History of the emergence of classical ballet. A Brief History of Ballet

The history of world ballet knows many legendary names. In Stockholm, a monument was erected in front of the ancient building of the Dance Museum. The bronze sculpture embodies the image of the outstanding Russian ballerina Galina Ulanova as the Swan (sculptor Elena Yanson-Manizer). Who among us does not remember the dance of the little swans or the adagio of Odette-Odile from the fabulously fantastic ballet by P. Tchaikovsky " Swan Lake"? This music has become a favorite for many people around the world, because the ideas of fighting against dark forces who stand on the road to happiness, are understandable to representatives different cultures, people of different ages, different artistic and aesthetic interests and tastes.

- type of musical performing arts, its content is revealed in choreographic images. french word"ballet" comes from the Italian "dance". The French name and Italian root are not accidental. The birthplace of ballet is Italy, the time of its origin is the Renaissance. Italians have long loved dance scenes at the carnival, which eventually turned into dance performances. In France, the court solemn ballet became popular. At the Royal Academy of Dance (Paris), a school of classical dance was formed - a kind of language of choreographic art, which has largely survived to this day. The ballet consists of music, dance - classical and characteristic, pantomime, script (libretto), scenography.

In Russia, ballet became popular in the 18th century thanks to one of the representatives french school classical dance by Charles Didelot. It was he who staged many ballet performances on the St. Petersburg stage, in which, in particular, Avdotya Istomina performed, whose performance he sang. The formation of the Russian school of classical dance in the 19th century is associated with the activities of the choreographer Marius Petipa, who staged about 60 ballets in St. Petersburg, as well as with music, the author of three famous ballets: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker. It was he who gave a deep psychological content to ballet music, in which he used the principles of symphonic development.

The ballet debut of the Russian composer was of historical importance. His ballets The Firebird, Petrushka staged by the talented choreographer Mikhail Fokin, The Rite of Spring staged by the famous dancer and choreographer Vatslav Nijinsky were created for the Russian Seasons in Paris, which were organized in the early 19th century by Sergei Diaghilev - the famous entrepreneur, ardent propagandist of Russian art abroad. Stage design, scenery, costumes, even the libretto of "Petrushka" was developed by the artist Alexander Benois; The set design for The Rite of Spring belonged to Nicholas Roerich, who also co-authored the libretto. I. Stravinsky's ballets with orchestral effects, bold rhythms, harmonic finds, innovative interpretation of folklore opened new era in the history of musical theatre. The star of the first magnitude in the Russian troupe of S. Diaghilev was the ballerina Anna Pavlova. Before her, ballet was dominated by a virtuoso brilliance, a cult of dance technique. Anna Pavlova created reference images of high spirituality, beauty, and sincerity. Among them are "The Swan" by K. Saint-Saens, "Waltz" from "Chopiniana".

The glory of Russian ballet on the world musical and theatrical arena was increased by another pupil of the St. Petersburg school, a student of N. Rimsky-Korsakov, Sergei Prokofiev. He is the author huge amount works: operas, symphonies, instrumental sonatas and concertos, oratorios and cantatas, music for films. The pinnacle of the composer's work is considered to be the ballet-tragedy "Romeo and Juliet", which, thanks to innovative choreography, symphonic techniques musical development became a brilliant embodiment of Shakespeare's deeply psychological images, universal human conflicts. The music of the ballet is permeated by the main melodic lines - leitmotifs, which combine into one whole series of images-portraits. The impetuous and flying theme of Juliet the girl, the dreamy-thoughtful and sad - Romeo, the eccentric and cheerful - Mercutio, the sternly choral - Father Lorenzo, the tragic and threatening - the theme of enmity between the Montagues and the Capulets. In a series of choreographic images, the spirit of the Renaissance seems to come to life. The ballet has become a universally recognized masterpiece of the tragic genre. Based on Russian folk tales S. Prokofiev created the national ballets "The Tale of the Jester" and "The Tale of stone flower”, in the classical tradition, the poetic “Cinderella” was written.

Unforgettable Prokofiev images of Juliet and Cinderella were embodied on the musical and theatrical stage by Galina Ulanova. She enriched the traditions of Anna Pavlova's lyric-romantic dance, filled the characteristics of the choreographic heroes with psychologism, special poetry, and a rich range of emotional nuances. The heroines of Ulanova, an unsurpassed master of plastic details, are characterized by outward modesty and a huge inner strength. After performances abroad, where the art of the ballerina was widely recognized, she wrote: “All over the world they believe that it is the soul of our dance, or, as Stanislavsky said, “life human spirit", captivate above all."

The glory of their outstanding predecessors is continued by contemporary Russian ballet dancers. Images of Maya Plisetskaya (Carmen Suite by R. Shchedrin), Ekaterina Maksimova and Vladimir Vasilyev (Spartacus by A. Khachaturian), Nina Ananiashvili (Giselle by A. Adam) and many other soloists Bolshoi Theater and the St. Petersburg Opera and Ballet Theater delight the audience. Now Russian ballet is known all over the world, no country can boast of such achievements in this artistic field.

It all started over five hundred years ago in Northern Italy. It was the renaissance hallmarks which were the secular nature of culture, humanism and anthropocentrism, that is, interest, first of all, in a person and his activities.

During the Renaissance, the Italian princes held palace festivities, in which dance occupied an important place. However, the magnificent robes, like the halls, did not allow unorganized movement. Therefore, there were special teachers - dance masters who rehearsed movements and individual figures with the nobles, so that later they could lead the dancers. Gradually, the dance became more and more theatrical, and the word "ballet" itself denoted compositions that conveyed not a plot, but a property or state of character.

By the end of the 15th century, this kind of ballet was part of the spectacle created by famous poets and artists. In 1496, Leonardo da Vinci designed dancers' costumes and invented stage effects for the feast of the Duke of Milan.

In 1494, when King Charles VIII of France entered Italy claiming the throne of Naples, his courtiers were impressed by the skill of the Italian dance teachers. As a result, dancing masters were invited to the French court. At the same time, there was a need for notation - a system for recording dance. The author of the first known system was Tuan Arbo. He recorded dance steps with musical signs.

Development continued in France...

The French Queen Catherine de Medici invited the Italian Baldasarino di Belgiojoso (in France he was called Balthazar de Beaujoieux) to stage court performances. Ballet then established itself as a genre, where drama, "singing story" (recitative) and dance formed a continuous action. The first in this genre and the most famous is considered "Circe, or the Queen's Comedy Ballet", delivered in 1581. The plot was borrowed from ancient mythology. Dances were performed in magnificent costumes and masks by noble ladies and nobles.

In the 16th century, as instrumental music developed, so did the technique of dance. In France XVII century, masquerade ballets began to appear, and then pompous melodramatic ballets on chivalrous and fantastic plots, where dance episodes were interspersed with vocal arias and recitation of poems - "The Ballet of Alcine" (1610), "The Triumph of Minerva" (1615), "The Liberation of Rinaldo" (1617). Such ballets consisted of different numbers, which today resembles divertissement, and subsequently will become one of the important structural forms of the future ballet.

Later, King Louis XIII of France, who was fond of dancing and received an excellent musical education, was the author ballet performance"Merleson Ballet" (March 15, 1635). The plot was adventures while hunting for thrushes - one of the king's favorite pastimes. The ballet consisted of 16 acts. His Majesty not only composed the libretto, music, choreography, sketched scenery and costumes, but also played two roles: a bait merchant and a peasant.

The first steps of young art. Great Pierre Beauchamp

The performances of the court ballet reached a special splendor during the time of King Louis XIV. Because only then the dance began to be performed by certain rules. They were first formulated by the French choreographer Pierre Beauchamp (1637–1705).

Louis XIV received his famous nickname "Sun King" after playing the role of the Sun in the Ballet of the Night. He loved to dance and participate in performances. In 1661, he opened the Royal Academy of Music and Dance, where 13 leading dancing masters were invited. Their duty was to preserve the dance traditions.

The director of the academy, Pierre Beauchamp, wrote down the canons of the noble manner of dance, the basis of which was the eversion of the legs (en dehors). This position gave human body the ability to move freely in different directions. He divided all movements into groups: squats (plié), jumps (skids, entresha, cabrioles, jette, the ability to hang in a jump - elevation), rotations (pirouettes, fouettes), body positions (attitudes, arabesques). The execution of these movements was carried out on the basis of five positions of the legs and three positions of the hands (port de bras). All classical dance steps are derived from these foot and hand positions.

His classification is alive to this day, and the French terminology has become common for artists around the world, like Latin for doctors.

Beauchamp made an invaluable contribution to classical ballet by dividing dances into three main types: serious, semi-characteristic and comic. Serious dance (the prototype of modern classical) required academic rigor of performance, external beauty, grace - even on the verge of affectation. It was a "noble" dance that was used to play the role of a king, god, mythological hero. Semi-characteristic - combined pastoral, peisan and fantastic dances, which were to depict the forces of nature or personified human passions. The dances of the furies, nymphs and satyrs also obeyed his laws. Finally, the comic dance was remarkable for its virtuosity, allowing for exaggerated movements and improvisation. It was needed for the grotesque and exotic dances found in the comedies of the theater of classicism.

Thus began the formation of ballet, which XVIII century From interludes and divertissements it developed into an independent art.

First theatre. First troupe

Gaining more and more popularity, the ballet became crowded in the palace halls. Under the leadership of Beauchamp, the Paris Opera was created, where he was a choreographer, but the performances did not differ much from previous performances. They were attended by the same courtiers who performed slow minuets, gavottes and pavanes. Heavy dresses, high-heeled shoes and masks prevented women from performing complex movements. Then Pierre Beauchamp formed a ballet troupe of only male dancers. Their dances were more graceful and graceful. Women on stage Paris Opera appeared only in 1681. Large groups the dancers began to simultaneously perform complex movements and accompanied the soloists; the solo dance meaningfully conveyed the loftiness of the characters, the strength of emotions; pair dance formed into a pas de deux. Highly conditioned, gravitating toward virtuosity, dance depended on music and achieved equal rights with it in practice and theory.

French choreography was greatly enriched by the playwright Molière and the composer J. B. Lully, who first collaborated with Molière as a choreographer and dancer in the comedies-ballets Marriage Reluctantly (1664), Georges Danden (1668), and The Tradesman in the Nobility (1670). ). Having become a composer, Lully created the genre of musical tragedy, where the aesthetics of classicism affected: the monumentality of images, the clear logic of development, the severity of taste, the chasing of forms. The action of lyrical tragedies was reinforced by plastic and decorative processions, pantomimes, and dances.

Reform ballet theater caused an upsurge in performing skills - dancers L. Pecourt, J. Ballon appeared. Mademoiselle Lafontaine became the first professional dancer, performing in Lully's opera-ballet Triumph of Love. She was later known as the "Queen of the Dance".

Serious dances were performed in a wide skirt, which was held on reed hoops. The toes of her shoes peeked out from under her. Men wore brocade cuirasses and short skirts on reed frames, which were called "barrels". Everyone had high heels. In addition, they covered their faces with round masks. different colors, depending on the nature of the character.

In semi-characteristic ballets, the costumes were lightweight, but attributes that characterize the dance were added - sickles, baskets, shoulder blades, leopard skins and others. The costume for comic dances was not so strictly regulated - the director trusted the artist's imagination.

At the same time, a whole system of symbols was born. If an artist, for example, stroked his forehead with the edge of his hand, this meant a crown, i.e. king; cross-folded hands on the chest - "died"; pointed to the ring finger of the hand - “I want to get married” or “married”; hand image of wave-like movements - “sailed on a ship”.

Ballet enchants Europe

Simultaneously with the development of ballet in all major cities, their own theaters, choreographers and performers began to appear. So, the ballet returned to its homeland - to Italy, where by the 18th century its own style of performance had developed, which differed from the French mannerism in technical virtuosity and greater immediacy. French and Italian schools in classical ballet will continue for more than one century.

In the 17th century, ballet appeared in the Netherlands. In England, due to the bourgeois revolution and the ban on spectacles, the ballet theater developed a little later - only with the restoration of the monarchy. In 1722, the first court theater in Denmark was established, where professional dancers participated in Molière's comedies and ballets. And only by the end of the 18th century the Danish ballet gained independence. In the 18th century, ballet also existed in Germany, Sweden and Holland. The forms of execution, which were borrowed from the Italians and the French, were enriched with national color.

Ballet came to Russia later than to others European countries, but it was here that he was caught by the heyday, and this is the history of other centuries, which deserves a separate chapter.

The most beautiful of all arts.

The most beautiful of all arts, ballet tells stories of love and death in a language understandable to all people on Earth. Enduring values, repeated crimes and miracles of faith, oath and duty find their expression in dances. “In the beginning there was the Word,” the Bible says, but Maya Plisetskaya objects: “In the beginning there was a gesture!” The art of silent movement does not require human language and translation. The beauty of the body in motion, the body as a tool for creating art, now themselves serve as "plots" for plotless dances. Ballet is impossible without the technique of classical dance, without the nature of the body, without sacrifice and unconditional love, without sweat and blood. And yet ballet is a perfect movement that makes you forget about everything petty and earthly.

A Brief History of Russian Ballet.

The first ballet performance in Russia took place on Shrovetide February 17, 1672 at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Preobrazhensky. Before the start of the performance, an actor portraying Orpheus came on stage and sang German couplets, translated to the tsar by a translator, in which the beautiful properties of the soul of Alexei Mikhailovich were extolled. At this time, on both sides of Orpheus, there were two pyramids decorated with banners and illuminated with multi-colored lights, which, after the song of Orpheus, began to dance. Under Peter I, dances appeared in Russia in modern meaning of this word: minuets, country dances, etc. were introduced. He issued a decree according to which dancing became the main part of court etiquette, and noble youth were obliged to learn dancing. In 1731, the Land Gentry Corps was opened in St. Petersburg, which was destined to become the cradle of Russian ballet. Since the graduates of the corps in the future had to occupy high government positions and needed knowledge of secular manners, the study fine arts, including ballroom dance, in the case allotted significant place. On May 4, 1738, the French dance master Jean-Baptiste Lande opened the first ballet dance school in Russia - "Her Imperial Majesty's Dance School" (now the Academy of Russian Ballet named after A. Ya. Vaganova).

In specially equipped rooms Winter Palace Lande started teaching 12 Russian boys and girls. Pupils were recruited from children of simple origin. Education at the school was free, pupils were on full content. Ballet in Russia was further developed during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna. Among the cadets of the Land Corps, Nikita Beketov excelled in dancing. Moreover, Beketov, who later became Elizabeth's favorite, enjoyed the special favor of the Empress, who herself dressed the young man, who performed excellently. female roles. In 1742, the first ballet troupe was created from the students of the Lande school, and in 1743, fees began to be paid to its participants. On August 1, 1759, on the empress's name day and on the occasion of the victory over the Prussian troops at Frankfurt, the ballet-drama "Refuge of Virtue" was solemnly staged, which was a huge success.

During the reign of Catherine II, ballet in Russia gained even greater popularity and received further development. On the occasion of her coronation in the Moscow Palace, a magnificent ballet "Joyful Return to the Arcadian Shepherds and Shepherds of the Goddess of Spring" was given, in which the noblest nobles participated. It is known that the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich, often danced in ballet performances in the court theater. From the era of Catherine II, a tradition of serf ballets appeared in Russia, when landowners started troupes made up of serfs. Of these ballets, the ballet of the landowner Nashchokin enjoyed the greatest fame.

In 1766, the choreographer and composer Gasparo Angiolini, discharged from Vienna, adds a Russian flavor to ballet performances - introduces musical accompaniment ballet performances Russian melodies, which surprised everyone and gained universal praise for himself. At the beginning of the reign of Paul I, ballet was still in vogue. Interestingly, under Paul I, special rules for ballet were issued - it was ordered that there should not be a single man on the stage during the performance, the roles of men were danced by Evgenia Kolosova and Nastasya Berilova.

This continued until Auguste Poirot arrived in St. Petersburg. During the reign of Alexander I, Russian ballet continued its development, reaching new heights. The Russian ballet owes its success at this time, first of all, to the invited French choreographer Carl Didelot, who arrived in Russia in 1801. Under his leadership, such dancers and dancers as Maria Danilova, Evdokia Istomina began to shine in Russian ballet. At this time, ballet in Russia reached unprecedented popularity. Derzhavin, Pushkin and Griboedov sang the ballets of Didelot and his students Istomin and Teleshova. The emperor loved ballet performances and almost never missed a single one. In 1831, Didelot left the St. Petersburg stage due to a conflict with the director of theaters, Prince Gagarin. Soon a star began to shine on the Petersburg stage European ballet Maria Taglioni.

She made her debut on September 6, 1837 in the ballet La Sylphide and aroused the delight of the public. Such lightness, such chaste grace, such extraordinary technique and facial expressions have never been shown by any of the dancers. In 1841, she said goodbye to St. Petersburg, having danced more than 200 times during this time.

In 1848, Taglioni's rival Fanny Elsler, famous for her grace and facial expressions, arrived in St. Petersburg. Following her, Carlotta Grisi visited St. Petersburg, who made her debut in 1851 in Giselle and was a great success, showing herself to be a first-class dancer and an excellent mimic actress. At that time, choreographers Marius Petipa, Joseph Mazilier and others consistently staged luxurious ballets and, by attracting talented artists, tried to put forward ballet performances, to which they began to cool off thanks to Italian opera. Among the ballet critics of that time was Vissarion Belinsky, noted for articles about Taglioni, Guerino and Sankovskaya. In the reign of Alexander II in Russian ballet, the promotion of domestic talents begins. Whole line talented Russian dancers and dancers graced the ballet stage. Although great savings were observed in ballet performances, the experience of Mariyca Petipa made it possible to stage elegant ballet performances at low financial costs, the success of which was greatly facilitated by the excellent scenery of the artists. During this period of development of Russian ballet, dances take precedence over plasticity and facial expressions.

During the reign of Alexander III ballets were given at the Mariinsky Theater twice a week - on Wednesdays and Sundays. The choreographer was still Marius Petipa. At that time, foreign ballerinas were touring in St. Petersburg, among them Carlotta Brianza, who was the first to perform the part of Aurora in the ballet The Sleeping Beauty by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The leading dancers were Vasily Geltser and Nikolai Domashev. In the XX century - A. V. Shiryaev, 1904 A. A. Gorsky, 1906 Mikhail Fokin, 1909. At the beginning of the XX century, the guardians of academic traditions were artists: Olga Preobrazhenskaya, Matilda Kshesinskaya, Vera Trefilova, Yu. N. Sedova, Agrippina Vaganova , Olga Spesivtseva. In search of new forms, Mikhail Fokin relied on contemporary fine art.

Anna Pavlova. Invitation to the Dance aka Invitation to the Valse.

The favorite stage form of the choreographer was one-act ballet with laconic continuous action, with a clearly expressed stylistic coloring. Mikhail Fokin owns the ballets: Pavilion of Armida, Chopiniana, Egyptian Nights, Carnival, 1910; " Parsley", " Polovtsian dances in the opera Prince Igor. Tamara Karsavina, Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova became famous in Fokine's ballets. The first act of the ballet "Don Quixote", to the music of Ludwig Minkus, reached his contemporaries in the version of Alexander Gorsky.

Russian ballet of the twentieth century.

Galina Ulanova in the ballet "Giselle."

Pas de deux from the ballet "Swan Lake" by Tchaikovsky.

Russian ballet of the XXI century.

Pas de deux from the ballet "Le Corsaire" by Adana.

Pas de deux from Don Quixote by Minkus.

Pas de deux from the ballet "La Bayadère" by Minkus.

Adagio and pas de deux from the ballet "Giselle" by Adam.

Submitted by copypaster on Wed, 15/08/2007 - 01:11

Ballet is a rather young art. It is a little over four hundred years old, although dance has been decorating human life since ancient times.

Ballet was born in Northern Italy during the Renaissance. The Italian princes loved magnificent palace festivities, in which dance occupied an important place. Rural dances were not suitable for court ladies and gentlemen. Their robes, like the halls where they danced, did not allow for unorganized movement. Special teachers - dance masters - tried to put things in order in court dances. They rehearsed individual figures and movements of the dance with the nobles in advance and led groups of dancers. Gradually the dance became more and more theatrical.

The term "ballet" appeared at the end of the 16th century (from the Italian balletto - to dance). But then it did not mean a performance, but only a dance episode that conveys a certain mood. Such "ballets" usually consisted of little-connected "outputs" of characters - most often heroes Greek myths. After such "outputs" a common dance began - the "big ballet".

The first ballet performance was the Queen's Comedy Ballet, staged in France in 1581 by the Italian choreographer Baltazarini di Belgiojoso. It was in France that the further development of ballet took place. At first, these were masquerade ballets, and then pompous melodramatic ballets on chivalrous and fantastic plots, where dance episodes were replaced by vocal arias and recitations of poetry. Do not be surprised, at that time the ballet was not only a dance performance.

During the reign of Louis XIV, the performances of the court ballet reached a special splendor. Louis himself loved to participate in ballets, and received his famous nickname "The Sun King" after playing the role of the Sun in the "Ballet of the Night".

In 1661 he created the Royal Academy of Music and Dance, which included 13 leading dancing masters. Their duty was to preserve the dance traditions. The director of the academy, the royal dance teacher Pierre Beauchamp, identified the five basic positions of classical dance.

Soon the Paris Opera was opened, the choreographer of which was the same Beauchamp. Under his leadership, a ballet troupe was formed. At first, it consisted of only men. Women appeared on the stage of the Paris Opera only in 1681.

The theater staged opera-ballets by the composer Lully and comedies-ballets by the playwright Molière. At first, courtiers took part in them, and the performances almost did not differ from palace performances. The already mentioned slow minuets, gavottes and pavanes were danced. Masks, heavy dresses, and high-heeled shoes made it difficult for women to perform complex movements. That's why male dances were distinguished then by greater grace and grace.

To mid-eighteenth century ballet gained great popularity in Europe. All the aristocratic courts of Europe sought to imitate the luxury of the French royal court. opened in the cities opera houses. Numerous dancers and dance teachers easily found work.

Soon influenced by fashion female ballet costume became much lighter and freer, under it the lines of the body were guessed. Dancers abandoned shoes with heels, replacing them with light heelless shoes. The men's costume also became less cumbersome: tight-fitting pantaloons to the knees and stockings made it possible to see the figure of the dancer.

Each innovation made dances more meaningful, and dance technique higher. Gradually, ballet separated from opera and turned into an independent art.

Although the French ballet school was famous for its grace and plasticity, it was characterized by a certain coldness and formality of performance. Therefore, choreographers and artists were looking for other means of expression.

At the end of the 18th century, a new trend in art was born - romanticism, which had a strong influence on ballet. In a romantic ballet, the dancer stood on pointe shoes. Maria Taglioni was the first to do this, completely changing the previous ideas about ballet. In the ballet "La Sylphide" she appeared as a fragile creature from the other world. The success was stunning.

At this time, many wonderful ballets appeared, but, unfortunately, the romantic ballet was the last heyday. dance art in the West. From the second half of XIX century ballet, having lost its former meaning, has become an appendage to the opera. Only in the 1930s, under the influence of Russian ballet, did the revival of this art form begin in Europe.

In Russia, the first ballet performance - "The Ballet of Orpheus and Eurydice" - was staged on February 8, 1673 at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Ceremonial and slow dances consisted of a change of graceful postures, bows and moves, alternating with singing and speech. He did not play any significant role in the development of stage dance. It was just another royal "fun", which attracted with its unusualness and novelty.

Only a quarter of a century later, thanks to the reforms of Peter I, music and dance entered the life of Russian society. In the nobility educational establishments introduced compulsory dance instruction. At the court, musicians discharged from abroad, opera artists and ballet companies.

In 1738, the first ballet school in Russia was opened, and three years later 12 boys and 12 girls from the palace servants became the first professional dancers in Russia. At first, they performed in the ballets of foreign masters as figurants (as the corps de ballet dancers were called), and later in the main parts. The remarkable dancer of that time, Timofey Bublikov, shone not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Vienna.

AT early XIX century, Russian ballet art has reached creative maturity. Russian dancers brought expressiveness and spirituality to the dance. Feeling this very accurately, A. S. Pushkin called the dance of his contemporary Avdotya Istomina "a flight filled with soul."

Ballet at that time took a privileged position among other types of theatrical art. The authorities paid great attention to it, provided state subsidies. Moscow and St. Petersburg ballet troupes performed in well-equipped theaters, and graduates of theater schools annually replenished the staff of dancers, musicians and decorators.

Arthur St. Leon

In the history of our ballet theatre, one often encounters the names of foreign masters who played a significant role in the development of Russian ballet. First of all, these are Charles Didelot, Arthur Saint-Leon and Marius Petipa. They helped create the Russian ballet school. But talented Russian artists also made it possible to reveal the talents of their teachers. This invariably attracted the largest choreographers of Europe to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Nowhere in the world could they meet such a large, talented and well-trained troupe as in Russia.

AT mid-nineteenth century, realism came to Russian literature and art. Choreographers feverishly, but to no avail, tried to create realistic performances. They did not take into account that ballet is a conditional art and realism in ballet differs significantly from realism in painting and literature. The crisis of ballet art began.

A new stage in the history of Russian ballet began when the great Russian composer P. Tchaikovsky first composed music for the ballet. It was Swan Lake. Prior to that, ballet music was not taken seriously. She was considered inferior musical creativity, just an accompaniment to dancing.

Thanks to Tchaikovsky, ballet music became a serious art along with opera and symphony music. Previously, music was completely dependent on dance, now dance had to obey music. New means of expression and a new approach to creating a performance were required.

The further development of Russian ballet is associated with the name of the Moscow choreographer A. Gorsky, who, having abandoned the outdated techniques of pantomime, used the techniques of modern directing in a ballet performance. Attaching great importance to the pictorial design of the performance, he attracted the best artists to work.

But the true reformer of ballet art is Mikhail Fokin, who rebelled against the traditional construction of a ballet performance. He argued that the theme of the performance, its music, the era in which the action takes place, each time require different dance movements, a different dance pattern. When staging the ballet "Egyptian Nights" Fokine was inspired by the poetry of V. Bryusov and ancient Egyptian drawings, and the images of the ballet "Petrushka" were inspired by the poetry of A. Blok. In the ballet Daphnis and Chloe, he abandoned pointe dancing and, in free, plastic movements, revived antique frescoes. His "Chopiniana" revived the atmosphere of romantic ballet. Fokin wrote that he "dreams of creating a ballet-drama from ballet-fun, from dance - an understandable, speaking language." And he succeeded.

Anna Pavlova

In 1908, the annual performances of Russian ballet dancers in Paris began, organized by theatrical figure S. P. Diaghilev. The names of dancers from Russia - Vaslav Nijinsky, Tamara Karsavina, Adolf Bolm - became known all over the world. But the first in this row is the name of the incomparable Anna Pavlova.

Pavlova - lyrical, fragile, with elongated body lines, huge eyes - evoked engravings depicting romantic ballerinas. Her heroines conveyed a purely Russian dream of a harmonious, spiritualized life or longing and sadness for an unfulfilled one. The Dying Swan, created by the great ballerina Pavlova, is a poetic symbol of Russian ballet at the beginning of the 20th century.

It was then, under the influence of the skill of Russian artists, that Western ballet shook itself and gained a second wind.

After the October Revolution of 1917, many figures of the ballet theater left Russia, but despite this, the school of Russian ballet survived. The pathos of the movement towards a new life, revolutionary themes, and most importantly the scope for creative experiment inspired the ballet masters. Their task was to bring choreographic art closer to the people, to make it more vital and accessible.

This is how the genre of dramatic ballet arose. These were performances, usually based on the plots of famous literary works, which were built according to the laws dramatic performance. The content in them was presented with the help of pantomime and pictorial dance. In the middle of the 20th century, dramatic ballet was in crisis. The choreographers made attempts to preserve this genre of ballet, enhancing the spectacle of performances with the help of stage effects, but, alas, in vain.

In the late 1950s, a turning point came. Choreographers and dancers of a new generation have revived forgotten genres - one-act ballet, ballet symphony, choreographic miniature. And since the 1970s, independent ballet troupes have arisen, independent of opera and ballet theaters. Their number is constantly increasing, among them there are studios of free dance and modern dance.

When the dance turns into a musical stage performance, the ballet begins. This the highest level choreographic creativity skillfully intertwines painting, music, choreography, turning into a well-coordinated performance that does not leave anyone indifferent.

It is difficult to determine which language gave us the name of aristocratic art - either Latin - ballo ("I dance"), or French - balleto. And although mankind has been dancing since time immemorial, the first mention of ballet dates back to the 15th century, when the Italian Domenico Piacenza, composing music for the next royal ball, came up with the idea of ​​\u200b\u200blinking several dances into one, writing the finale for them. In 1581, in Paris, Baltasarini de Belgioso, "the chief intendant of music", combined choreography and musical accompaniment in his performance "The Queen's Comedy Ballet".

founder classical ballet was Louis XIV. It was he who separated the ballet from the brilliant balls into a separate form of performance, and he himself made his debut in the "Ballet of Cassandra" in 1651, being a thirteen-year-old youth. A couple of years later appeared new performance – « Royal Ballet night," in which he sparkled as the Rising Sun. Hence his nickname, the Sun King. Modern dancers can envy his talent and demand: 5-6 roles in each performance. Moreover, he performed not only in front of flattering courtiers, but also in real theaters in front of thousands of people. In 1661, the Royal Academy of Dance was opened in Paris by his decree, but still more importance was then given to costumes and music. Jean Georges Nover, a choreographer from France, became a reformer, giving the genre the choreographic outlines already familiar to us. It is worth noting that until 1681 only men took part in the ballet. The first ballerina was Mademoiselle La Fontaine, a legendary dancer.

Development of ballet in Russia

Many countries have adapted the new kind performing arts to suit their traditions and culture. In the 18th century, through the window to Europe cut by Peter the Great, ballet flew into the Russian Empire. Many researchers attribute buffoons and jesters at the court of Alexei Mikhailovich to the first heroes of ballet performances, but this is fundamentally wrong - in pre-Petrine Russia there were no analogues of ballet. Minuets, country dances and other terms then incomprehensible to the Russian public appeared under his son, who immediately issued a decree to teach young people to dance. The land gentry corps, founded by Anna Ioannovna in 1731, became the cradle of Russian ballet. Future military men after graduation had to shine in high society, so special attention was paid to choreographic art. The founder of this genre in Russia is rightly considered Jean-Baptiste Lande, dance master of the corps. In 1738 he was allowed to open " dance school Her Imperial Majesty ”(now the Academy of Russian Ballet A. Ya. Vaganova). Both Elizaveta Petrovna and Catherine II loved ballet, in whose era troupes developed at the landowners' courts. Petersburg Ballet XIX was almost entirely composed by French choreographers - from Charles Didelot to the no less brilliant Marius Petipa. Imperial favor for this art form grew with each performance. In the work of P. I. Tchaikovsky there was a single music concept: the orchestra created a certain atmosphere, allowing the public to capture emotions and feelings. In 1877, the production of the legendary "Swan Lake" took place.

In the 20th century, the painstakingly created theater of the Frenchman Petipa began to gradually lose ground: something new, modernist was required. Then a wave of Diaghilev's experiments reached St. Petersburg, whose ballerinas did little to meet the aesthetics of classical dance - prima danced casually, but not without artistic genius, like Anna Pavlova, and not without a certain style, like Tamara Karsavina. Well, how not to mention scandalously famous Matilda Kshesinskaya - ordinary people have not been to the theater, but her social life everyone was interested. After the revolution, many troupes were forced to emigrate, so the Russian ballet might not have survived to our time, if not for the art critic Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky - thanks to him, the Bolsheviks allowed "bright and sublime ballet." In the second half of the 20th century there will be real genius with a phenomenal jump and a flexible back - Maya Plisetskaya - an outstanding ballerina of the Soviet era, forever inscribed her name in the world ballet history.

Modern ballet does not forget about the classical age-old school and at the same time fights against the standards. Performances are becoming bolder and more shocking, and the fashion for an original reading of traditional productions does not go away. Domestic choreographers continue to delight the public with their art, once again confirming that Russian ballet is considered one of the best in the world for a reason. And tickets for the ballet in, despite the considerable cost, are sold out months in advance.

Kaluga region, Borovsky district, Petrovo village

The ethnographic park-museum is a unique space for the dialogue of cultures, a territory of travel, discovery, inspiration, education and love.

Ethnoyards are located here on an area of ​​140 hectares different countries and the unique Peace Street. Join the culture of different nations, feel the special atmosphere of the crossroads of worlds, relax in nature, enjoy our best educational, cultural and entertainment programs!

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