BALLET HISTORY Ballet history is commonly divided by historians in chronological periods. Each one of them is recognized because some of the dance features or values prevail over others. Sometimes we get information about aesthetic or choreographic values but it is common to find all kind of related facts mixed within the data. That’s why the ballet general history we find in most books is a mixture of biographies, institutional records, different functions that dancing has accomplished for society: political, social, ritual, ornamental, and other kind of odds and ends… The following is a synthesized, rough list of those chronological periods from the XV century (AD) till the present time: XV - XVI centuries : court dances or pre-classical dance. XVI - XVII centuries : court ballet and baroque dance. XVIII century : ballet of action. End of XVIII century - XIX century : romantic ballet. Second half of XIX century : classical, academic and/or imperial ballet. XX century - present time : modern, neoclassical and/or contemporary ballet. XV-XVI centuries : court dances or pre-classical dance. This story occurs in the city of Florence (Italy), at the time called the Renaissance (or beginning of the ‘western modern era’). Society reacts to important political and cosmological changes. From a ‘dark era’ called the ‘Middle Age’, humans are reborn to a bright period, illuminated by science and knowledge. Scientific experiments prove that the earth turns around the sun, opposing to what was commonly thought for centuries. People start believing that they are responsible for their lives and that they can improve their existence by their own means (instead of expecting God to do it). Humans creative capacity stirs up and with the invention of the printing press, knowledge spreads over secular people like never before. Monarchy is the sociopolitical system. A king has power over everything in his territory, whose administration he delegates to courtiers: princes, dukes, marquises, counts, viscounts, barons, knights. All these people and their families meet from time to time in the royal palace. The gatherings are the occasion to celebrate or have big parties, where dancing becomes a privileged way of entertainment and socializing. A new collective ‘rite’ is born: the Court Dance. By dancing, courtiers show off their manners. Elegance and grace are in vogue, and everybody must learn those ways to move and behave. Therefore a royal dancing master teaches the steps and ways to carry the upper body, arms and hands. The already existing rural popular dances are stylized in the court during this process, according to the aristocracy’s trend. Courtiers dance short choreographic pieces that correspond to musical fragments with the same name. The following is a list of some of those dances: The Pavane, the Gaillard, the Allemande, the Courante, the Saraband, the Gigue, the Minuet, the Gavotte, the Bourré, the Rigodon, the Passepied, the Chaconne and Pasacaille, the Canarias, the Lour, the Pass mezzo. (The spelling of these names varies a lot. This is an approximate.) An explanation of each one of those dances can be found in the following book: Horst, Luis. Formas preclásicas de la danza. Instituto cubano del libro, La Habana, 1971. “The Allemande”. The court dances are really assorted in terms of rhythms, dynamics and nature. Although Italy is recognized as their birth place, all Europe takes part in this social trend. When talking in general terms about them, Luis Horst writes in the introduction of his book: “It was a mixture of the rich brightness of Italian lifestyle, with the dark religious emotion of Spaniards, the rough vitality of the Netherlands and the pastoral serenity of the English ideals. To this, we must add the troubadours popular art influence with their ‘French love courts’, as well as the danced hymns from the Martin Luther’s German reform.” XVI –XVII centuries : Court ballet and baroque dance. The custom of dancing in the court turns with time into an arranged act. It is performed to please the king or surprise and welcome foreign visitors. It is in France where this type of events gains most of its magnificence. They are sponsored by Catherine de Medici, an Italian noble who marries Henry II (second son of the king of France), and moves with her court to that country. The performances are called ‘ballets’ although they differ a lot from what we understand today as such. At that time, ballets are performed by people of the court, sometimes even including the king, and no professional dancers exist. The shows are arranged according to a dramatic story line in which dancing is not necessarily the main component. Animal parades, special effects machinery, poetry, live music, juggling and all kinds of scenic tricks are used. One of these events is recognized as the first one in ballet history because of its fame and archetypal mode. It is called “The Queen’s Comical Ballet”, performed in 1581 (author: Balthazar de Beaujoyeulx, length: from 5 to 10 hours…!, place: Louvre Palace’s big bourbon hall). That ballet tells the story of a desperate knight who implores the king to free him of the spell of the sorceress Circe (from the Greek tale “The Odyssey”). After a series of varied scenic entries, the witch is captured and given to him. Two important features, that will be a common characteristic among all ballets during this period, are manifest in this one: First, the subject is taken from the ancient Greece’s mythology. This is a trend whose roots are found in the early Renaissance, when antique Greek and Roman knowledge is recovered. Second, the ballet includes the action of comforting and strengthen the image of the king, its power and justice. This is a time in which dancing accomplishes an important political function. Characters and stories are arranged to affirm the monarchic principle and flatter the person of the royal sovereign. All European courts copy the Court Ballet model and it is in the middle of this social environment that the most powerful supporter of dance that has ever existed is born: LOUIS XIV. Louis grows within this society for which dancing is a political tool. As the future king, and part of the aristocracy, he receives ample instruction in science and arts, from which dance is his favourite. A part from the fact that the young Louis happens to become an exceptional dancer, his social position wins him the task of playing the main roles of the ballets in his court. Beside you can see him in the character of ‘the war’ for the Ballet “The wedding of Peleas and Tetis” (1674). Louis XIV is really passionate about dancing. In 1661 he reaches the age in which he can rule France alone (without his mother intromission) and starts making political decisions that will greatly determine the future of ballet. Louis XIV as ‘The War’. He founds the Royal Academy of Dance and entrusts its direction to his dancing master: Pierre Beauchamp. At this point, the process of the dancer’s professionalization begins. Academic order and ‘clarity’ start to be preferred than baroque trends or Italian influences. Other academic activities are sponsored, like the edition of dance books (“Orchésographie” by Thoinot Arbeau in 1588) or the invention of a dance notation system, published in 1700 and named “Feuillet” notation system, according to its inventor’s name. Other than Louis XIV, three figures are frequently mentioned for this period: Beauchamp (Pierre Beauchamp, 1631 France – 1705 France, choreographer, dancer, royal dance master and director of the royal academy of dance), Lully (Jean-Baptiste Lully, 1633 Italy – 1687 France, composer, violin player and conductor) and Molière (Jean Baptiste Poquelin, 1622 France – 1673 France, playwright and actor). Lully and Molière work together for the king, but start having aesthetical disagreements in time. Lully privileges singing and tragedy while Molière prefers acting and comedy. The genre of the pieces they produce are known as Opera-Ballet (or lyric tragedy) and Comedy-Ballet respectively. Dance is for both cases an accompaniment. It accomplishes the function of an ornament that appears between entries or decorates the sung or acted parts. Around the 1670’s, Luis XIV refuses to continue his performances in ballets. By that time, the shows have long ago gone over the limits of the court. Since 1632, a man called Horace Morel offers ballets to a public that pays for entries at the “Little Louvre” (he could be known as the first business man of the dance industry…). The seeds of ballet as a public event are created. In 1669, the first scenic dance theater is opened by the abbot Perrin. A little later, in 1673, Lully buys the privilege of the theater and the “Paris Opera” company is created. The members of the aristocracy don´t appear in ballets anymore and dance as a profession is definitively established. As I mentioned above, dance is not yet an autonomous art, but a complementary element of tragedies or comedies. Considered as an entertaining issue that does not take part of the action, it focuses essentially on the development of technique. Some selected notorious facts of this period: - In 1681 the Paris Opera opens its doors to women. Dance, as well as arts, science and knowledge in general were exclusive for men until then… . - In 1713 the Opera founds its own school, which is entrusted to Pécour, the disciple of the royal dance master Beauchamp. - In 1725 another important dance book is edited. “Le maitre { danser” (The dance teacher) by Pierre Rameau. In general terms, this dance is known as ‘baroque’ because it shares features with the general baroque atmosphere in which it is born: ornamental excess, virtuosity and extremely refined manners.