Ballet technique

What do you think of when you hear the word ballerina? I know that I think of young women and girls that dance on their tippy toes. There special shoes that allow them to be able to do this are called a pointe shoe, and can be made for just one specific dancer. It’s not all graceful and effortless movements. If you are not trained for these shoes you can really get hurt. Today I will tell you the five major parts of them that all work together to make sure that the dancer does not get hurt. At…

understanding of the ballet dance and how it originated. As we learned the very early beginnings of ballet originated in Rome. However, the very first ballet that we know of today happened during the crusades in 1581 and it was called Ballet Comique De La Reine. The main purpose of the dance was to flatter the French and nearby people and to remind people that the medics of Florence, Italy still controlled Europe and the papacy. One interesting fact though was that this ballet was performed…

Ballet is usually only associated with pink tutus and pointe shoes, but that is most definitely not the case. “Ballet has physical and cognitive benefits that may exceed those of other forms of exercise” (Komaroff). Ballet helps with all kinds of topics, including large and small muscles, stability, coordination, attention, and emotional connectivity. However, it has been proven to help athletes such as tennis players (Bishop), due to the fact that many of the muscles used in ballet are also…

Vaslav Nijinsky was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer born March 12, 1889 in Kiev, Ukraine. In the world of ballet, Nijinsky was known as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. He gained his popularity and recognition for his intense commitment to characterizations, artistry, and extreme focus on techniques. Those achievements were gained within the time span of nine years—compared to other artists of that time, it took decades or even after their career for their work to be…

caves. The origin of Ballet dance can be traced to the 15th century Italian Renaissance courts, and later developed into a concert dance style in France, Russia, Britain, and Italy. Ballet was brought to France by Catherine de Medici, who was an Italian noble woman, a patron of the arts, and the wife of King Henry II, but it was later popularized and standardized…

As a result my ballet pointe shoes were deteriorated, as well as my ballet lessons were disregarded, my passion was running slowly and so many things were ephemeral. Also my father died that same year and with him a lot of memories, family moments and those cozy meetings. In less than a year, I…

Sleeping Beauty took place at the Brown Theater in the Wortham Center. The performance is choreographed by Stanton Welch and the dance company is the Houston Ballet. Overall I am truly amazed of the Wortham Theatre because it is elegant and well-organized. Attending a ballet show for the first time excited me very much and seeing the quantity of ballet accessories that were being sold I came to the conclusion that the performance of The Sleeping Beauty was huge. Therefore, I expected the…

George Balanchine is recognized worldwide for his virtuosic, neoclassical ballets. Balanchine has been claimed as the father of American ballet, due to his prominent contributions to the twentieth century ballet culture. From the almost hundred ballets he created throughout his career, I believe “Jewels”, which premiered in 1967 at the New York City Ballet, New York State Theatre, to be one of his most stunning works. Jewels is a full evening length performance, consisting of three acts. Each…

Mary Whitehouse’s first introduction to the concept of DMT was through seeing a picture of Marian Chace working at St. Elizabeths Hospital (Whitehouse, 1999). A student of both Mary Wigman and Martha Graham, Whitehouse performed and taught modern dance. However, Whitehouse was looking for something more and started to expand her idea of what dance was. Instead of seeing dance, she began to witness movement occurring in classes. As time progressed, Whitehouse developed her framework of DMT, which…

Painting and relevance: Jacques-Louis David’s “Oath of the Horatii” was painted in 1784 and it was commissioned by the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on behalf of the Kind Louis XVI. The inspiration of the painting had to come by Corneille’s Play “Horace” which was being performed in Paris during that time. In 1785 the painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon. The painting shows a decisive moment of will as well as a great family tragedy resulting from political consequences. The…