BALLET

ballet was taken from the italian word ballare, meaning to dance, and ballo, refering to dances in a
ballroom.

SEVERAL DEFINITION OF BALLET FROM DIFFERENT AUTHORS

Ballet, according to Haskell (1965), is a:

“combination of the arts of dancing, poetry, music and painting. The essential quality of the ballet
dancers is grace that is phrasing, fluidity, harmony, the making of words into a poetic whole; bound up
with reactions to music that goes far deeper than a purely rhythmic reaction”.

2. Burian(1963) further affirms that:

“Ballet is an artistic, programmatic, scenic dance accompanied by music. It is basically a special and
generically unique form, which resulted from the synthesis, collaboration and equilibrium of several
different types of art. The art of gestures and mime interprets, by specific means of expression, the
thematic and emotional content of the scenario on which it is based, bringing the poet’s ideas to life,
presenting the story with all its conflicts, plots, and solutions”.

DID YOU KNOW?

The first ballet performers were men. The ballet costumes before were
Grecian: sandals, diaphanous skirt, low-necked body, hair in form of wreath.

BRIEF HISTORY OF BALLET

It was in the 15thcentury during the renaissance period when ballet began in Italy. It started as a
performance in the royal court where the male servants would execute a movement related to
the course they are serving during a court dinner. At that time, the French king, Francis I of the
House of Valois had many contacts with Italy and was able to witness one of the dinner ballets. he
knew many outstanding figures of the Italian Renaissance and he became well acquainted with
the ideas and artistic efforts that developed and flourished in Europe.

Francis’ son Henry II his successor to the throne, married Catherine de Medici. It was during de
Medici’s reign as a queen that marked the staging of ballet. She brought it to France from Italy.

Luis XIV, a dancer and performer and was called the magnificent Sun King. He loved to dance and
took part of his first ballet at the age of 13. he set up the AcademieRoyale de Dansetogether with his
dancing master, Pierre Beauchamp. It was during his time that the five basic dance positions were
written down for the first time and became basis for ballet up to this day.
CLASSICAL BALLET
Known for its exactness of technique that highlights pointed toes and turnouts, high extensions and
gracefulness. It also uses traditional mime that utilizes gestures for conversation instead of words.

CONTEMPORARY BALLET

Mainly uses ballet steps and more natural movement to convey meaning”. It incorporates
elements of both classical ballet and modern dance that allows a greater range of movements that
does not support the strict bodylines that are traditional in any of the classical ballet techniques.

BALLET IN THE PHILIPPINES

The American colonization paved the way for the introduction of classical ballet in the Philippines. In
1915, distinguished ballet dancer Paul Nijinsky performed classical ballet at the Manila Hotel Roof
Garden (Dimantala, 2006)

LuvaAdemietcame to the Philippines and started a ballet school. She trained the first few ballet
dancers in the country. Her dances, Sur les pointes, were inspired by local dances like the Planting
Rice, Carinosa, and the Maria Clara that eventually influenced Leonor OrosaGoquingco.

THE COMPOSITION OF BALLET CLASS

1. Warm up-limbering and stretching exercise that warms and gently stretch the muscles
before trying the difficult moves. A good warm up is the best start to a ballet class as puts your
body in positions that it is not used to executing.

2. Barreexercises- the students hold on to a barreto help maintain balance and correct
placement of the body. Exercise include variations of bending and stretching, small
movements of the legs which gradually increase in range of motion and tempo as the leg is
lifted from the floor.

3. Centerwork exercises- after the barreexercise, the students move to the centerof the room
to do more stretching and relaxing exercises, the students move to the centerof the room to do
more stretching and relaxing exercises to loosen the back and the muscles in other parts of the
body which have worked hard in the previous exercise.
They are at first executed slowly (adagio) to
develop balance, strength, and body alignment.
It is followed with turns (pirouttes), then with
linking steps and small jumps (petit allegro), and
fast and lively (allegro) footwork and jumps.

4. Corner drills (grand allegro)- consist of sequence of steps combining big jumps, leaps, turns
which cover large areas and put the demands on the body’s strength, endurance, and control.
These exercise are done moving across the dance floor or rehearsal area.