Ballet (French: [balɛ]) is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary.
Ballet, theatrical dance in which a formal academic dance technique—the danse d’ecole—is combined with other artistic elements such as music, costume, and stage scenery. The academic technique itself is also known as ballet. Learn more about the history of ballet in this article.
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Learn the basics of Ballet, a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century, developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia, and has since become a widespread and highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary.
Scroll through a brief ballet history from its where ballet originated in the 15th-century Italian renaissance courts to what ballet dance looks like in the 21st century.
The term ballet, however, comes from the French ballet de cour, a stylized performance of dance, theater, and speeches. The first ballet de cour took place in 1573 at the French court—encouraged by the Italian-born Queen of France Catherine de' Medici who imported her love for ballet.
Ballet Basics: A Quick Guide to Understanding Ballet - The Kennedy Center
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