A Brief History of Ballet

Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance of the 15th century. The nobility were treated to extravagant events, especially wedding celebrations, where dancing and music created a detailed and fascinating spectacle. Dancing masters taught the dance steps to the nobility, who participated in the performances. In the 16th century Catherine de Medici, an Italian noblewoman, wife of the king of France and a great patron of the arts, began to fund ballet in the French court. Her elaborate festivals encouraged the growth of ballet de cour, a programme that included dance, costume, song, music and poetry. A century later, King Louis XIV helped to popularise and standardise ballet. A passionate dancer, he performed many roles himself, including that of the Sun King in Ballet de la Nuit. His love of ballet raised it from a hobby for amateurs to a skill requiring professional training.

By 1661, a dance academy had opened in Paris, and in 1681 ballet moved to the stage. The French opera Le Triomphe de L’Amour incorporated ballet elements in its performance, creating a long-standing opera-ballet tradition in France. In the mid-18th century, however, French ballet master Jean Georges Noverre rebelled against the artifice of opera-ballet, believing that ballet could stand on its own as an art form. His idea -- that ballet should contain expressive dramatic movement, and this should reveal relationships between characters -- introduced the ballet d’action, a dramatic style of ballet that features a narrative. Noverre’s work is considered the forerunner to the narrative ballets of the 19th century.

Early classical ballets such as Giselle explored the world of spirits and magic, and often showed women as passive and fragile. These themes are reflected in the ballets of the time which are called romantic ballets. This was the period in which dancing on tiptoe, known as pointe work, became the normal style for the ballerina. The romantic tutu, a calf-length, full skirt, was also introduced at this time.

By the 19th century the popularity of ballet had soared in Russia and by the end of that century its composers and choreographers -- who designed the movements and steps the dancers took -- had taken the art form to new levels. The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty, as choreographed by Marius Petipa, represent classical ballet in its grandest form. The primary purpose of Russian ballet in this period was to display classical technique such as pointe work, high leg lifts and precision of movement. Complicated sequences that drew attention to demanding steps, leaps and turns were choreographed into the story. The classical tutu, much shorter and stiffer than the romantic tutu, was introduced in the second half of the century to reveal a ballerina’s legs and emphasise the skill of her footwork. George Balanchine is considered by many to be the greatest innovator of the contemporary "plotless" ballet, with no definite story line. Its purpose is to use movement to express the music and to depict human emotions. Today, ballet takes many forms. Classical approaches, traditional stories and contemporary choreographic innovations blend together to produce the character of modern ballet.

Despite all the changes which ballet has undergone, pointe shoes, which were first worn in the 1830s, have remained the key ballet equipment. Specially made to allow ballerinas to dance on tiptoe, they create an illusion of lightness and even give a sense that the ballerina is floating on air. While they look very delicate, pointe shoes are, in fact, quite the opposite. The tip of the shoe is a rigid box made of densely packed layers of fabric, cardboard or paper which has been hardened by glue. The box needs to be extremely sturdy since the entire weight of the dancer’s body is balanced on it. The rest of the shoe is made of leather, cotton and satin, and each shoe is hand-made to fit a dancer’s specifications, which means that you’ll never see two pairs that are identical. Sometimes, men will also wear pointe shoes, usually for comedic effect, but male dancers usually wear a leather or canvas slipper with a soft sole, which provides flexibility when jumping.

Each time a ballerina gets a new pair of pointe shoes, she has to break them in. This is done by pounding the box of the shoe with a hammer to soften it. Dancers also sew on ribbons and elastic to hold their shoes in place. Despite this time-consuming preparation, the shoes may only last for one performance, or even part of a performance, depending on the difficulty of the ballet. In the course of a single season, a professional ballerina can go through 100--120 pairs of pointe shoes.