Ballet originated in Italy and evolved from aristocratic palace performances in the 15th century. The themes at that time were mainly ancient legends, including dance, pantomime, songs and recitation performances, as well as luxurious performances. Costumes, scenery and musical accompaniment. During the Louis XIV period in France, ballet developed rapidly. The first Royal Dance Academy was established, standardized research and organization of ballet training was conducted, and a set of ballet movement systems were established that are still in use today.
Ballet is an anaerobic exercise. It uses the basic movements of ballet as the training content. Its strength is unmatched by other fitness exercises. Jumping, jumping, upright and standing are the four major elements of ballet. It has the function of contracting muscle fibers, making all parts of the body develop in a balanced manner, and the posture is graceful and straight. At the same time, with the accompaniment of melodious music, beauty can be displayed intuitively and implicitly. Modern hot dance is not just about passion and boldness. Its soothing and relaxing dance steps are exactly compatible with the elegance of ballet!
1. "Standing" means that the body should be upright and straight, and the center of gravity of the body should be accurately positioned When placed on the center of gravity of two legs or one leg, the space occupied feels like a classical palace, standing proudly and majesticly. This style is consistent with the style of classical ballet that originated in the royal court. Its purpose is to show the style of royal aristocrats, not the flavor of servants and common people. The actors are required to tuck in their abdomen, lift their chest, raise their center of gravity, and launch into the high altitude to accurately complete various dance movements and techniques. It is one of the fundamental standards of classical ballet aesthetics.
2. "Accurate" refers to accurately completing the specifications of each movement and dance posture, so that the movement route and position of the movement are accurate. Someone has done an experiment. During training, a skilled dancer did Battement tendu (wiping the floor) 100 times. His toes touched one point every time, and his route was not bad at all. Even very technical moves are no exception. Another example: make two turns (720 degrees) in the air. After the dancer takes off with five feet in the air and maintains a good dance posture, he still lands accurately on the fifth position when he lands. This is particularly important in classical ballet, even if the technical content is No matter how high the movements are, they must be performed accurately, otherwise the movement specifications of classical ballet will be deformed and will soon lose their luster.
3. "Beauty" Ballet, like other dances, is also a highly ornamental visual art. It requires beauty in every move. Ballet has extremely high requirements for beauty. It is "flowing music and moving sculpture". Like music, it is limited by time, and like sculpture, it is affected by space. The choreographer uses beautiful dance forms to reflect beautiful life by discovering beauty, and the audience imagines and creates through the perception of dance beauty, thus arousing emotional resonance. .
4. "Stretch" refers to the straightness of the dancer's ankles and insteps, which is one of the fundamental aesthetic standards of classical ballet. The training of straightening mainly involves the practice of battement tendu (wiping the ground), and tightening the lower limbs during various jumping processes. The heels, soles, and toes push the ground and jump high into the air in order to lengthen the body lines. Take Battement tendu (wiping the floor) as an example. During the action, the heel pushes the instep and the toes rub outward until the toes reach the farthest point. The toes hook toward the soles of the feet while still maintaining a feeling of extension, as if they are going to wear. The broken floor continued. Ballet is a linear art. Only by stretching all parts can the audience have the visual sense of extending the body lines. Only by stretching can the limbs be made more radioactive in a limited space, making the dance more stretched. Ballet has been pursuing "spiritual space" for a period of time. The dancers must have the artistic charm to make the dance light and elegant, and only by stretching can the muscles be tightened and produce upward momentum.
5. "Straight" means that the knees of the main leg and the power leg are straight and the back is vertical. In other words, the muscles of the whole body are lengthened, so that the ballet dance posture is stretched and the long lines are perfect. Visual styling. This is one of the fundamental standards of classical ballet aesthetics. There is also a saying that ballet is a linear art, and the movement route on the stage is mostly linear, which is also consistent with the way of thinking in Western countries. This is very different from China’s aesthetic standards of “circles and curves”.
Keeping the body perpendicular to the ground is also necessary for classical ballet techniques, such as spin techniques. In addition to tightening the whole body and launching into the sky during the movement, more importantly, the neck, back, waist, and hips are perpendicular to the ground, so that the power is concentrated on the center line of the body. Only in this way can you make your rotation move, otherwise all rotation will be impossible.
6. "Light" refers to the dancer's light and free movements, such as: jumping movements, strengthening the body's control ability when taking off and landing. The whole body looks relaxed and moves freely, especially when landing, the toes are needed , soles of feet, and heels landed on the ground in sequence and squatted down slightly, just like a kitten with fleshy pads on its feet, without making any sound. As the former Soviet ballet master Ulanlova said: "It is the dancer who makes the dance light, and lightness is the dancer." An excellent ballet dancer can control his body and breath well even when he is very tired, and always shows graceful and light dance postures to the audience. It gives people beautiful visual enjoyment and spiritual pleasure.
7. "Steady" means that the movements must be not only accurate but also steady and solid. For example, there are many lifting techniques in pas de deux in ballet, which require tacit understanding between male and female actors and do not let the audience feel that the actress is It looked like it was about to fall, and the movements were erratic, making the audience watch with fear. In this case, it would be better to watch a thrilling acrobatic performance. In addition, when performing rotating movements, the actors are required to maintain good stability during the rotation. At the end, the dance posture must be accurately and steadily stopped at a point. Coupled with the rendering of music, the artistic expression of the work will make the audience respond. to warm applause.
8. "Open" means that dancers, regardless of gender, need to open their shoulders, chest, span, knees, and ankles symmetrically from left to right, especially the feet that are 180 degrees outward. Expansion extends the dancer's body lines to the maximum extent, expands the range of movement of dance movements, enhances expression, and also enhances the body's balance ability and movement flexibility. The famous American dance critic Jenny Cohen pointed out that "the classical style of ballet is based on the five positions of the feet. The essence of the splay in these five positions means that the legs rotate outward at the hip joints. During performance , to show off and publicize the aristocratic style in the limited space of the stage." (As someone said, the first position of the ballet position represents attention, the second position represents confidence, the third position represents humility, the fourth position represents pride, and the fifth position represents art. Effect. ) Aristocratic bearing is not only an important historical manifestation of ballet, but also an important part of aesthetic standards. Through systematic and scientific training, the body can reach a state that non-professional dancers cannot, making the body ideal and professional.
Expansion: The development and characteristics of ballet
Regarding ballet, poets exclaimed: "She walks on the calyx, and she can't bend the stem!" It can be seen that her dancing posture is light. The famous French writer Théophile Gautier praised: "Miss Taglioni is the only dancer who can embody in dance a dream that we think is impossible even for poets." Writer Hugo He also wrote an inscription for the pioneering work of the female ballet dancer Taglioni: "Dedicated to your magical feet, dedicated to your magical wings!" This is the charm of ballet!
The origin of "ballet" Originating in Italy and flourishing in France, the word "ballet" is originally the English translation of "French" ballet, which means "jump" or "dance". Ballet was originally a dance performed in Europe for mass self-entertainment or square performance. In the process of development, it formed strict norms and deconstructed forms. Its main feature is that the actress has to put on special pointe shoes and stand on her toes to dance. As a comprehensive stage art, ballet was formed in the French court in the 17th century. In 1661, French King Louis XIV ordered the establishment of the world's first Royal Dance School in Paris, establishing the five basic foot positions and seven hand positions of ballet, giving ballet a complete set of movements and systems. These five basic foot positions are still used today.
Ballet uses music, dance and mime to perform dramatic plots. Actresses often touch the ground with their toes when dancing. Meaning:
① A form of stage dance, that is, European classical dance, commonly known as ballet.
This is a traditional European dance art with strict specifications and structural forms, which was formed after centuries of continuous processing, enrichment and development on the basis of folk dances from various parts of Europe. After the 19th century, an important technical feature was that actresses had to wear special toe dancing shoes to dance with the tips of their toes, so some people also called it toe dancing.
②Dance drama originally refers to a dramatic art that uses European classical dance as the main means of expression and integrates music, pantomime, stage art, and literature to express a story or a plot. It is called classical ballet ( or classical dance drama). After the emergence of modern dance in the 20th century, modern dance combined with classical dance techniques as the main means of expression to express the content or plot of the story is called modern ballet. Gradually, the word ballet is also used to refer to dance drama works that use various other dances as the main means of expression, although they are different from classical ballet or modern ballet in terms of dance style, structural characteristics, and expression techniques.
③A considerable number of dance works created by modern choreographers have no story content or plot. Choreographers use European classical dance or modern dance, or a combination of the two, to express certain emotions. , artistic conception, or expressing the author's understanding of a certain musical work, etc. These are also called ballet.
The word ballet comes from the ancient Latin ballo. Originally, the word only meant dancing, or performing dance in public, and did not have the connotation of a theater performance. As a stage art, ballet was born in the grand banquet and entertainment activities in Italy during the Renaissance. It was formed in the French court in the 17th century. This kind of court ballet is actually a loosely structured dance, singing, and music under a unified theme. A comprehensive performance of , recitation and drama, designed by professional dance teachers, with kings and nobles as actors, and female roles also played by men. The performance venue is in the center of the palace hall, and the audience watches around the hall; the actors wear leather masks with different signs role, so it is also called masked ballet.
In 1661, Louis XIV ordered the establishment of the Royal Academy of Dance in Paris. In the 1670s, ballet performances began to be performed in the Bishop Richelieu Palace Theater. Changes in performance venues and audience viewing angles have caused changes in dance techniques and aesthetic perspectives. Actors' standing postures have become more and more outward, thus formally determining the five basic positions of the feet. These five outward positions have become the development Fundamentals of Ballet Technique. Professional ballet actors came into being and gradually replaced aristocratic amateur actors. Professional female ballet actors also began to perform on stage, and dance technology developed rapidly. Ballet performances have gradually transformed from basically a self-entertaining social activity into a theater performing art. Ballet during this period was subordinate to opera. The court composer J.B. Lully added ballet scenes to the opera. It was actually a series of dance performances, and the plot seemed insignificant. At this time, it was called singing ballet or ballet opera. This situation lasted until the middle of the 18th century. The 18th-century ballet master J.G. Nowell was the most influential dance innovator in the history of ballet. He first put forward the idea of ??"plot ballet" in his "Letters on Dance and Dance Drama" published in 1760, emphasizing that dance is not just a physical skill, but a tool for dramatic expression and exchange of ideas. Nowell's theory promoted a wave of innovation in ballet. With the continuous efforts of him and many other actors and choreographers, ballet has undergone a series of reforms in terms of content, subject matter, music, dance technology, costumes, etc. These reforms have made ballet It was finally able to separate from opera and form an independent theater art.
In the history of ballet development, there are two main aesthetic viewpoints that have been at work. One view is that ballet is "pure dance". B. de Beauroye, an Italian dance teacher in the 16th century and the choreographer of "The Queen's Comedy Ballet", believes that ballet is "a combination of geometric patterns in which several people dance together." This view focuses entirely on the formal beauty of ballet and almost completely ignores the content or plot of ballet, often leading to the pure pursuit of superb skills and gorgeousness. Before the mid-18th century, this view dominated ballet creation. Another view emphasizes that ballet is a "dramatic dance", and Nowell's "plot ballet" theory most centrally represents this view.
He believes that in a ballet work, dance must express dramatic content, "the plot and choreography must be unified, have a logical, understandable story as the central theme, and solo dances and dance segments that have nothing to do with the plot must be eliminated." , in the dance drama, "it is not only the dazzling dance technique, but also the dramatic performance that moves the audience emotionally." The above two main views are still in effect today. Many choreographers are committed to creating dramatic or plotted ballet works, while some are keen on plotless ballets and focus on formal beauty. The excellent repertoires in both types of works are well received by the audience. Appreciated and often performed as part of the repertoire. Since the 20th century, the influence of various literary and artistic trends on ballet creation has become more and more obvious, and many works of different styles have appeared.
When creating a ballet work, the choreographer is the key figure. He conceives the dance drama structure or dance structure based on the literary script (or a story, a poem, a musical work), and then the actors embody it. Both the choreographer and the actors must master the ballet language (or ballet vocabulary) - ballet technical skills, and the ability to use ballet language to express specific content or emotions. The choreographer should have a good understanding of what they are good at expressing and what they cannot express; while the actors should be well-trained. They must be able to adapt to and creatively embody the director's ideas. Only with these basic conditions can ballet creation be carried out and completed. Ballet structural forms include: solo dance, duet dance, trio dance, quartet dance, group dance, etc. The choreographer uses classical dance, character dance (staged ethnic dance and folk dance), modern dance, etc. Multiple acts can be choreographed according to the above forms Ballet (divided or not, such as "Swan Lake"), one-act ballet (such as "La Sylphide"), ballet sketches (such as "The Death of the Swan"), etc. This structural form of ballet developed to a high degree of standardization and stylization in the late 19th century, which affected and restricted the development of ballet. In the large number of ballet works created by choreographers in the 20th century, these norms and procedures have been greatly broken, and new explorations and creations continue to occur.