Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Ballet history quiz
Make Up Assignment #1: Biographical Narrative
Throughout my years in school, I have studied a plethora of famous people; including dancers. One person in particular that stands out to me is Anna Pavlova. She was a famous Russian ballerina and choreographer. She was the first person to found a ballet company that toured around the world. Pavlova was born in St. Petersburg, Russia on February 12, 1881 and attended the Imperial ballet school. Anna is special because she isn’t like a lot of other well-known dancers. Unlike other dancers who made their way to fame with the power of money, Anna was raised in a poor family and worked hard to get what she wanted. She definitely left her mark on society’s ballet dancers and many are inspired by the way she first became interested in ballet.
From the time when Anna was a child, she had an active imagination and love of fantasy. She believed these aspects of her personality are what drew her to the world of ballet. Although her family was poor, her mother was able to afford a trip to the Mariinsky Theatre to see the ballet production of the Sleeping Beauty. After seeing this performance, Anna was so amazed and inspired that she decided she wanted to become a ballet dancer herself. Anna’s mother supported her every step of the way and did what she could to make her daughter’s
…show more content…
She was promoted to fist-soloist just a year later. Anna danced in several beautiful pieces, including; La Fille Mal Gardée in a group of three, danced the difficult part of Giselle, and The Dying Swan which was her most famous piece. Seven years into Anna’s career, she was promoted to a Prima Ballerina, which is the chief ballerina in a ballet or ballet company. These types of accomplishments were unheard of in such a short amount of time, but the amount of work she put in was almost unheard of as
Lana Lanetta was born and grew up in the quaint town of Ogre, Latvia. Coming from a blue-collar family, she marches to the beat of her own drum and has achieved the American dream and beyond. Don’t let her certification in gardening fool you, she is anything but a girly girl and She had no time to try to conform to anyone’s standards, early on she began to shape her own future, working her way up from a street janitor to becoming an adept artist. In her youth she was incredibly active, contributing to her amazing figure that she still maintains today, getting great aerobic workouts from soccer and gymnastics. Extracurricular activities aside, sewing has always been an enduring passion that has stayed near and dear to her heart. Despite her
Maria Tallchief was an inspirational Native American woman for all people to look to as a role model. As a child, she was incredibly gifted in the arts. However, by growing up in an Osage family, she had to endure hardships, like bullying, that no child should ever go through. Her dreams, on the other hand, took her places when she got older. She is credited with being the first Native American prima ballerina. Because of her worldwide productions and success, Tallchief met many people and received numerous awards. This woman left behind a legacy that is a gift to the world. Maria Tallchief, of the Osage tribe, became one of the most adored and experienced ballerinas after overcoming misconceptions about her race.
Her lasting career was not given to her easily, therefore, creating an inspiring story full of hardships and success. Ever since she was a little girl, her dream was to become a successful and famous dancer. In New York City, when she was trying to fulfill her dream, she was unable to find a job in the theatre department. Instead of being discouraged, she decided to make something good come from it. She choreographed her own routines, created her own costumes, and organized solo recitals for audiences to enjoy. This event led her to the biggest adventure in her life that would later impact the world. She was invited to return back to London to pursue her education in the performing arts, so that she could further improve her talents that would make up her entire career.
Ballet is one of the world's oldest and newest forms of dance. One man that created new audiences for ballet and mastered the dance to its fullest was none other than George Balanchine. He brought the standard ballet to levels no one has ever seen before. In the world of dance, there have been many wonderful and talented choreographers but Balanchine's work affected the dance world so much that he was a legend long before his death. Not only was he legendary worldwide but also his influenced American Ballet. George Balanchine's unique style of dance created the "American style" of Ballet.
Ballet is an athletic art form that utilizes muscle control, flexibility, and physical strength. It requires extreme discipline from the dancers and takes an extreme amount of mental concentration. This discipline causes dancers to have success throughout life and specifically in academic studies. There are many ways that dance can affect the success of a person’s life; however, there are two in specific that make dancers generally more successful. To begin, ballet causes dancers to be self-motivated workers; dancers cannot rely on others to push them to be better, but must have the drive within themselves.
Young girls and women symbolize femininity with being a ballerina. Kelso comments that in the shadows of the spotlight lurks an abusive world of eating disorders, verbal harassment, fierce competition, injuries, fatigued, and malnourished dancers (Kelso, 2003). In today’s world of ballet, dancers suffer from always being in pain, worrying their body image is not the right look they need to have to get lead roles resulting in the development of eating disorders, and male ballet dancers are stereotyped as being homosexual when most of the male dancers are in fact heterosexual.
Li’s passion for ballet shows on and off stage through his arabesques, flexibility, fouettés, grande jeté and pirouettes that were nothing less than perfection. I understood that becoming a dancer requires commitment, passion and having a great memory as there’s many moves, routines and ballet terms that you need to learn. When I was performing on stage, I felt free and that I could own the stage as it felt like it was my second home. I also felt complete within myself just as Li felt. To perform on stage, you need to be light and graceful along with connecting to the music using precise steps, poses and formal gestures. The film used dance, music, scenery, and costumes to portray a story characterised by Li’s dance. Classical ballet dancers require the utmost grace and I’ve found that you also need a tremendous level of concentration and memory. This portrays when his choreographer Ben Stevenson asked Li Cunxin to replace the main male role due to an injury on the day of the performance to memorise new dances and perform them in front of an enormous crowd. Many of my performances have been in a group where we all need to be in sync and work together. This film highlighted that in order to become a professional ballet dancer, you have to prepare to work extremely hard no matter how gruelling the schedule is in order to
Just like Gene Kelly, Martha Graham was a sensational dancer and choreographer. She cleared the way for young, aspiring modern dancers, and created techniques that are still used today. She also used to be overweight, but she kept pursing her dream, and became the amazing dancer that people know today. Miss Graham eventually started a company, and became an influential teacher to her students. Even though Martha Graham is amazing, so is Gene Kelly, because he was also perseverant and highly recognized for his
For the dancer, music and choreography are paramount. The music guides the dancer, and the moves express the music. However, the dance has to start from somewhere.
Ballet is a beautiful and romantic type of performance art. It originated in the Italian court systems in the 15th century (Jonas). Since its origination, ballet has undergone many changes and gained worldwide recognition. Filled with elaborate costumes, cheering audiences, lights, weightless movements and beauty; ballet is admired by many. On the magical stage ballerinas can become whoever they wan to be, and perform in a world of fantasy. For these reasons, children, especially little girls, all over the world dream of becoming ballerinas when they grow up. However, becoming a professional ballerina is an extremely difficult accomplishment, in which few will achieve (Kelso 1). The world of ballet may seem to be filled with glitz and glamor but, behind the curtain there is an entirely different story. There are extreme demands and pressures put on these young dancers to be very thin and nearly perfect. Some of which include body and weight demands, competition, and social pressures. These constant pressures can lead to a negative body-image and even debilitating eating disorders (Price and Pettijohn).
Ballet has been an art form since the late fifteenth century, but society did not truly see the impact of ballet until the nineteenth century. Modern day thinkers possess the idea that ballet began with tutus and pointe shoes, but it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that this opinion was observed. Ballet has come a long way. It has survived the turmoil of many wars and has changed itself by accepting new ideas and impressing the audience with its unique stylistic views.
in order to succeed. Ballet should be recognized as a sport due to the fitness, dedication, and
Russian ballet took a big hit with the defections of many stunning dancers. Now though, Russian Ballet has boomed with bigger, better dancers popping up all over Russia. All across the world little girls dream of being a ballerina dancing with their prince across a bright stage, their costumes glittering with jewels. The reality is it takes years of blood, sweat, tears, and hard work to even get a shot of being on that stage. Even if you get there, the fight to get to the top level is hard, and to stay there is even harder. Dancers need to stand up for their rights
	Isadora Duncan was a famous dancer who brought a new kind of dance to the world. She danced out the feelings from deep in her heart. Unlike other dancers in the late nineteenth century, Isadora Duncan danced with flowing motion. She was not a ballerina, and did not like to watch ballet dancers, with their stiff bodies and unnatural pointe shoes. At first she was not liked, but as time went on, Isadora Duncan became a dance revolutionist people all over the world will never forget.
I choose to observe one of the most notorious and well-know classical ballet dancer of this time, her name is Marianela Nunez. She is not only one of the most follow dancers in the dance industry, but also one of the most talented female dancers of all times. She execute every step with such a precision, simply a true artist. She is native from Argentina, but since an early age showed an exceptional talent in dance joining one of the the most prestigious elite companies “ The Royal Ballet” at the early age of 16. By looking at her Facebook page, you can noticed how professional and well put together of a person she is. It has quality information and it displays tasteful pictures promoting herself on what she does best, which is to dance.