An Introduction to Ballet

  If you are at all involved in dance, then you have probably heard of the most famous kind: Ballet. You can find ballet schools all over the world. Ballet is a fairly loose term that refers to a general style of dance that follows certain methods. Within the umbrella term of “ballet”, you can find all sorts of different styles that are taught in different regions. Usually a ballet dance is characterized by being very graceful and flowing with precisely coordinated movements. Dancers appear to cheat or even defy gravity while dancing.

Ballet originated in Italy during the renaissance, as court entertainers made an effort to put on the most elegant and elaborate shows. The first ballets included a single person dancing, who was accompanied by some other form of entertainment, such as spoken verse, singing, or instruments. The shows usually included costumes and decorations. Early ballet was hardly recognizable as the same thing that we see today. However, over the years different countries began to adopt the art form. In France and Russia particularly, ballet was encouraged as a performance art. However, it still showed some of the more conservative tendencies of its early days.

In the 18th century, ballet began to grow extremely popular, and therefore started to become more defined and organized just as much as it changed and evolved. At this point, the technical aspects started to emerge. Famous ballerinas started to push the envelope of what was regular in the shows, and developed pointework, the tiptoeing movements that are so recognizable in modern ballet. There were many efforts to standardize ballet – fortunately, none of them succeeded and we have a diverse art form with many different flavors around the world.

Today, ballet is a worldwide phenomenon. Ballet techniques are taught to children, adults, males, and females. Performances are often held by schools, and some troupes of ballet dancers are quite famous and tour across the world. If you are interested in learning ballet, you just need to find proper lessons that will give you training to remain safe and graceful. You can look for lessons in your home town, whether they are at someone’s house, a community college, or an actual ballet school. Ballet is great for the mind and body, and is an art form that isn’t hard to appreciate.