Ballet NYC

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Origins of Ballet

Ballet was originally the classical music dance.

Ballet is a Latin dance. It’s an Italian court dance, developed in France, preserved in Russia and Denmark after the French Revolution (1789-99), relaunched to the Americas by Ballets Russes of Paris (1909-29), and launched in New York City by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein in 1934.

Argentina, Brazil and Cuba have world-class ballet traditions. For dancers across Latin America, training and performing in Cuba is a jumping off point to an NYC dance career.

Ballet is an Italian court dance, developed in France, preserved in Russia and Denmark, and popularized across the Americas by Ballet Russes out of Paris.

George Balanchine is the father of ballet in the United States.

Italian Origins

Ballet is a fifteenth-century Italian court dance brought to France by Italian Queen of France and later Queen Mother Catherine de’ Medici (from the Italian banking family of Florence).

She doesn’t deserve any respect because to stay in power, she set her own people to fight each other.

French Development

In France, ballet developed in the royal court of King Louis XIV. The “Sun King” loved to party.

The dance almost died when the French Revolution ended the royal court in 1789. It was preserved in the Russian and Danish royal courts.

Ballet Russes Rebirth and Modernization

In the modern era, ballet was popularized across the Americas by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes (1909-1929) out of Paris, France.

Ballets Russes established the ballet tradition of collaborating with great visual artists of the time. Its American heir, New York City Ballet, continues the tradition.

A Ballets Russes dancer became one of ballet’s most important choreographers. George Balanchine (1904-1983) was a link from ballet’s past to its future. He was trained in Imperial Ballet technique in St Petersburg. That’s old school.

With his choreography “Apollo” (1929), Balanchine transformed classical ballet, with its grand sets, costumes, and stories into neoclassical ballet with minimal staging and less or no story.

His trend towards minimalist abstraction put the focus on the movement and the dancers, including the men.

American Ballet

Balanchine came to New York City to found a ballet school because he didn’t think Americans danced very well.

He founded the School of American Ballet and New York City Ballet.

“Mr. B” brought lessons from his work on Broadway and in Hollywood into the ballet, and continued his neoclassical development. That led to Balanchine’s black & white leotard ballets that are pure dance without story, staging or costume.

He also developed the leadership of Dance Theater of Harlem. Washington Ballet and Miami City Ballet are also Balanchine technique.

Balanchine and America’s first prima ballerina Maria Tallchief (Native American Osage Nation) transformed “The Nutcracker” from an obscure choreography into the world’s most popular ballet. Nutcracker performances now support ballet companies all year long.

Ballet training starts early and is expensive, so it’s long been a sport for rich kids. We tend to lack the technique that years of training produces. Balanchine loved the skinny waif body type. Many Latins have, shall we say “derrière,” and we used to regularly be told that we don’t have the right bodies for ballet. That’s nonsense.

Lourdes Lopez at New York City Ballet and Misty Copeland at American Ballet Theatre broke the mold. So did Carlos Acosta, Julio Bocca and Arthur Mitchell. We dance with the best. Don’t let anybody tell you that ballet isn’t for Latins.