Professionalization Of Dance

Front 1

Plato

Back 1

-Plato:"Every man should know how to dance"
-Deplored "dirty dancing" of his day
-Wilder forms could induce trance & posession
-In 'Ideal Republic'-banish professional actor-dancers

Front 2

Aristotle

Back 2

-Benefits of professionalism outweighed drawbacks
-Feared corrupting influence of dance
-Though professionals should be slaves & foreigners

Front 3

Ambivalences of Plato & Aristotle

Back 3

-Both agreed on the "Power of Dance"
-Disagreed on how power could be wielded safely
-Their ambivalence has colored Western attitudes towards dance

Front 4

Perfomances by Courtiers

Back 4

-Early dancing was untrained
-Many dances were easy, professional dances
-Dances became a bit more complicated
-Amount of time courtiers spent on dance
-Courtiers needed other skills too
.fencing
.reading
.writing

Front 5

Dancing became demanding

Back 5

-Stage dances were complex variants of ball-room dances
-Branle, Courante, Sarabande, Bourée & Minuet were popular
-Minuet possessed a measure of theatricality
-In Minuet each couple danced alone before their peers
-Overtime movements on stage became more demanding
-Technique was then expected of the dancer
-Increasing time was spent developing technique

Front 6

Specific Technique

Back 6

-One technique developed was 'entrechats'
-Entrechat=interwining jump
-Entrechat Quatre=2 beats of both legs
-Entrechat Six=3 beats of both legs
-Entrechat Eight=4 beats of both legs

Front 7

Royal Academy of Dance

Back 7

-Louis XIV drew 1st line between amateur & professional
-Louis founded Académie Royale de Danse in 1661
-He founded Académie Royale de Musique in 1669
-The 2 were MERGED into 1 in 1672

Front 8

Paris Opera & Ballet

Back 8

-Academies of dance & music later became PARIS OPERA
-Opening of the Paris Opera in 1671
-Paris Opera & Paris Opera Ballet continue today
-Longest continued tradition of ballet

Front 9

First Professional Dancers

Back 9

-1st professional dancers appeared in the opera productions
-1st inaugural production of Academy was opera, "Pomone" in 1671
-It is assumed dancers were in the production "Pomone"

Front 10

Dancers from Lower Classes

Back 10

-Lower classes
-Illiterate, but available
-Treated as household servants
-"Service"
-Servants entrance (stage door vs. lobby)

Front 11

Mille de la Fontaine

Back 11

-France, c.1655-c.1738
-Considered 1st Prima Ballerina
-Led women in "Le Triomphe de L'amour" 1681
-Intro of both professional & women dancers

Front 12

Paris Opera Ballet School

Back 12

-Opened in 1713
-In continuous operation ever since
-Oldest ballet school in the world