Four major types of tutus July 10, 2011
Posted by egabriel in Ballet History.Tags: ballerina, ballerinas, ballet, ballet clothes, ballet dancer, ballet dancers, ballet dancing, Ballet History, ballet performance, ballet skirt, ballet tutu, classical ballet, history, traditional
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One can not confuse a ballet tutu with any other female skirt. Designers use various materials to create tutus, the most traditional among them are tulle, voile, muslin and nylon.
It’s been a couple of centuries since female ballet dancers started using tutus during ballet performance. To an untrained eye they all look the same, but balletomanes know that it is not true. In the modern ballet there are 4 major types of tutus worn for ballet dancing. Two of them are classical with the difference in shape (bell or pancake). And the other too are romantic tutu and Balanchine-Karinska tutu.
Classical tutus of both types extend outwards from the hips. They are made with layers of netting and have fitted bodice. The main difference between them is that the tutu shaped as a bell does not use a wired hoop while the pancake tutu uses one that keeps the layers flat and stiff.
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Famous ballet school April 26, 2011
Posted by egabriel in Ballet History.Tags: ballerina, ballerinas, ballet, ballet dancer, ballet dancers, ballet dancing, Ballet History, classical ballet, famous ballerina, famous ballerinas, famous ballet, famous ballet dancer, famous ballet dancers, prima ballerina
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Famous prima ballerina Olga Preobrajenska was one of the most popular dancers in Russian Imperial Ballet. She earned her title in 1900, right in the beginning of the 20th century. Her performance was famous for its improvisation and creativity, thus Olga was praized and loved by the audience and the critics.
Preobrajenska was lucky to have great teachers right when she was just started her dancing career. She was trained by world class ballet dancers like Maurice Petipa, Nicholas Legat, Christian Johansson and others whose names had already been engraved in the history of the 19th century classical ballet.
Olga was also lucky that she managed to emigrate from Bolshevik Russia in 1921 and bring her talents of a ballet dancer and teacher to the West. For the next two years she taught in Milan, London, Buenos Aires and Berlin and, finally moved to France. In Paris Preobrajenska opened her famous ballet school that was thought to be one of the best in the world. It existed practically till the death of its owner and closed its doors in 1960.
During the life of the ballet school practically any major ballet dancer of the times visited Preobrajenska to learn her legendary ballet moves. Among her students were Fonteyn, Baranova, Toumanova and others. Olga did not live long after her retirement in 1960. She passed away in 1960 when she was 91years old.
Great dancer and excellent mimic December 9, 2010
Posted by egabriel in Ballet History.Tags: ballet, ballet dancer, ballet dancers, ballet dancing, Ballet History, ballet master, classical ballet, famous ballet dancer, famous ballet dancers, famous ballets, French Ballet, premier danseur
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In 1729 when a boy was born in the popular theatrical family in Florence. They named him Gaetano Appolino Baldassare Vestris. Nobody in the family could even dream that one day this boy would become the most famous French male ballet dancers of the 18th century. However, even as a teenager Gaetano Vestris showed so many talents in ballet that he got a chance to study dance at the Royal Academy in Paris. There he shortened his Italian name to Gaetan Vestris.
His dancing debut took place when he was only some twenty years old at the famous Paris Opera. Soon Gaetan Vestris became the favorite dancer of the French royal family and went up the career ladder even further. He was promoted to the title of the king’s dancing master and was teaching his technique to Louis XVI.
Gaetan Vestris entered the history of ballet not only because of his excellent dancing abilities. He was also the first ballet dancer who discarded the mask that traditionally was worn by European dancers. After he removed the mask he made another historical innovation – Vestris started using his face in mime and succeeded in it as he was not only great dancer but an excellent mimic as well.
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Amazing career of a dancer November 10, 2010
Posted by egabriel in Ballet History.Tags: ballet, ballet dancer, ballet dancers, ballet dancing, Ballet History, ballet master, classical ballet, famous ballet dancer, famous ballet dancers, famous ballets, premier danseur
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His mentors and teachers that helped him start his amazing career of a dancer were also the best that Russian ballet could offer. Gerdt’s first teacher was Alexander Pimenov who himself was a student of the Father of Russian ballet – Charles Didelot. His next teacher was Jean Petipa, famous ballet dancer, father of probably the second person of importance after Didelot for Russian ballet – Marius Petipa. Old Jean in his youth underwent extensive training by the giant of the French ballet Auguste Vestris.
Paul Gerdt was quite an eccentric, nobody at the theater knew how old he was. When asked, he would give one and the same response, claiming that he was 23 years old. He excelled not only in dancing but in teaching as well. He left after himself the whole brilliant team of students among which there were Anna Pavlova, George Balanchine, Michel Fokin, Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Nijinsky. It is interesting to note that Michel Fokin trained Gerdt’s daughter – great ballerina Elizaveta Gerdt. And Vaslav Nijinsky was Elizaveta’s partner in ballet dancing.
Public loved and worshiped him October 7, 2010
Posted by egabriel in Ballet History.Tags: ballet, ballet dancer, ballet dancers, ballet dancing, Ballet History, ballet master, ballet stage, ballet technique, brilliant career, characters, classical ballet, dancing, famous ballet dancer, famous ballet dancers, famous ballets, famous russian ballets, premier danseur, prestigious title, roles, Russian Ballet, significant theaters
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If you could ask any Russian ballet fan of the 19th who is his favorite male ballet dancer, there would come up only one name – Paul Gerdt. He spent fifty six years on the ballet stage and performed in the roles of nearly every lead male character of famous Russian ballets. For his extraordinary ballet technique and dancing Paul Gerdt received the mot prestigious title of the Premier Danseur of all three significant theaters in the tsarist Russia: the Imperial Ballet, The Bolshoy Kammeny Theater and Mariinsky Theater.
Gerdt had the unusual longevity for any male ballet dancer: he was born in 1844, started performing very young and retired one year before his death in 1917. Public loved and worshiped him. In addition, to his brilliant career and titles, audience nicknamed him Blue Cavalier. Admiring public also awarded him with another title: the Prince of Saint Petersburg stage. This was true enough because Paul Gerdt was the first to dance Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Prince Desire in Sleeping Beauty, and Prince Coqueluche in The Nutcracker.
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Aplomb on the stage September 7, 2010
Posted by egabriel in Ballet History.Tags: ballerina, ballerinas, ballet, Ballet History, ballet master, classical ballet, culture, famous, famous ballerina, famous ballerinas, famous ballet, famous ballet dancer, famous ballet dancers, famous ballets, history, influence, stars
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Among those who died for her was influential young Count Sheremetev. Even Russian famous playwright and diplomat Alexander Griboedov was shot through the palm during one of those dangerous competitions.
The contemporaries describe her as a medium built, well-shaped brunette. She had black, fiery eyes veiled by long eye-lashes, great strength in her feet, aplomb on the stage, and together with that, grace. Lightness and speed in movements; her pirouettes and her elevation were astounding.
She was on the peak of her fame when suddenly famous Didelot left the theater after a conflict with theater administration in 1829. It all went down the hill after Father of Russian ballet left. Many romantic leading roles were taken away from Istomina and she played older characters on stage as the years rolled by. Her salary was lowered twice and in the end she requested her retirement from ballet and it was officially given to her by the emperor Nicholai I. Her days ended in relative obscurity in 1848.
Prima ballerina of the Russian ballet August 3, 2010
Posted by egabriel in Ballet History.Tags: ballerina, ballerinas, ballet, ballet dancing, classical ballet, famous ballerina, famous ballerinas, famous ballet dancers, prima ballerina, Russian Ballet, russian imperial ballet
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Avdotia Istomina was one of the most famous ballerinas of the Russian ballet in the 19th century. Having said that, I must add that her origin and place of birth remain unknown. My intense web analytics search did not reveal any of her ancestors. Supposedly, she was born in 1799. She was brought to the ballet school by a flutist in an Army orchestra when she was just six years old. She was the best student of the First ballet master Charles Didelot who managed to pass to her the best techniques, artistic methods and progressive ballet moves and positions.
She debuted in the Russian Imperial Ballet when she was only sixteen. Charles Didelot was very proud of her. None of his other female dancers appeared on stage as often as Istomina, nor danced as many roles as she did. For a long time Istomina, as a a prima ballerina had no equal in the Russian and, possibly, European ballet.
All young noble Russian aristocrats and courtiers were in love with Istomina. Famous writer Alexander Pushkin dedicated her beautiful lines in Eugene Onegin. Noblemen were competing for her heart. These dangerous competitions led to dueling during which several of them were killed.
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Famous treatise July 2, 2010
Posted by egabriel in Ballet History.Tags: ballet, Ballet History, ballet literature, ballet master, classical ballet, famous, famous ballet, famous ballet dancer, history, literature
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Yet, his name entered the history and was saved to posterity not because he was a great dancer and Ballet Master. And it was not because of the numerous ballets that he staged and composed – they have not been reproduced for at least two centuries. It was due to his publishing of the famous treatise Les Lettres sur La Danse et sur Les Ballets.
This treatise has been printed in almost every European language. Due to this work, Noverre’s name is one of the most quoted in the literature of dance. He criticized professional ballet dancers of his time, cumbersome costumes, and old-fashioned musical styles and choreography. He was against the use of the mask in the ballet because it hides facial expression of the ballet dancers. He encouraged young ballet dancers to profit from their own talents rather than imitate their teachers or the style of a popular dance.
Noverre was the first to state in his treatise that ballet should stir up the audience’s emotions by the use of expressive movement. He called this type of dance, ballet d’action. His brilliant conclusion was that ballet should unfold through dramatic movement and the movement should express the relationship between the characters.
Ballet Master Jean-Georges Noverre June 8, 2010
Posted by egabriel in Ballet History.Tags: ballerina, ballerinas, ballet, ballet d'action, ballet dancer, ballet dancers, ballet dancing, ballet master, ballet moves, ballet position, ballet positions, ballet steps, ballet terms, classical ballet, famous ballerina, famous ballerinas, famous ballet, famous ballet dancer, famous ballet dancers, famous ballets, father of russian ballet, first ballet master, French Ballet, french enlightenment, history of ballet, premier danseur, prima ballerina, Russian Ballet, russian imperial ballet
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International Dance Day has been celebrated on April 29 for over a quarter of the century. But not many people know that the origin of this holiday. It is the birthday of the famous ballet dancer and Ballet Master Jean-Georges Noverre. He revolutionized classical dance by creating ballet d’action, which became the predecessor of the narrative ballets of the 19th century. His ideas had lasting impact on ballet ideology, and his theories have been implemented in dance classes today and remain a part today’s ideology of dance.
Born in 1727, Noverre debuted on stage in Fontainebleau when he was only sixteen years old. He composed his first ballet when he was twenty. Noverre became so famous that practically all influential European monarchs tried to get him performing at their courts. Famous Garrick invited him to London where Jean-Georges spent almost two years. He was so wildly popular there that Garrick called him the “Shakespeare of the dance”.
In 1775, in the peak of his fame at the request of the French queen Marie Antoinette Noverre was appointed First Ballet Master of Paris Opera. Jean-Georges kept this post till the days of the French Revolution that ended his career. And not only that. Revolution reduced this famous genius to misery and poverty. The man of Enlightenment who had so many close friends like Mozart, Voltaire and Frederick the Great, died like a pauper in Paris in 1810.
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Famous Ballet “La Fille mal gardee” May 13, 2010
Posted by egabriel in Ballet History, Introduction.Tags: artistic director, ballerina, ballerinas, ballet, ballet costume, ballet costumes, ballet d'action, ballet dancer, ballet dancers, ballet dancing, ballet master, ballet moves, ballet position, ballet positions, ballet steps, ballet terms, classical ballet, famous architect, famous ballerina, famous ballerinas, famous ballet, famous ballet dancer, famous ballet dancers, famous ballets, famous playwright, first ballet master, French Ballet, french enlightenment, history of ballet, premier danseur, prima ballerina
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Victor Louis envisioned the theater in Bordeaux as a temple of the Arts and Light, with a neo-classical facade endowed with a portico of 12 Corinthian style colossal columns. 12 statues were supported by the columns and they represented the nine muses and three goddesses.
At Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux Jean Dauberval staged his most famous ballet Le Ballet de la paille. We know it today under the name of La Fille mal gardèe. Throughout centuries this ballet is one the most enduring and popular works with ballet companies throughout the world.
Dauberval’s ballet had such a wild public success that he traveled to London staged it there. This is where Dauberval changed the title of the ballet to La Fille mal gardée, which remains the title of the work today.
For the first performance in London in 1791 Dauberval’s wife Mme. Théodore reprised her role as Lise. And Dauberval’s student, Charles Didelot, known to us as the Father of Russian Ballet, danced Colas.
Jean Dauberval lived to see the times of the glittering French Empire of Napoleon and died surrounded by his family and students in 1806.
