The Evolution of Ballet
An inspiring education programme for young audience
A highly inspiring education programme The Evolution of Ballet will be staged with six performances in Yuen Long Theatre and Tsuen Wan Town Hall on 23 January to 1 February 2008 for local schools and students. The programme aims at teaching students of primary and secondary schools how the ballet history evolved whilst widening their artistic horizon.
Expressed in mime and dance with interesting narration and vivid stage design, The Evolution of Ballet offers a fascinating portrait of how ballet developed from court entertainment for Louis XIV in the 17th Century to romantic ballet of supernatural being like Giselle, technically demanding classical ballet by Marius Petipa like The Sleeping Beauty and finally to the modern style of Martha Graham and George Balanchine in the 20th Century.
Audience will also gain a better understanding of the ballet as an art form and know more about the intriguing facts of the development of costumes, pointe shoes and ballet techniques from 17th Century to modern day.
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| In 17th Century, ballet advocate King Louis XIV began the development of classical ballet in Paris | Costume for Court Ballet is cumbersome |
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| In 18th Century, French dancer Marie Sallé, the first person mentioned "expressive ballet", discarded her corset and wore simple long dress and shoes with no heels | 19th Century was an era of Romantic Ballet. Romantic tutu was developed & pointe shoes were invented in an effort to make dancers look more ethereal |
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| In late 19th Century, Russian Classical Ballet was developed and ballet technique became more complicated. Tutu was also shortened to a length above the knee to allow audience to see the positions of the legs and the dazzling footwork | |
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| In 20th Century, Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev put together a group of outstanding artists such as Vaslav Nijinsky (male dancer on right), Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham (left) and George Balanchine. They reacted against the traditional ballet rules and experienced with new themes and styles of movement | |
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| George Balanchine (left) created plotless ballets and emphasized "movement to music". Major ballets include Theme and Variations, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux (right) | |