George Balanchine, Le Ballet Comique De La Reine

When looking at the periods of dance it can be separated into Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Pre-Romantic, Romantic, Russian Classic, and Ballet Russes before we reach the Twentieth Century. Ballet began during what is known as the Italian Renaissance, and permeated French culture by Catherine de Medici’s marriage to the King of France. The very first endorsed “ballet”, Le Ballet Comique de la Reine performed on October 15, 1581, marked the beginning of theatrical and technical dance performances. During this time our first prominent ballet masters came about, including; Balthasar Beaujoyeaux, Pierre Beauchamp, Domenico of Ferrara, and Guglielmo Ebreo, to name a few. These early ballet masters created and built upon social dance and turned it into a technical spectacle. After much deliberation on what causes the alteration and growth of ballet over time, there was one constant throughout. Ballet masters from the Renaissance to current

George Balanchine, perhaps the most famous choreographer of all time is mainly credited for the rise of ballet in America. Not only did he build the New York City Ballet, he refurbished the ballet technique of Beauchamp and Ebreo, and infused it with all the came afterwards to create his own unique style of dance (Buckle, p.53). Balanchine was known for having a very imaginative process where he would coach the dancers in the style of movement he visualized (usually based off of something he’s seen) and the steps would come later. This is different than Beauchamp’s supposed process that relied greatly on the musical composition that anything else. When ballet spread to Russia, we also began to see an influence of the Imperial Russian Classicism and Communist ideals in the ballet