Dance is the mother of the arts and is as old as the world as it has accompanied men and the events of their lives from the beginning, such as birth, puberty, wedding, old age and even death. Since ancient times, dance has been a popular means of expression and entertainment, as well as an essential part of all rites, both religious and natural.
Dance is the mother of the arts and is as old as the world as it has accompanied men and the events of their lives from the beginning, such as: birth, puberty, wedding, old age and even death. Since ancient times, dance has been a popular means of expression and entertainment, as well as an essential part of all rites, both religious and natural.
Being a dancer meant from then on dancing with pointe shoes, wearing precious tutus, combing with simple hairstyles and, often, adorning oneself with crowns and wings. The first dancer to use the points was the Italian Amelia Brugnoli in the ballet The fairy and the knight in 1823 in Vienna but the image of dancing on the points are connected to Maria Taglioni who in 1832 danced the ballet La Sylphide in Paris considered the first romantic ballet in the history of dance. The nineteenth-century therefore became the century of the celebration of the first dancer but in the middle of the century, Paris was supplanted by St. Petersburg. Here the most important French masters went among them Marius Petipa who directed the imperial ballets for about thirty years creating the greatest masterpieces in the history of ballet. The great Petipa, who created more than 50 ballets still represented today, worked intensely with the famous Russian composer Piotr Ilic Tchaikovsky and performed three great ballets with him: Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and the Nutcracker..at Academy was called Pierre Beauchamp who invented the five basic positions of academic ballet.
At a certain point this form of popular dance developed and began to introduce itself also in the circles of nobles and rich people. Thus were born in the Renaissance the court dances which consisted of small representations that were performed during the ceremonies. In the fifteenth century, dance masters were born who taught how to learn figures, positions and steps according to a system of rules. Finally, the first ballet took shape. It was in 1581 that in Paris the Ballet Comique de la Reine or Circe by the Italian choreographer Balthasar di Belgioioso was represented in the hall of the Duke of Burgundy. The dance then became very popular in the palaces of the nobles thanks also to the French king Louis XIV called the Sun King who was also a passionate dancer. Since the passion of the nobles who dedicated themselves to dance could no longer satisfy the perfect success of the ballets, the Academia royale de danse was founded in 1681 by the will of Louis XIV with the aim of establishing rules for the improvement of this art. To direct that Academy was called Pierre Beauchamp who invented the five basic positions of academic ballet.
The most glorious era in the history of ballet was Romanticism which in dance exalted the ideal woman who was admired as a divinity of heaven and for this reason she had to be light and mobile and therefore detached from the earth. It became automatic at this point that people began to dance on their toes.
The further we move away from prehistory and get closer to history, the more dance gets closer to the worship of the gods. Already in Ancient Egypt, the dances were subjected to strict rules. In the ancient Greeks, however, dance was the centre of cultural life and, in the education of children, the dance lesson was considered the ideal way to achieve a complete harmony of body and soul. Etruscan dance and pantomime were very popular in ancient Rome. With the advent of Christianity, dance was partially prohibited because it was considered pagan but during the Middle Ages, it was kept alive by minstrels and jesters who went around in European cities.s.ortant French masters went among them Marius Petipa who directed the imperial ballets for about thirty years creating the greatest masterpieces in the history of ballet. The great Petipa, who created more than 50 ballets still represented today, worked intensely with the famous Russian composer Piotr Ilic Tchaikovsky and performed three great ballets with him: Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and the Nutcracker.
In 1900 the dance was still transformed and reached a great popularity above all thanks also to the great French choreographer Maurice Béjart and, in the early century, with the innovations of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. In America it developed thanks to Georges Balanchine and Martha Graham to whom we owe the birth of modern dance
The further we move away from prehistory and get closer to history, the more dance gets closer to the worship of the gods. Already in Ancient Egypt, the dances were subjected to strict rules. In the ancient Greeks, however, dance was the center of cultural life and, in the education of children, the dance lesson was considered the ideal way to achieve complete harmony of body and soul. Etruscan dance and pantomime were very popular in ancient Rome. With the advent of Christianity, dance was partially prohibited because it was considered pagan but during the Middle Ages it was kept alive by minstrels and jesters who went around in European cities.