Queen Catherine de Medicis of France was familiar with the elaborate dance productions of Italy, her native land. In 1581, she ordered a grand entertainment, a ballet, to celebrate a royal wedding. The result was most spectacular. Thousands of people witnessed its lavish blending of dance, dramatic scenes, music, and complex scenery. Hundreds of dancers, singers, and actors took part, portraying the goddess Circe and all of her friends and enemies. Huge machines and stage effects were moved about the room so that the audience, seated on three sides, could see them.All this was the work of an Italian musician best known by his French name, Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx. He was probably the first choreographer, or maker of dances, as we know the world today. He called his work Le Ballet Comique de la Reine ("The Queen's Comic Ballet"). Ever since then , the performances of this kind have been called ballets.
Catherine's grandson, Louis XIV, loved to dance. He received lessons daily. At the age of 13, he danced in the Ballet de Cassandre. The ballet in King Louis' time were formal and quite solemn. Usually they dealt with mythology or history. For a while only members of the court danced in them, but the King soon tired of their lack of skill. He had already brought together professional writers like Moliere, Philippe Quinault, and Isaac de Benserade; the composer Jean-Baptiste Lully; and the choreographer Pierre Beauchamp. To improve the dancing, he organized the Royal Academy of Dance in 1661. This was the beginning of the once-celebrated Paris Opera Ballet and of today's Paris Opera Ballet School.
By 1681, France had its first prima ballerina, the leading female dancer in a ballet company. She was Mademoiselle Lafontaine. Pictures of the time show her to be lovely and very dignified in her long, stiff gown, her highheeled slippers, and her plumed headdress. She danced at year in Le Triomphe de l'Amour ("The Triumph of Love"), with choreography by Beauchamp and music by Lully. Mademoiselle Lafontaine was the fist of a series of expert dancers, each of whom brought something new to ballet.
Several names stand out in the history of ballet in the 1700's. Marie Camargo boldly shortened the ballet costume to mid-calf. She also removed the heels from her slippers. Thus she could move more quickly and perform small, intricate steps like the entrechat-quatre, a double crossing of the feet in midair. Gaetan Vestris was the first male dancer to show in his jetes (leaps) and tour en l'air (turns in the air) that men could develop a ballet style very different from that of women. Danish and Russian dancers later stressed this difference even more.
But no matter how versatile they are, dancers must depend on the imagination of choreographers. The great choreographer Jean Georges Noverre looked at the productions around him and became impatient. He saw that the ballet was deteriorating into a mere display of technique. Noverre believed that the ballet should express strong emotions. After his reforms, ballet became more like drama. Noverre's ballets are not danced today. But his book, Letters on Dancing and Ballets, is still widely read by choreographers.
