Ballet – The Beginning.
Ballet, the present awe-inspiring dance form, began in the 15th century, in the Renaissance court culture in Italy. The word ‘ballet’ comes from the Italian word ‘balletto’, which means to dance. To add elegance and grace to dance, the performers wore showy, heavy-weighted, ornate costumes. The performances were done between the courses of a banquet and the ballet used to be based on the food and the menu.
Catherine de Medicis, from Italy married the King of France, Henri II in 1553 and thus brought ballet to France. The french king, Louis XIV, is the one to be credited with utmost effort to develop ballet during the 17th Century. His title, the Sun King, also came from a role he danced in a ballet. Under Louis XIV, the first ballet school came into existence, Royal Academy of Dance. Pierre Beauchamp, the choreographer who presented ballets at the Sun King’s court is the pioneer who defined the five pointing positions of the feet. These are the basic positions that we still use and all the steps emanate from them. A popular fun fact says that Pierre invented such positions to show off his shiny shoe buckles!