Ballet

[Sarah]

A light part song, or madrigal, with a fa la burden or chorus,-- most common with the Elizabethan madrigal composers.

[Sarah]

A form of dance that takes every ounce of your time and money. Causes extreme fusturation and anger. The evil slave driver, also called your ballet instructor, takes all of your money and still gives you crappy parts. High ammounts of stage make-up are required.

[Sarah]

uneducated people beleive ballet is simply prancing around in tutu's and ballet slippers, but a real ballerina works harder than any perfessional athlete usually about 25 hours aweek, she strives to become the best and never gives in!

[Sarah]

The highest sense of dancing. The highest sense of art in general. Movements made by beautiful dancers with elegance and poise.

[Sarah]

a very fun but yet VERY time taking form of dance. you have to work your ass off to get anywhere with it!!! you always hope for good parts from your dance teacher.

[Sarah]

The earliest known origins of ballets were lavish entertainments given in the courts of Renaissance Italy. The Italian court ballets were further developed in France. Le Ballet Comique de la Reine (The Queen's Ballet Comedy), the first ballet for which a complete score survived, was performed in Paris in 1581. Most French court ballets consisted of dance scenes linked by a minimum of plot. Because they were designed principally for the entertainment of the aristocracy, rich costumes, scenery, and elaborate stage effects were emphasized. In 1661 Louis XIV established the Acad‚mie Royale de Danse, a professional organization for dancing masters. He himself stopped dancing in 1670, and his courtiers followed his example. By then the court was already giving way to professional dancing. At first all the dancers were men, and men in masks danced women's roles. The first female dancers to perform professionally in a theater production appeared (1681) in Le Triomphe de l'Amour (The Triumph of Love).Eighteenth-century dancers were encumbered by masks, wigs or large headdresses, and heeled shoes. Women wore panniers, hoopskirts draped at the sides for fullness. Men often wore the tonnelet, a knee-length hoopskirt. Despite the brilliance of the French dancers, choreographers working outside Paris achieved more dramatic expression. In London the English choreographer John Weaver eliminated words and tried to convey dramatic action through dance and pantomime. In Vienna the Austrian choreographer Franz Hilverding and his Italian pupil Gasparo Angiolini experimented with dramatic themes and gestures. La Sylphide, first performed in Paris in 1832, introduced the period of the romantic ballet.Women dominated this period. Although good male dancers such as the Frenchmen Jules Perrot and Arthur Saint-L‚on were performing, they were eclipsed by ballerinas such as Taglioni, Elssler, the Italians Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerrito, and others.In the 1920s and 1930s, modern dance began to be developed in the United States and Germany. Two great American companies were founded in New York City in the 1940s, American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet. The latter drew many of its dancers from the School of American Ballet established by Balanchine and Kirstein in 1934. Since the mid-20th century, companies have been founded in many cities throughout the United States and in Canada, among them: the National Ballet of Canada, in Toronto (1951); Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, in Montreal (1952); the Pennsylvania Ballet, in Philadelphia (1963); and the Houston Ballet (1963).Beginning in 1956, Russian companies such as the Bolshoi and Kirov performed in the West for the first time. The intense dramatic feeling and technical virtuosity of the Russians made a great impact. Russian influence continues today, both through visits from Russian companies and the activities of defecting Soviet dancers such as Rudolf Nureyev, artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet from 1983 to 1989; Natalia Makarova; and Mikhail Baryshnikov, director of the American Ballet Theatre, New York City, from 1980 to 1989.
Dance in general underwent an enormous upsurge in popularity beginning in the mid-1960s. It began to show the influence of a younger audience, in both themes and style. The athleticism of dancing was enjoyed in much the same way as sports, and virtuosic steps were admired for their challenge and daring. Popular music such as rock and roll and jazz was used to accompany many ballets.
Today's ballet repertoire offers great variety. New repertoire and reconstructions and restagings of older ballets coexist with new works created by modern-dance choreographers for companies. Choreographers experiment with both new and traditional forms and styles, and dancers constantly seek to extend their technical and dramatic range. The frequent tours of companies allow audiences throughout the world to experience the full spectrum of today's ballet activity.

[Sarah]

The closest one can get to flying.

[Sarah]

A really hard sport, even though we don't go into the olympics it's just as hard as any sport because not only girls have to stand on a block wood, the have to look graceful while they spin and jump on it. Not only you have to do that, you have the pressure to be skinny, not strong or buff, but thin so you can look more graceful and so guys can lift them. It can lead to an eating disorder. The men don't have it much easier, they have to be able to jump ten feet in the air and lift girls. Growing up and doing ballet for a guy is really hard because for recitals you have to wear tights.

[Sarah]

An incredibly difficult SPORT that most people do not believe is a sport. Ballet requires a great level of dedication and discipline. When ballet dancers reach a certain level of advancement, the begin to dance en pointe, or on pointe shoes, which are shoes with a very stiff toe so the dancer can be supported when standing on her/his toes. Ballet is known to the majority of people as a sissy thing, something that only girly-girls and gay men do. Lots of rude and misinformed people mock ballet dancers by prancing around and pretending to wear a tutu. In fact, it has been proven that ballet boosts coordination and even IQ. It is actually much harder that football. There are a great many steps and technicalities to each move; you have to maintain a turnout and pointed feet. Boys/men often do lots of lifting, but they also dance, too. In very professional companies there is the corphee who is the leader of the corps de ballet (they ensemble dancers) and there is the prima ballerina who is the highest dancer there is in a company. All professional dancers must have huge amounts of strength, flexibility, and poise. The key to being a successful ballerina (in addition to have memorized all the steps, being flexible and strong, being dedicated, etc.) is to be able to mask your HUGE effort and make it look easy.

[Renato]

An artistic dance form performed to music, using precise and highly formalized set steps and gestures. Classical ballet, which originated in Renaissance Italy and established its present form during the 19th century, is characterized by light, graceful movements and the use of pointe shoes with reinforced toes.

[Tanya Shivari]

an extremely rigorious but fun and rewarding SPORT. generaly stereotyped by dancing [on toes], the color pink, [tutus], spinning around, and being [graceful]. i say it is characterized by bloody feet, sore muscles, hard work, lots of sweat, falling on you butt(by mistake of course), fond memories of performing, excitement of sharing something you love with an audience.

[Becky]

1. A very difficult form of [dancer]
2. One of the most [demanding] sports
3. [Aiming] for perfection, but knowing you will never make it
4. Extremely expressive art form

[Raeanne Dimick]

Ballet in Mens Gymnastics. Used by gymnasts as an intrinsic part of their training to improve their posture, flexibility, coordination, agility, balance and strength.