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.