Louis XIV and Ballet

Louis XIV and Ballet

Classical ballet merged in the mid-17^th century. It was appreciated and applauded by King Louis XIV who gave the ballet due acknowledgement and brought it to is Xenith. He was a phenomenal dancer himself showing exceptional talent of dancing and his most memorable performance till date remained to be as Apollo. He did various ballet shows and his period of shows extended over 18 years when he would perform in court ballets.

 

Louis XIV

He also appointed a composer in his court ballet in 1653. The composer named Giovanni Baptista Lulli did a magnificent job as a composed and worked under the name of Jean Baptista Lulli. He brought great success to the ballets and the ballets became more popular. The king also brought the famous French poet Moliere to work in his ballets. Together these two people started working on the ballets and created great works.

The king ascended the throne in 1661 with full power. He used this to present great work in front of the society. He became a pioneer in establishing ballet school which was named as the Academic Royal de Danse. For this school 13 most prominent people were recruited as teachers. They were very experienced in dance ballets.

Another major achievement by the king came in 1669 when he opened Academie d’Opera where French Opera would be created and performed and presented to the world. Pierre Perrin was appointed as its director. This became the major turning point the history of ballet.

King Louis XIV transferred the control of the ballet to Jean Baptiste Lully in 1670 when he could no longer physically run the ballet. The contribution was very significant in the court ballet and it was only because of his efforts that the world has recognized the ballet and appreciates it so much. But later the Academic Royal de Danse deteriorated under Lully’s rule and the ballet was transformed.

Two years later the director of the Opera Perrin was put in jail for not paying the debts. After this the king appointed Jean-Baptiste Lully as the director of the Opera and the Opera was now changed. They renamed it as Academie Royal de Musique. In the Opera a dance academy was also inaugurated where dance was taught.

As time passed the ballet evolved and developed. There were various dance productions in the Academie Royal de Musique. These performances were huge and had a different style. They changed their position from the middle of a ballroom floor to a stage with a proscenium. The dancers would continuously work on their styles and they evolved. They were very professional in their techniques. Now a form came to known and developed in dancing which was choreography.

In 1713, the Paris Opera established its own dance school, with technique based on the writings of Raoul Auger Feuillet, who penned the first treatise on dance technique a few years earlier. The Paris Opera’s ballet school is the oldest, continually run ballet school in existence today.

Cited: https://californiaballet.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/louis-xiv-and-the-birth-of-classical-ballet/