Dance Essay Research Paper Dance has been

Dance Essay, Research Paper

Dance has been a part of human history since the earliest records of human life (Praagh 30). Cave paintings found in Spain and France from 30,000 -10,000 BC had life-like drawings of dancing figures participating in rituals. They illustrated the prominence of dance in early human society. Later in the Renaissance Era a new attitude towards the body, the arts, and dance was originated. The courts of Italy and France became the center of new developments in dance, providing support to dancing masters and musicians who created large scale social dances for the acknowledgment of celebrations and festivities. In the court of Catherine de Medici, the Italian wife of Henry II of France, the first forms of ballet stemmed from the genius dancer, Balthazar de Beauhoyeulx. In 1581, Balthazar displayed the first full-length ballet for an audience. His piece was an idealized dance that told the story of a legend by combining spoken texts, intricate settings, and costumes with group dances full of strong technique (Praagh 100). In 1661, Louis XIV of France granted the organization of the first Royal Academy of Dance (Praagh 101). Because of this, during the next centuries, ballet developed into a high-class discipline and art form. Social couple dances such as the minuet and the waltz began to emerge as a display of free will and expression. In the 19th century, the era of romantic ballet reflected the struggles ballerinas had in the new time period in such ballet classics as Giselle (1841), Swan Lake (1895), and the Nutcracker (1892) (Praagh 125). At the turn of the new century, with the commotion of World War I, the arts reflected a major questioning of values and a hysterical search for new forms that reflected individual expression and a more vigorous way of life. The Russian impresario, Sergey Diaghilev, became the leading inventor of dance in Europe reviving ballet with some of the brightest choreographers, composers, visual artists and designers of his time (Praagh 127). His ballets created a total theater experience and his company’s principal dancers included Ana Pavlov, Claude Debussy, Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, George Ballanchine and the unique choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, specializing in curved body movements and unusual footwork (Praagh 130). Not long after the revival of ballet, a new style of dance began to rise out of the women’s release from ballet’s stylized movements. This new form of dancing emerged valuing free expression of confined emotions and thoughts (Praagh 131). The pioneers of this new dance were Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) and Ruth St. Denis (1877-1968). In 1915, St. Denis founded the Denishawn Company, which became the cradle for the forerunners of American modern dancers, including Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman (Praagh 133). Presently, as dance continues to expand all over the world, many people try to push their way into the business. Some are in it for the money and others are in it for the pure love of the art form. However, today with so many talented individuals, the field is limited. It’s extremely hard to become a dance teacher, performer on Broadway, or get into a company, unless a dancer has not only talent but also connections.

Ballet, a form of dancing that attracts people from all over the world to pay hundreds of dollars for a front row seat at “Copellia,” “Swan Lake” or “Nutcracker.” Audiences sit in amazement as they watch skinny girls jete and tourney across the stage. A well-known male ballet dancer by the name of Enrico Cecchetti wowed audiences with his amazing jumps and later would change the way dancers were developed. Enrico Cecchetti was born in a backstage dressing room during a ballet performance in Italy on June 21, 1850 to Serafina and Cisare Cecchetti. Since both of his parents were dancers he was exposed to the art form at a very young age. He was a student of Giovanni Lepei and at the age of sixteen he was touring the United States and Europe, showing off his perfectly executed pirouettes. After the tour Cecchetti was known as “the man that could fly” (Maynard 106). Several companies made generous offers if he would come to their school, but he chose to instruct at the Imperial School in St. Petersburg. At the school he trained famous dancers such as Olga Preobrojenskia, Tamara Karsavina, Mathilde Kschessinska, Yakovlevna Vaganova, Vaslav Nyinsky and his prize pupil Anna Pavlova. When Pavlova left the school to perform in a company Cecchetti soon left to open his own school of dance with his wife, Giuseppina De Maria. Together they developed Alicia Markova and Serge Lifai (Maynard 114). After instructing for many years, he had experienced many different bodies and style types of his dancers. Cecchetti then went beyond his talent and published a book which formed a new technique of dance. It compiled his findings and described his teaching techniques for various students, this became known as the Cecchetti Method. “The Cecchetti method of ballet training prescribes a strict exercise routine using the five positions and seven basic movements of classical ballet.” (Maynard 120). However, his system was never considered as a new style until twenty years after his death in 1928. Today the Cecchetti Method is used in London through the Cecchetti Society and in the United States through the Cecchetti Council of America.

In 1894, ballet was still the most popular form of dance.