"Dance is the hidden language of the soul"

When I was ten I used to look at my shoes and wish they were pale pink with ribbons to wind around my ankles and calves wish they had a magical toe-box to help me balance on my toes but my shoes were black and flat with leather on their soles my shoes could slide across the wooden floor like Bennie Goodman I dont think I can toe dance but I still dream about it

Ballet is very pretty dancing! You probably have seen ballet on television or in the movies. Perhaps you take ballet lessons or know someone who does. So lets get some interesting facts about it
Ballet was first performed in Italy in the early 1600's. In 1661, the first ballet school was opened in France. It was started by Louis XIV, and

only men were allowed to dance. Women first danced the ballet in 1681. They did not look like the dancers of today, because they wore ankle-length dresses! Throughout the beginning years, until 1789, the performers not only danced, but also recited poems and sang songs. The dance steps taught so long ago in France are still used today. Most steps still have their original French names. The basic five ballet positions were created in the 1600's by a French ballet teacher whose name was Beauchamps. These arm and leg positions helped the dancers to balance while still looking graceful. Most ballet steps and combinations begin with one of the basic positions. Some ballet step names and positions, and their English translations are: Devant, which means in front. Glissade, which means to glide. Pas, which means step. Pas de chat, which means cat step. Pas de deux, which means steps for two, meaning two dancers. Pas jete, which means throwing step. Releve, which means raised. Rond de jambe, which means round of the leg. En premiere, or first position. En seconde, for second position. For third, fourth and fifth positions: en troisieme, en quatrieme, and en cinquieme. All the basic positions require the dancers to turn out their legs and feet. This takes years of training and practice.

The feature of ballet is the outward rotation of the thighs from the hip. The foundation of the dance is of five basic positions, all performed with the turnout. Most young dancers receive a very strict and rigorous education in their school's method of the dance, which begins when they are young and ends with graduation from high school. Students are required to learn all the names, meanings (most), and last but not least precise technique of each movement which they learn.

Toe dancing began to develop at the very tail end of the 1700's. Dancers balanced on their toes in attitude for just moments, wearing soft ballet slippers. Pierina Legnani was the first to perform thirty-two fouetts on pointe which caused a huge sensation. The Italians were keeping a closely guarded secret, however, they were developing better shoes. Satin, leather, paper and paste were, and still are, the primary components of a blocked pointe shoe. Pointe shoes are made inside out and turned after the box has been formed which is achieved by building layer upon layer of paper and special paste, the formula to which each manufacturer held sacred. The foot is supported from underneath the arch by a stiff spine, called a shank. The outer material of a pointe shoe is usually pink satin.

The History of the Ballet Tutu Say the word "ballerina" and most people will picture her in a tutu. Tutus have long been the most revered form of ballet costume; their angelic frothiness adds at magic quality to the look of a ballerina. When she wears one, she looks like a sugary confection that belongs on the grandest of cakes. While many are familiar with the word "tutu", most have no idea why is a tutu called a tutu . The first tutu was worn in Paris, by Marie Taglioni, during her 1832 performance of La Sylphide. Taglioni's tutu was short enough to reveal her infamous footwork. This time period was known as the Romantic period in ballet costume history, and this tutu was called the Romantic tutu. This long, floating, ethereal style is made with 3-5 layers of tulle. Over time, the tutu grew shorter and shorter in length to reveal more of the intricate footwork that dancers performed. This first Classical tutu style ended just above the ballerina's knees. Later, the tutu shrank even further to become the Classical tutu, or Pancake tutu, the final product of the tutu evolution. This type of tutu has a stiff skirt that juts out horizontally from the hips, with hooping (encased petticoat wire tacked within its layers) to help it retain its shape and stiffness. George Balanchine developed one final category of tutu styles, known as the powder-puff tutu. It is similar to the Classic tutu, but does not have hooping, and contains fewer layers of tulle, making it softer and more flowing than the traditional Pancake tutu. The name, however, came from the ballet viewers in the "cheap seats". the people in the audience who bought cheaper tickets sat in the lower part of the theater, and often had a peek under ballerinas' skirts...at their bottoms! Of course this caused quite a bit of talk...baby talk, that is. The French baby talk word for this part of the anatomy is "cucu", which eventually became "tutu".

Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is not mere translation or abstraction from life;it is life itself

A ballet usually tells a story There are some ballets that have been performed many times over many years. Although the story of a particular ballet is the same, the actual dance is probably quite different each place you see it. For example, Swan Lake is a famous ballet that has been performed all over the world. The story is always the same, but when it is done in different places it looks very different because it was choreographed. A choreographer is a person who plans each part of the ballet. They decide which steps will be used and how those steps will be put together. So, each time you see a ballet that has been choreographed by a different person, it will be new to you! You can see Swan Lake six times and never be bored!

Anna Pavlova in Giselle, wearing a Romantic Tutu

Christmas ballet Robin Cornwell and James Strong(red duet)

Darcy Kistler Nyc ballet -1980

Anna Pavlova as Giselle

Thank you for your attention