Background and History

Ballet originated during the 14 and 1500’s in Italy. During the Renaissance era, Italy was made up of city-states. The wealthy, who ruled the city states tried hard to promote the arts by competing with animosity to show who was the wealthiest, with fancy royal court performances where the dancer was merely dancing to please their ruler. In 1547, a member of a wealthy family in Italy became queen of France. Her name was Catherine de Medicis and she brought the Italian traditions into the French courts. Because dance technique was so limited back then, the dancers relied on their elegant, but heavy, costumes to show off their wealth and to impress all who watched. Dancing still only took place in the royal court where the women were limited to long awkward dresses where their dance steps were impossible to see. The men, on the other hand, had more freedom in their clothes and could jump and do many more steps than the women could. Most of the time masks were worn to better portray the character a dancer was playing.

Time went on and ballet developed more and more. The “industry” became more competitive, where more skill was required. King Louis, who ruled France in the mid-1600’s recognized this, greatly admired dancing. He loved to watch as well as participate, and was so adamant about ballet to growing into something big, that he developed the Paris Opera Ballet, a dancing school where all could be taught the gift of dance. Through the training at the school, new skills were developed and dancers became more advanced than ever before. During the early 1700’s, a man named Pierre Beauchamps, King Louis’ dance master, defined and named many new dance steps as well as the five positions of the feet that are still used in all types of dance today.

Professional ballet dancers made their way from the royal courts to public stages. Dancers and choreographers traveled around performing for the public and the art of ballet was spread worldwide.

Works Cited
"History of Ballet." World Book.