetic and interest in supernatural themes

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - what is Romanticism?

a revolunationary movement in the arts + literature

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - what is Romanticism, what overthrew rigid forms of acdemic schools that dominated art in the 18th century?

art

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - what is Romanticism, what was it an escape from?

reality

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - Development Ballet - themes

fairytales, folk legends, myths, the supernatural fell in love with morals, dead maidens rose from the grave to haunt unfaithful love

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - Development Ballet - costumes

full white skirts halfway down to the ankles

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - Development Ballet - Ballet Blanc

term used so auidence knew in the 2nd Act, their would be supernatural creatures in white fluffy skirts

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - Development Ballet - technical theatre

devices were created to make dances appear to be flying + floating

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - Development Ballet - Men in Dance

• their roles were reduced to merely support the female

• critics ridiculed men who danced

• ballet becomes a female art form

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - Marie Taglioni (1804-1884) - considered…

the greatest dancer of the century

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - Marie Taglioni (1804-1884) - she was in what Ballet and who choreographed it?

La Syphide and her father

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - Marie Taglioni (1804-1884) - what did she develop?

pointe dancing

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - Marie Taglioni (1804-1884) - she was…

extremely light, floating, great elevation

The Golden Age of Ballet (1830’s + 1840’s) - Marie Taglioni (1804-1884) - represented

mystical side of Romanticism

Marie Taglioni was….

Romantic

What people want to know in a Ballet?

• year

• title

• who choreographed

• who was the prima dancer

What was the First Romantic Ballet?

La Sylphide

La Sylphide - where and when did the first performance take place?

Paris in 1832

La Sylphide - vocab

sur les pointe

La Sylphide - who choreographed?

Filippo Taglioni

La Sylphide - lead performer?

(Sylph) Marie Taglioni (daughter, whom it was created for)

La Sylphide in 1836 - first performed in…

Royal Danish Ballet

La Sylphide in 1836 - vocab

footwork is little + fast intricate steps, leaping in the air revoluntionizing choreographers

La Sylphide in 1836 - what starts here?

pointe work

La Sylphide - who choreographed?

Auguste Bournonville

La Sylphide - lead performer?

Lucile Grahn (Sylph)

Bournonville (James)

Giselle (1841)

next major romantic ballet

Giselle (1841) - where and when did the first performance take place?

Paris in 1841

Giselle (1841) - what was the name of the German folklore, it was based on

Heinrich Heine’s De L’Allemagne

Giselle (1841) - what becomes a characteristic in the ballet?

Mime

Giselle (1841) - hands circling above head means

dance

Giselle (1841) - hands making an X means

die

Giselle (1841) - what does this ballet start to add?

Acting

Giselle (1841) - choreographed by?

Coralli + Jules Perrot

Ballet Characteristics of the Romantic Era - Giselle is like La Sylphide in that they share similar features

• half point

• low lifts

• 2 worlds (present/supernatural)

• dark set

• delicate footwork

• romantic port de bra of the arms

• dance vocab has been more expansive, virtuosic (arabesques, legs in the air, running, jumping, turning, quick footwork)

Ballet Characteristics of the Romantic Era - Giselle is like La Sylphide in that they share similar features - development of….

• “pointe” work (sur les pointes - at the tip) + illusion of weightlessness

• gas lighting: (1817) London (1822) Paris - allowed for a more subtle and visual range of effects than the oil lamps used earlier (Giselle Act 2, this is visible)

Ballet Characteristics of the Romantic Era - Giselle is like La Sylphide in that they share similar features - wish to create….

the illusion of effortlessness, lighter than air quality connected with the new interest in supernatural objects

Ballet Characteristics of the Romantic Era - Giselle is like La Sylphide in that they share similar features - the tutu

calf - length tulle calf replaces the heavy body obscuring, floor length court for women. Aids in the giving the supernatural character a lighter than air quality + etheral look

Ballet in the Romantic Era - post 1840’s

ballet’s popularity declines drastically in Italy, France and England

Ballet in the Romantic Era - no ____ stars

male

Ballet in the Romantic Era - technical achievements only….

displayed acrobatic brilliance

Ballet in the Romantic Era - decline of?

great ballerinas

Ballet in the Romantic Era - uninspired music composed in….

masses

Ballet in the Romantic Era - what does Bournonville do?

keeps ballet alive with the Danish Ballet

Ballet in the Romantic Era - what does ballet maintain it’s popularity?

Czarist Russia during the second half of the 19th Century

Carlo Blasis (1787 -1878)

great figure of ballet history, Italian born dancer, choreographer, and teacher in France and England

Carlo Blasis (1787 -1878) - what did he develop?

theories on the laws of equilibrium and balance and geometric schemes governing the body’s movement in ballet exercies

Carlo Blasis (1787 -1878) - what did publish in 1830?

“Code of Terpsichore” - a complete fundemental system of ballet instruction

Carlo Blasis (1787 -1878) - what were the rules he instituted for training school?

admitted at age 8, no later than 14 had to be of “good stock”, 3 hours a day, one hour of mime, for 8 years. Gauranteed job.

Theophile Gautier

dramatic critic of the Romantic Era in France.

Theophile Gautier - what did he help shape?

the publics taste and enthusiasm for ballet because he loved it.

Theophile Gautier - influenced….

the entire development of ballet