N.K.Beng Page
"The Most Beautiful Dance on Earth"
Ballet
The" Nutcracker " Ballet Music by Tchaikovsky
In the second half of the 19th century the quality of Ballet in Europe declined, and women often danced men's part as well as their own. Only in Russia were standards of dancing maintained , especially by two Frenchmen , Arthur St.Leon, whose Coppelia is still very popular , and Marius Petipa. Petipa had the good luck to work with composer Tchaikovsky , whose magnificent scores for "Swan Lake" , "The Sleeping Beauty, and "Nutcracker" are masterpieces!!!
Strangely, "Swan Lake" was a failure when is was first performed in Moscow in 1877 ; until you consider that the first performance was arranged by a useless choreographer and an appalling conductor . Old scenery and costumes and a second-rate ballerina were used. Incredibly , a third of Tchaikovsky's music was removed to make way for fourthrate music by someone else. Not until 1895, after Tchaikovsky's death , was the Ballet re-choreographed by Petipa and Ivanov . It now very popular !!!!
Tchaikovsky's Ballet
The ballet "The Sleeping Beauty" , though not failure at first like "Swan Lake" , got off to a mixed start as many people disliked the music. Fortunately , it was not failure and the role of Princess Aurora has been supreme test for Ballerinas ever since . The Ballet is full of marvelous scenes , though it proves very costly to produce , and for many year a very shortened version was performed. All that has changed in recent year, and it is now performed in its entirety , to the delight of audiences everywhere !!
"Nutcracker" was choreographed by Petipa's colleague, Ivanov . It was first performed in 1892 but it is not as well liked as "The Sleeping Beauty"or " Swan Lake" . But the music is beautiful and the ballet is a great favorite around the world, especially the young audiences. It is especially popular at Christmas . Little of Ivanov' original choreography survives today, Among the recent is a very fine version by Rudolf Nureyev !!
The History Of Ballet
Although people have always danced , the art we call ballet was born in Italy and France over 400 years ago. Magnificent performances staged in Italy combined dance , song and spectacle .These spread over Europe and courtiers took part in them . In the mid-1600s , at France court of Louis-XIV , real ballet sprang from these entertainments and the King himself participated . The five position were worked out , and France became the language of ballet because it was in France the new art developed !!
In the 18th century , Jean-Georges Noverre turned ballet into an art that combined dramatic dancing with a story . Yet ballet as we know it dates from early 19th century , when the romantic movement started in all the art , including ballet . Around 1820 , female dancers went up on pointe for the first time , and this new form of virtuosity was used to suggest flight and supernatural being !!
"Don Quixote"
"Giselle"
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