1. Court Ballets The choreographic performances we know today have their origins in the refined festivities of the Italian Renaissance courts. These were dazzling shows where courtiers mingled with musicians and professional entertainers. Over the course of the 16^th century, this trend spread across Europe and particularly to France, where two royal figures played a key role. First, Catherine de Medici introduced Italian traditions and their court ballets to the French court. For the most famous one, the Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581), she enlisted an Italian master, Balthazar de Beaujoyeux, to work alongside the artists of the Pléiade, adapting the show to French tastes and ideas. Under the reigns of Henri IV and Louis XIII, court ballets multiplied.

2. Louis XIV played a crucial role in the history of choreographic performance in several ways. From a young age, he appeared in court ballets. He earned his nickname, the Sun King, from the Ballet de la Nuit (1653), where he portrayed Apollo, surrounded by high-ranking lords representing the planets: in a political metaphor of the Copernican universe, the nobility, like the planets, revolved around the king without ever getting close (a reference to the recent Fronde). For Louis XIV, dance practice was essential as it shaped the warrior’s body and ensured elegance at balls during peacetime. The king gave dance a triple institutional dimension by founding a theoretical body, the Royal Academy of Dance (1661), followed by the Royal Academy of Music (1669) and its Dance School (1713).

3. From Court Ballet to Ballet In the 17^th century, dance was incorporated into opera-ballets and comedy-ballets. The story was carried by the singers or actors, while the ballet was merely an embellishment of the performance. It was during the 18^th century that ballet as we know it emerged, driven by the Enlightenment philosophers’ reflections on the expressive power of the body. At first, it staged mythological tales well-known to all and easy to follow, then moved on to adaptations of operas, novels, or popular plays.

4. Le ballet romantique Les années 1830 initient le triomphe des créatures éthérées et des âmes dansantes, thématiques surnaturelles qui hantent alors l’imaginaire culturel. Le ballet se féminise, use de machineries aux effets fantastiques et raconte la fascination masculine pour ces héroïnes grâce auxquelles la condition humaine trouverait une nouvelle dimension. L’apparition des pointes que seules quelques rares ballerines commencent à maitriser associée à une technique féminine centrée sur la légèreté des sauts et la rapidité du bas de jambe, la mousseline de soie utilisée pour les costumes, tout concourt à l’illusion scénique de cette immatérialité.

5. Le ballet pétersbourgeois Si c’est à Paris que se créent deux chefs d’œuvre du Romantisme, La Sylphide et Giselle, dans la seconde moitié du XIX^e siècle, c’est à Saint-Pétersbourg que l’histoire s’écrit. La troupe du Mariinsky est fondée au XVIII^e siècle. S’y succèdent des maîtres de ballet pour la plupart français dont Marius Petipa engagé d’abord comme danseur en 1846 et qui y restera jusqu’à sa mort en 1910. Il y crée un grand nombre d’ouvrages dont Le Lac des cygnes. Ce n’est que tardivement, au XX^e siècle, que le monde de l’Ouest les découvrira au fil des tournées venues de Russie/Union soviétique. L’Opéra de Paris se les appropriera dans les années 1970-1980 essentiellement grâce à Rudolf Noureev.

6. Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes From 1909 to 1929, Serge Diaghilev organized tours in Paris, Monte Carlo, London, and other cities for a company that brought together a ballet troupe around the great names of the Mariinsky, including the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova. The shows he presented placed dance at the heart of an artistic synthesis. He collaborated with renowned painters such as Picasso and famous composers like Igor Stravinsky and Serge Prokofiev, entrusting choreography to new talents who would all leave their mark on the century: Vaslav Nijinsky (The Rite of Spring), Michel Fokine, George Balanchine, Leonid Massine, Bronislava Nijinska. The influence of this company was fundamental for 20^th century classical dance, as after the 1917 Revolution, many of its artists settled in the Western world, forming a Russian diaspora and spreading their art, technique, and repertoire.

7. Neoclassical Ballet Under Diaghilev’s influence, choreographers moved away from the conventions inherited from the 19^th century. Ballet, whether narrative or abstract, saw its technique evolve. In Europe, the 1950s showcased bold creativity with many faces, such as Maurice Béjart, Roland Petit, and Frederick Ashton. At the same time, American and Soviet influence strategies multiplied their companies’ tours, confronting styles and repertoires. Later came the questions raised by contemporary dance, to which major figures such as William Forsythe and Crystal Pite continue to respond today.

8. Modern and Contemporary Dance At the beginning of the 20^th century, new choreographic aesthetics emerged. They came from individuals asserting the personal nature of their art, such as the American Isadora Duncan, or from structured movements like German Expressionism led by Rudolf Laban and Mary Wigman, with Pina Bausch as an heir. In the United States, around Ruth Saint-Denis and Ted Shawn, major figures emerged including Martha Graham, and later an avant-garde movement with Merce Cunningham as its leading figure. From the 1950s onward, these movements took root in France. In 1974, Carolyn Carlson joined the Paris Opera, and in the 1980s, a host of choreographers from the “Young French Dance” scene, such as Philippe Decouflé, Angelin Preljocaj, and Maguy Marin, captivated all audiences. Today, contemporary dance presents a landscape of multiple horizons, from Sweden (Mats Ek), to Israel (Ohad Naharin), and South Africa (Dada Masilo).

Sylvie Jacq Mioche

Dance Historian

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