The Historical and Philosophical Development of Ballet

Abstract

Tracing the art movement worldwide - from the age of the archaic human up until the end of the Renaissance - helps to understand and clarifies the kinetical and technical development of the art of dancing which, though several stages, resulted in the birth of the most finest type of dance, also known as ballet. Dance is a performance consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movements. It is considered to be the very first steps towards artistic expression. In fact, it is the original source of all developed forms of art. Once the human's physiological needs are satisfied, the next level of human needs involves both soul and body. Therefore, he'll turn towards a balanced sequence of human movements, to communicate with nature, with the Creator, or with other human beings. These elementary moves were his language with which he expressed his existence, (repressed) feelings, and instinctive emotions, especially due to the lack of vocabulary or any other means of expression.Ballet is a type of rhythmical performance dance which involves both modern and classical choreography. It is considered to be the extracted artistic value of folk dances. Ballet is used in artistic gymnastics in order to build up the expressional skills of female athletes, and educate them the principles of movement control. Ballet choreography is involved with creating floor exercises on the padded mat, and the exercises on the parallel bars (with or without the instruments of rhythmical gymnastics). The ballet dance has circulated widely among the youth. Among the more popular dances of the nineteenth century are: the Mazurka and the Polonaise; and for the twentieth century: the Tango, the Foxtrot, the Samba, the Cha-Cha, the Waltz, the Basque, and the rhythmic dance (the Décor), which has a certain sport characteristic.