The History of Ballet

The history of ballet can be traced to the Italian Renaissance in the 15^th and 16^th centuries.  When Catherine de Medicis left Italy to marry King Henri II of France in 1553, she introduced her culture of ballet to France.  Louis XIV started the Academie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opera) on the late 17^th century.  The Paris Opera Ballet became the first professional theatrical ballet company.  This strong French influence can be seen in the predominance of French in the vocabulary of ballet.  The Royal Danish Ballet and the Imperial Ballet of Russia began in the 1740s.  In 1907 the Russian ballet moved back to France.  Before long, new ballet companies formed all around the world. 

For a great instructional book on ballet  Click Here!

Learning dance for the older crowd

As a child, I was like many other little girls who dreamed of being a ballerina. I was enthralled with the beauty and grace of ballet. My neighbor was taking dance lessons, and I often begged my parents to allow me to take ballet lessons. Unfortunately, I was never able to pursue this dream.

As an adult, I was blessed with one daughter. I never even thought of putting her in dance lessons, but when she was about 9 years old, she started asking to take ballet lessons. At first, I told her “no” because I knew that her father did not like me to put the kids into a lot of activities. But she kept asking. Finally, I told her that if she wanted to dance that much, she should ask her father herself. I was very pleased when he finally relented and agreed that she could take ballet. I was thrilled that my daughter was getting an opportunity that I had always dreamed of.

For the last six years I have lived my dream vicariously through my daughter. I am so proud of her, but a part of me still wishes that I could dance myself. At 48, I’m probably a little beyond learning ballet. But there are many options for people of any age to learn dance.

 Click Here!

for an opportunity to learn many different styles of dance.