Postures

In addition to the five fundamental positions of the feet, there are two major body positions. The “arabesque” is a position in which the weight of the body is supported on one leg, while the other leg is extended back with the knee straight. The “attitude” is a position similar to the arabesque, except that the knee of the raised leg is bent. The supporting leg also may be straight or bent.

A striking aspect of ballet is the principle of dancing on the point of the toes, or en pointe. It is used almost exclusively by female dancers and is often effective in giving their movements a floating quality.

Costume

The standard dress for female dancers in classical ballet is the tutu. It is a skirt made up of four or five layers of silk or nylon frills. The skirt is attached to a tight-fitting bodice. There are two types of tutus. One extends to within about 12 inches (30 centimeters) of the floor and is known as the Romantic tutu. It was introduced in the 1830s. This tutu was shortened until, by the 1880s, the whole leg was visible. Both the Romantic and the brief tutu are worn in contemporary ballet.

Training

A ballet dancer has to go through years of training. In the great dance academies, a would-be dancer begins to train at the age of 7 or 8. If the young dancer shows both physical and artistic promise, the next 10 years are spent perfecting a regimen that gets more and more difficult. A strict series of exercises helps to strengthen the dancer's arms and legs and mold the upper body into what is considered an ideal posture.

Earliest forms

The beginnings of classical dance can be traced to the Middle Ages. First performed as part of feasts and pageants, dances moved into ballrooms and finally into theaters. They were performed between the acts of comedies, tragedies, and operas.

When the Italian Catherine de Médici married King Henry II of France, she brought from Italy a taste for dancing. Her encouragement established court ballet, or ballet de cour, as the foundation of classical ballet. The court ballet dates from a performance at a court wedding in 1581.

In 1588 Thoinot Arbeau published a book crucial in the development of ballet. It was called Orchésographie, and it set forth the dance steps and rhythms that became the ballet postures and movements in the 17th and 18th centuries.

17th and 18th centuries

The French king Louis XIV, who had a keen interest in dance, established the Académie Royale de Danse, or the Royal Academy of Dance, in 1661.

In the same year, the first comédie-ballet, with text by the playwright Molière and music by Jean-Baptiste Lully, was presented. In this comédie-ballet the scenes of a play separated dances. In his opéra-ballets, another dramatic entertainment that used dance extensively, Lully expanded the scope of dance. He improved the musical pieces to which dancers performed. Greater use was made of dancers' arms and legs, as well as the space on the stage. Under the guidance of Lully and the ballet master Pierre Beauchamps, ballet emerged as a performing art.

In the 18th century choreographers tried to avoid an old-fashioned style of movement and aimed instead for newer, more expressive gestures. Choreographers are those who design the steps and movements of ballet and other dances. Dancing became highly personal and creative, and individual performers often added steps and gestures of their own.

It was during this time that the first great individual performers started to be recognized. Among the most beloved dancers was Marie Camargo. She shortened her skirt a few inches to allow audience members to better see and appreciate her footwork.

19th century

By the beginning of the 19th century, France ceased to be the center of ballet creativity. In Italy, Carlo Blasis made a lasting contribution with his Code of Terpsichore (1830), a manual of instruction that became the standard ballet handbook in Italy, France, England, and Russia.

20th century

In the early 20th century, Sergey Diaghilev, a man who felt strongly about promoting the arts, founded and led a company he called the Ballets Russes. With a group that included some of the Imperial Ballet's finest performers and choreographers, Diaghilev impressed western Europe and then North and South America. Among his associates were choreographers Michel Fokine, Léonide Massine, Vaslav Nijinsky, and George Balanchine. Other members of the group included dancers Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova, scenic artists Léon Bakst and Pablo Picasso, and composers Igor Stravinsky and Claude Debussy. Never, perhaps, in the history of dance had such an array of great talents been presented by a single ballet company.

In 1916 the Ballets Russes performed for the first time in the United States. The company directly influenced the coming generations of dancers in the West. Many of Diaghilev's artists were later to teach and live in the United States.

The American company known as the Ballet Theatre presented its first performance in 1940. The American Ballet Theatre, as it came to be known, managed over the years to establish itself firmly. It remains one of the top ballet companies. Its most celebrated performers have included Alicia Alonso, Nora Kaye, Natalia Makarova, Ivan Nagy, Antony Tudor, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Twyla Tharp, Agnes de Mille, and Jerome Robbins are among the many choreographers who worked with the company.

Another distinguished American dance company is the New York City Ballet, whose principal artistic director was George Balanchine. Taught by Balanchine and other former members of Ballets Russes, the school's dancers performed in a succession of companies. These companies ultimately became the New York City Ballet in 1948. Performers who have excelled with the company include Tanaquil LeClercq, Maria Tallchief, Suzanne Farrell, Gelsey Kirkland, Jacques d'Amboise, Edward Villella, and Peter Martins.