Louis XIV: Learning About The Dance Of Ballet

For this submission I decided to choose to learn more about the dance of Ballet. I’m not really a big dance person, but the dance of ballet has always intrigued me because of how beautiful and elegant it is. Ballet originated in Renaissance Italy. It started out as a dance used at balls and social gatherings. Ballet was the acceptable way and proper etiquette at these social gatherings. There were a lot of rules that went along with it, such as when and how to bow, step, and the distance from the king. Ballet expanded when these balls and social gatherings became more extravagant so did the dance, there were more elaborate steps, moves, and techniques added. After a while the dance became more theatrical and more of a performance on a stage with sets and a story line. In the sixteenth century ballet was brought to France by Catherine de’Medici, the Italian wife of King Henry II. The dance of ballet was expanding and becoming more and more extravagant. Dancing masters would teach the …show more content…
Louis XIV was trained in ballet starting during his childhood. When he was fifteen years old Louis played in a ballet as Apollo the sun god. Louis ended up playing in eighty major roles in many different ballets, as many different characters. Although Louis XIV was a very skilled dancer his main contribution to Ballet was when he founded the Royal Academy of Dance in 1661. After opening the Royal Academy of Dance Louis XIV appointed Pierre Beauchamp as his personal ballet master. Beauchamp defined the five main positions in ballet that are still used today. After the opening of the Royal Academy of Dance another dance academy was opened in France in 1669 called the Paris Opera Ballet and is known today as the oldest ballet company in the world. Later on ballet in France was not as popular, but it moved on to other countries such as Russia. Today some of the best ballet dancers come from