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After the Romantic ballet era, the next major development in
ballet occurred in Russia. Russia had a long folk-dance tradition
and in the 18th century, landowners had maintained serf dance
companies. Dancing was also regularly taught in the military academies.
The students at the Imperial Russian Ballet schools in St Petersburg
and Moscow and the dancers of the Maryinsky (Kirov) Ballet and
Bolshoi Ballet were highly privileged and regarded as members
of the royal household.
Marius Petipa
Classical ballet developed in the late 19th century when
Marius Petipa was ballet master in St Petersburg. Classical ballet is a mixture
of the French style of Romantic ballet, the techniques developed
in Italy in the late 19th century, and Russian teaching. When
most people talk about ballet they think of Petipa’s ballets,
Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty.
Like most theatre in the 1890s, classical ballets were spectacular,
realistic, and performances lasted a full evening. The story was
an excuse for exciting dancing, with the corps de ballet used
as a decorative background, and the narrative told in formal mime
gestures. The ballerina always danced on pointe, whether she was
an Indian temple dancer, Egyptian slave, Spanish gypsy or swan
princess. The other dancers appeared in national dances, like
the Czardas from Hungary or Spanish flamenco.
Petipa’s ballets were meticulously planned and he gave detailed
descriptions to both dancers and composers. He worked closely
with Tchaikovsky to create the music for Swan Lake, The
Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. Petipa would
specify exactly how many bars of music he needed for each section
of the dance. Much ballet music was tuneful, simple and often
repetitive.
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Introduction
18th Century Satire
