Ballets Russes

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…

revered as Russian ballet, especially during the time of Hitler’s rule. Although these two countries may not seem to own the same style of dance, both countries were able to benefit from dance politically. Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany demonstrate how dance was utilized in totalitarian societies, for political reasons and for the public’s enjoyment. In Soviet Russia, beginning in the 1920s, “Soviet government policy shaped both the form of the ballet itself and its audience.” Ballet did not…

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…

Loie Fuller Marie Louise Fuller (1862-1928) was a significant dancer born in Fullersburg, Chicago, later to be known as Loie Fuller or “La Loie”. Fuller is known for her innovation and experimental cooperation with technology and multimedia techniques such as extravagant lighting and usage of mirrors during the twentieth-century in order to ‘hypnotize’ and capture her audience. Fuller’s innovations would inspire many various types of artists and intellectuals, including future modern dancers…

early 1800s, ballet, and classical music were iconic across the world. Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It is a very technical, rigid dance full with grace and intricate footwork. Its vocabulary is based in French and Italian, with a philosophy that is historically recognizable by almost all. Ballet requires years of training, which is often expensive. Most people who went to see ballet…