A Brief History of French Ballet

The French began to distinguish themselves in the art of ballet during the 16^th century.  Catherine de Medici’s Le Ballet Comique de la Reine, the first ballet for which a complete score survived, was performed in 1581 and established Paris as the capital of the ballet world. 

Early ballets were danced by aristocratic amateurs in a hall with the royal family on a dais at one end and spectators in galleries on three sides.  Since much of the audience saw the ballet from above, the choreography emphasized the elaborate floor patterns created by lines and groups of dancers.  Poetry and songs accompanied the dances.  Most French court ballets consisted of dance scenes linked by a minimum of plot.  Because they were designed principally for the entertainment of the aristocracy, rich costumes, scenery, and elaborate stage effects were emphasized. 

The court ballet reached its peak during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715).  Louis adored dancing and made his ballet debut as a boy.  But it was in 1653, when he was about 16, that he danced his most memorable piece.  He performed a series of dances in Le Ballet de la Nuit and for his final piece he appeared as Apollo, god of the sun.  Because of this, he became known as the Sun King.

In 1661, Louis founded the Académie Royale de Danse, now the Paris Opera Ballet, to train professional dancers for his court.  Louis himself stopped dancing in 1670, and his courtiers followed his example.  By then the court ballet was already giving way to professional dancing. 

At first, all professional dancers were men, and men in masks danced women's roles.  The first female dancers to perform professionally in a theater production appeared in 1681 in a ballet called Le Triomphe de l'Amour

Eighteenth-century dancers were encumbered by masks, wigs, or large headdresses, and heeled shoes.  Women wore panniers, hoopskirts draped at the sides for fullness, and men often wore the tonnelet, a knee-length hoopskirt.   Marie Camargo caused an uproar when she shortened her skirts and adopted heelless slippers to display her sparkling jumps and beats.  Her rival, Marie Sallè also broke with custom when she discarded her heels and corset and danced in Greek robes, her hair down and unornamented, for her own ballet, Pygmalion (1734).



With the French Revolution came a fashion revolution in ballet.  Dancers wore soft, flexible shoes rather than heels.  Costumes were much lighter and more flowing, and skirts shortened. 

The ballet La Sylphide, first performed in Paris in 1832, introduced the period of the Romantic ballet.  The Romantic period began as people became interested in stories of escape from the real world to dreamlike worlds or foreign lands and is arguably the most important period to the development of modern ballet.   

Ballet technique was expanded, especially for women, to express the new ideas.  For example, ballerinas learned to dance en pointe for brief periods of time.  This achievement helped them look like heavenly beings visiting the earth, but barely touching it.  Romantic ballet presented women as ideal and, for the first time, gave them greater importance than men.  Male dancers became essentially porters, whose purpose was to lift the ballerinas and show how light they were. 

The ballet Giselle is a perfect example of this period in time.  The title role is one of the most sought-after in ballet.  In the first act, Giselle must convey the innocence and love of a country girl, as well as the heartbreak of betrayal; in the second act, she must appear otherworldly, yet loving.  As a result, this role demands technical perfection, outstanding grace and lyricism, and great dramatic skill. 

The popularity of ballet in France began to wane in the second half of the 19^th century.  Even Saint-Leon's Coppelia (1870) was not enough to restore the glory of ballet.  Travesty roles, such as the role of Franz in Coppelia, were part of the reason ballet was losing its Parisian audiences.  Ballet in Paris might have had a rebirth, but in mid-July 1870, the Franco-Prussian war started.  By August, the Opera closed, and the Germans besieged the French capital in September. 

Following the siege, much of France’s best talent went to Russia.  Paris Opera ballerinas tried to keep ballet alive in Paris, but despite their best efforts, the center of the ballet world moved to Russia.