The History Of Russian Ballet

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Which nation comes to one’s mind when talking about the perfect embodiment of man-made choreography, the ballet? Most of the people would ascribe it as the peculiarity of Russian culture. Even though Russian ballet is regarded as one of, if not the most outstanding schools concerning the genre, it is thought-provoking to see, when we examine the evolution and history of this particular mean of dancing, that things are more complicated than they might seem. Cultures, in general, can never be “interpreted in any “essentialist” sense” as they “tend not to be monolithic” since they constantly experience internal as well as external impacts (van Damme 378). Consequently, certain traditions and in this regard, cultural artifacts, such as ballet, …show more content…

As a result, ballet d’action appeared which conveyed a strong narrative essence and may be labeled as the precursor of the classical form of the genre. Even though ballet remained subservient to instrumental and vocal music until the 1770’s, the situation changed after the Academie Royale Musique took over the role of the aforementioned school. Despite the fact that the former originally presented opera, from the 1780’s onwards the pieces performed on the stage of the Academie included ballet elements and after a while it was established as a main component of the operas. The so-called Ballet Masters were teaching their pupils to become professionals and the growing success of ballet was reflected in the public’s increasing admiration and the recognition of French prestigious dancers in other parts of Europe as well. Ballet was flourishing. And one precondition of this emergence was the process of “early” …show more content…

Besides collaborating on one of Pushkin’s poem and creating the choreographic illustration of national literature, he was among the first who experimented with new elements of ballet introducing dance soloists combining with scenery change and therefore dismantling the previous conventions (Source). Paradoxically, Russian essence started to appear within ballet despite the fact that it was created, from the composition of accompanying music till the mentioned innovations, by

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