The art of ballet dance is actually very old. It takes a disciplined and athletic body to perform the beautiful movements that tell us a story. Performances usually take place in a theater. Many young girls fantasize about becoming stars in the ballet world. In actuality it takes a lot of hard work and many years if they make it at all. Since so many French names are given to ballet postures, for instance the plie, most people think that the dance itself began in France. Actually ballet is known to go back as far as 15th century Italy. These movements performed during the Renaissance led to the French development of ballet as we now know it. The Queen’s Ballet Company was the very first and was located in France.

La Sylphide is credited with introducing the romantic style of ballet in the 1800s. This style used the toe dancing technique extensively and brought about many changes to ballet. However, to answer the question posed by many, the traditional tutu came from the ballet Giselle where the tutu was worn by all the ghostly spirits. All romantic ballets focused on women and this encouraged women to take on increasingly to become ballerinas. They grew up in Russia, Denmark and even the United States. While ballet prospered in other nations, it started declining in France. The decline could be because ballet was seen as being very other worldly with mythical steps. Today many more modern ballets are being performed, while at the same time audiences still love the classical and romantic forms. All of these styles are still taught and performed as ballet is immensely popular. People are constantly impressed at the variety and complexity of movements that humans are capable of. Even though most of us will never be able to perform these moves, we can marvel and dream when we see ballet on stage.

No Comments »
Filed under: General

I adore dancing! Since early childhood, I always admired the movement of professional dancers and my mother used to laugh every time I glued my head in front of the TV set, during a dancing contest or a dancing video. Then, my family had to endure the music playing loud in my room and me dancing around to the beat of my favorite tunes. In fact, professional dancing entered my life when I decided to registered myself at a local ballet dancing class where I was able to examine the type of dancing movements I wanted and learn how to move better. I remember that my feeling was that life was too good to be true.

But although I had to stop my classes, my dancing days are certainly not over. Today, every time I am given a chance, alone in the living room, or surrounded by friends at a night club, I enjoy moving my body to the sound of the music and dancing my way through towards the bedroom or the bar. What I find extremely pleasing is the fact that my friends enjoy the same kind of music and we always bring the beat wherever we go. What amazes me is the fact that I encounter dancers all year around anywhere I go and I am happy to see that regardless of age or physical levels, people enjoy dancing probably as much as I do.

No Comments »
Filed under: General