The Definitive Dance

One syllable: dance. Two syllables: ballet. Three syllables: my favorite.

The living, breathing, ever-evolving art of ballet never ceases to amaze me. From its beginning in Renaissance Italy as a means to entertain the court to modern productions by American Ballet Theatre, the history of ballet serves as a definitive example of the power of folk knowledge to sculpt the arts. And ballet has truly been sculpted.

When ballet first made an appearance in the royal courts during the 1400s', ballet dancers typically looked like this:  

A member of the Louis Ballet (1400s')

Your eyes aren't fooling you. That's a man. In heels. Doing ballet. Though mention of the word "ballet" now often conjures an image a woman wearing a platter tutu in pointe shoes, the original ballerinas were men. In fact, women didn't even perform in professional ballets until 1681 (see History of Ballet ). Prior to this date, men would fill women's roles, similar to Shakespearean plays of the day.

Besides who danced ballets, the concept of ballet has changed as costumes, scenery, show format, and hardware has evolved with the changing times. For example, as Marie Camargo sought to show off her astounding leaps, she traded in the traditional ballet heels for a softer shoe, much like the flexible ballet slippers found in classrooms today.

Ballet West presents Sleeping Beauty (2011)

Even though ballet has evolved as a living art, technique and original choreography from ballets conceived as early as the early 1800s' has been preserved through the centuries. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to attend a series of presentations called Ballet West first look. As a part of first look, students from local dance studios such as myself were allowed to watch the dress rehearsals of upcoming Ballet West productions as well as learn facts about that particular production. During the first look for Balanchine's Three Preludes, Peter Christie (head of Educational Outreach at Ballet West) mentioned how happy the company was to bring in world-renown choreographers to teach Ballet West the original choreography. They were excited.

And it is exciting. It's exciting that Ballet West can perform dances created for Balanchine's company. It's exciting that the ballet technique of 1800 is the ballet technique of 2011. It's exciting that through every change made to the presentation of ballet, the dance itself has remained unscathed.

Young girls begin their first ballet class

That's what I love about the grand folk knowledge that is ballet. Dancers everywhere can connect to dancers of the past by learning the same steps as them. What began as a lavish form of entertainment, reserved only for royalty can now be taught to masses of five year old girls in frilly, pink tutus world-wide. Ballet is everywhere, and for everyone. Now that's the power of folk knowledge.