Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!nycmny1-snh1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!panix!not-for-mail From: Tom Newsgroups: alt.arts.ballet,alt.answers,news.answers Subject: alt.arts.ballet Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Part 1/5 Followup-To: poster Date: Thu, 6 Jun 2002 18:46:48 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Global Flat Earth Society Lines: 1136 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Expires: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 23:59:00 GMT Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: panix2.panix.com X-Trace: reader1.panix.com 1023389208 1976 166.84.1.2 (6 Jun 2002 18:46:48 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@panix.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 6 Jun 2002 18:46:48 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: tin/1.4.5-20010409 ("One More Nightmare") (UNIX) (NetBSD/1.5.2 (i386)) Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.arts.ballet:50007 alt.answers:62284 news.answers:231667 Archive-name: dance/ballet-modern-faq/part1 Posting-frequency: bimonthly Last-modified: Jan. 17, 2002 ================================ Part 1 of five parts ================================ This FAQ is provided as is without any express or implied warranties. While every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the infor- mation contained in this article, the author assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. Copyright (c) 1995-2001 by Thomas Parsons; all rights reserved. This FAQ may be posted to any USENET newsgroup, on-line service, BBS, or Web page, provided it is posted in its entirety, including this copyright statement, EXCEPT that this FAQ may not be posted to any Web page where such posting may result in assignment of copyright. This FAQ may not be distributed in part or in full for financial gain. No portion of this FAQ may be included in commercial collections or compilations without express permission from the author. ================ Tom Parsons Brooklyn, New York twp@panix.com ================ Contents: PART 1 1. General information 1.1. What is this group? 1.2. Is there a group for modern dance? 1.3. What is the difference between alt.arts.ballet and rec.arts.dance? 1.4. Are there any other ballet/modern groups? 1.5. How can I access this group? 1.6. How can I post to this group? 1.7. Are there any dance pages on the World Wide Web? 1.8. I'm only a beginner; should I just shut up and listen? 2. General questions about ballet 2.1. What is ballet? 2.2. What is modern dance? 2.3. What is a ballet class like? 2.4. What is a barre? 2.5. Why do dancers take so many classes? 2.6. Why do dancers wear such funny shoes? 2.7. Do women really dance on their toes? Why? 2.8. Why don't men dance on pointe? 2.9. Why do dancers stand with their feet turned out? 2.10. What is a tutu...and why do they call it that? 2.11. What are all these "positions?" 2.12. What is "placement?" 2.13. Why all that French? 2.14. If a female dancer is called a ballerina, what is a male dancer called? 2.15. What is a "Prima Ballerina Assoluta"? 2.16. What are: a choreographer, a regisseur, a repetiteur, a ballet master, and an artistic director? 2.17. What are the most popular ballets? 2.18. Where can I find books about dance? 2.19. Where can I find dance-related gifts? 2.20. Where can I find dance videos? 2.21. Where can I find dance-related clipart? 2.22. Where can I find recorded music for ballet? PART 2 3. Ballet, Modern Dance, and You 3.1. When should I start taking ballet? 3.2. When should I start taking modern dance? 3.3. I'm in my early twenties; it it too late for me to start a professional career in ballet? 3.4. I'm 35 (or 45 or 55 or...) years old. Is it ridiculous for me to consider ballet classes? 3.5. I'm thinking of returning to ballet after --- years; how should I start? Are there videos I can buy? 3.6. I'm a man. I feel funny about taking ballet classes. I mean, isn't it...er...a little...? 3.7. Okay, I'm starting ballet. What equipment do I need? 3.8. I'm a guy! Do I *have* to wear tights? 3.9. Where can I buy dancewear? 3.10. How can I make a tutu? 3.11. How do I find/choose a school or teacher? 3.12. How can I tell if a teacher is good? 3.13. If the teacher makes me feel good, won't I become overconfident? 3.14. I live in ----; where can I take classes? 3.15. I don't know a thing about ballet and I'm trying to select a school for my child. What should I look for? 3.16. What is this "Dolly Dinkle" business, anyway? 3.17. What about studying in a university dance department? 3.18. Where can I find out about Summer dance programs? 3.19. I took my first class and I couldn't understand what was going on! 3.20. I keep getting mixed up! 3.21. What is "B-plus"? 3.22. How can I learn to raise my leg over my shoulder, the way I see other dancers doing? 3.23. When can my daughter start toe dancing? 3.24. I'm 5'7" (or whatever) high. Am I too tall for ballet? 3.25. What is a career in dancing like? 3.26. My daughter's gym classes are interfering with her ballet training. What can I do to make the school listen? 3.27. How can I build a proper floor for dancing? 3.28. How high should a ballet barre be? 3.29. I'm job hunting. Any tips for preparing a resume? PART 3 4. Ballet history 4.1. Who invented ballet? 4.2. I thought ballet was a Russian art. 4.3. When was the first ballet? 4.4. What is the oldest surviving ballet? 4.5. When was the first ballet school started? 4.6. How did ballet develop after the founding of that school? 4.7. Who was Noverre? 4.8. How did ballet develop in the nineteenth century? 4.8.1. Who was Carlo Blasis? 4.8.2. Who was August Bournonville? 4.8.3. The primacy of the ballerina 4.8.4. Ballet in Russia 4.8.5. Who was Didelot? 4.8.6. Who was Petipa? 4.9. Dance in the 20th century 4.9.1. Who was Diaghilev and what did he do? 4.9.2. Who was Fokine? 4.9.3. Who was Balanchine? 4.9.4. The beginnings of modern dance PART 4 5. Miscellaneous questions 5.1. Is there a way of writing down dance, the way we write down music? 5.2. Is there software for doing choreography? 5.3. Is there software for my dance studio? 5.4. What is Contact Improvisation? 6. Reading List 6.1. Books 6.2. Periodicals 7. Organizations 7.1. General 7.2. Organizations offering help with eating disorders ================ 1. General information In a group as young as this one was when this FAQ was first written, we didn't have enough data to identify "frequently-asked" questions, with a few exceptions; hence many of the entries were answers to questions that we might reasonably *expect* to be frequently asked, or at least wondered about. I chose to discuss things that I myself had wondered about; things that, I surmised, beginners and non-dancers must wonder about (since this group is specifically intended to include them); a few technical points (well known to dancers but not to spectators); and a fairly extensive history of ballet from 1489 to the close of the Diaghilev era. Coverage has since been expanded in response to requests and suggestions from the group. The FAQ ends with some questions that don't fit well into the other categories, a list of references and periodicals, and a list of dance- related organizations. This FAQ is posted bimonthly (on even-numbered months) in alt.arts.ballet, the Dancers' Archive, and also to rtfm.mit.edu, where most FAQs are available through anonymous FTP. It is also posted on my web page: http://www.panix.com/~twp/ Victor Eijkhout also recommends ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.arts.ballet/ or http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/internet/news/faq/alt.arts.ballet.html which also have the dancewear FAQ (see next paragraph) and Brad Appleton's FAQ on stretching (see Question 3.20). This FAQ and several others can also be obtained by e-mail from the Dancers' Archive. Email dancers-archive@world.std.com with _one_ of the following "get" commands in the _subject_ line. You will get from 1 to 4 emails back, depending on which FAQ you requested. Here are the commands: get aab-faq get dancewear-faq get rad-faq get stretch-faq The word 'get' must be specified as shown above, otherwise the email server won't know what you want to do. The word 'faq' can be capitalized, but the other words (rad, stretch, dancewear, and aab) cannot. 'faq' cannot be mixed-case. For this FAQ, request aab-faq; for the dancewear FAQ (next paragraph), request dancewear-faq. The other two: rad-faq is the FAQ for rec.arts.dance and stretch-faq is for Brad Appleton's FAQ on stretching (see Question 3.20.) There is also a FAQ listing suppliers of dancewear, updated bimonthy (on odd-numbered months--alternating with updates to this FAQ). That can also be found in the Dancers' Archive and in rtfm.mit.edu. Amy Reusch has assembled a FAQ containing advice for aspiring dancers who wonder whether they should include college in their plans. It can be found in the ballet-modern directory of the Dancers' Archive under the name, Schooling-FAQ. Acknowledgements I wish to thank Eliot Aronstern, Lise Brenner, Victor Eijkhout, and Lance Westergard for reading the first draft and providing valuable comments and suggestions. Thanks also to Robert Atwood, Randy Barron, Marion Bastien, Eileen Bauer, Michael Bjerknes, Melinda Buckwalter, Laurel F. Brady, Bonnie Brooks, CarlosC14, Collier Family (atla@mweb.co.za), Mark Coniglio, Alan Corneretto, Nancy Dalva, Danczarina@aol.com, Callum Downie, William Fitzgerald, Jean Fitzpatrick, Claudia Folts, Eyvonne Gratz, Robinne Gray, Lisa M. Hahn, Alice T. Hall, Steve Keeley, Frances Kemmish, Kathy Kerr, Keith Knox, Koo@monmouth.com, Sandi Kurtz, Joel Levine, Vanessa Marino, Debby McConnell, mhmlbrg@aol.com, John Moran, NextStage@aol.com, Bob D. Peterson, Roger Plaut, PriMoDnc , Lori Pryor, Amy Reusch, Rocio C. Barraza Rivacoba, Jessica Schein, Shannon (swilson769@aol.com), Tim Scholl, Sheila (LEHNERS@msn.com), Robert Greskovic, Estelle Souche, CHO Tomoko, Tim Victor, Victoria (vleigh7023@aol.com), Jack Walker, Kimberly Wallace, Karen Ward, Jim Williams, Leigh Witchel, Trog Woolley, Mark Zetler, and many other contributors to this group whose postings and suggestions (and corrections) are gradually finding their way into this FAQ. 1.1. What is this group? The purpose of alt.arts.ballet is to provide a forum for people with an interest in ballet and/or the more modern outgrowths of classical ballet. All questions, comments, information and discussion pertaining to ballet and/or modern dance are welcome, and ALL members of the ballet/ modern dance community (e.g. dancers, choreographers, fans, students, etc.) are encouraged to participate. 1.2. Is there a group for modern dance? This is it. Don't be misled by our name; modern-dance people post here frequently and are welcome here. 1.3. What is the difference between alt.arts.ballet and rec.arts.dance? Our group branched off from rec.arts.dance. Eliot Aronstern founded alt.arts.ballet, in May, 1994, to provide an on-line locale for discussion of any and all topics related to ballet and modern dance as a performing art. The primary focus in rec.arts.dance is on discussion of social and competitive partner dancing, although there remains some degree of overlap between these two groups. 1.4. Are there any other ballet/modern groups? No; this is it. But there is a ballet chat group on the New York Times board, accessible though America OnLine. To access it, 1) On the AOL "Main Menu", go to "Entertainment" 2) On the right side of the "aol.entertainment" menu, there is "the index", scroll down to "New York Times @times" file and click on. 3) At the "welcome to NY times" menu, click on "Message Boards" at the bottom. 4) A the "@times message boards" menu, click on "list categories" at lower left. 5) Scroll down till you see "Music & Dance", and click on it. 6) Scroll down and you will find the following categories: "Ballet Students" "Gone Dancing" "Dance Styles, Dance Careers" "The Ballet" "Singers, Dancers, Musicians" (This information supplied by Danczarina@aol.com.) There is also a mailing list, called the Dance Ballet Mailing List. (The following information is supplied by Rocio C. Barraza Rivacoba.) Its description is as follows: Dance Ballet is a general discussion group about classical dance and ballet, made up of professional dancers, directors, students, instructors, choreographers, dance artists & photographers, studio owners and many others. To subscribe, go to http://www.danceart.com/dblist.htm and fill out the questionnaire. It's not very demanding (essentially, all you must do is be interested in dance). 1.5. How can I access this group? Direct access to the group is available via news readers at most sites. If you are unable to access alt.arts.ballet, please make a request (to your local net news administrator) to have this group picked up on your local site, and/or contact Eliot (eliot@netcom.com) directly by e-mail for assistance. For a mailing-list subscription, e-mail to majordomo@world.std.com from your account; make the body of the message subscribe ballet-modern If you ever want to terminate your subscription, e-mail to the same address with the body unsubscribe ballet-modern After subscribing, you post messages by sending them to ballet-modern@world.std.com. Early postings to this group used to be archived in Dancers' Archive (maintained by Eileen Bauer, ecb@world.std.com), but because of a lack of disc space, nothing has been archived since February, 1997, and the files, which run back to the inception of the group, are nearly all compressed with the gnu zip data-compression utility. The compressed files have an extension ".gz" in their names. To extract these, you must download them and run the decompression program gunzip on them. To access Dancers' Archive, do an anonymous FTP to ftp.std.com, use the gopher to access Dancers' Archive, or, on the Web, use ftp://ftp.std.com/nonprofits/dance or use http://www.dancers-archive.com/rec-arts-dance/topics Two gopher routes to the Archive: (1) gopher gopher.std.com and wander down the nonprofit menus until you get to Dancers' Archive. (2) gopher gopher.panix.com, select New York Art Line, then Music, Performance and Dance, and then the Archive. Some Web pages also include links to the Archive. An alternative way of accessing old posts is to use Deja News at http://www.dejanews.com/home_ps.shtml Eileen now also offers a daily digest of alt.arts.ballet. To subscribe to it, email dancers-archive@world.std.com with with either the subject or the body containing the line: subscribe ballet-modern-digest You unsubscribe by sending the message, unsubscribe ballet-modern-digest Subscribers will receive one post per day, probably averaging ~50k. (The digest is automatically purged of spams, by the way.) If you are already a subscriber to the ballet-modern mailing list, this is a separate service and you will NOT be automatically unsubscribed from the regular list. 1.6. How can I post to this group? You can post articles to this group with your newsreader. If your provider won't support access to the alt. hierarchy, you can also post here by e-mail via one of the following addresses: alt-arts-ballet@news.demon.co.uk alt.arts.ballet.usenet@decwrl.dec.com alt.arts.ballet@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca 1.7. Are there any dance pages on the World Wide Web? Yes. Web pages are generally a mixed bag; some pages are just lists of links to other pages; some are still under construction; and some are full of information and pictures. Moreover, Web sites sometimes just disappear without a trace. The following entries are pointers to lists of pages. Dance Index Resources: ---------------------- Alt.Arts.Ballet Directory Listings http://users.aol.com/aablisting/listing.htm Cyberdance: http://www.thepoint.net/~raw/dance.htm Dancers Archive Gopher (where alt.arts.ballet is archived) gopher://ftp.std.com/11/nonprofits/dance/ There is a generous selection of dance links (as well as links to almost any educational resource you could imagine) on StudyWeb: http://www.studyweb.com/ 1.8. I'm only a beginner; should I just shut up and listen? Victor Eijkhout, in the FAQ for rec.arts.dance, asks this question and answers it as follows: "No. Tell stories about your experiences, or post questions and listen to the--no doubt conflicting--answers you'll get." (But read this FAQ first.) If you're new to the Net, it's a good idea to look around at various newsgroups and get a feel for the way things are done. There are virtually no rules, but there *are* customs. On the news.answers group you will find a number of useful documents for familiarizing yourself with the Net. I particularly recommend:- A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Commmunity Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Usenet Hints on writing style for Usenet Rules for posting to Usenet (I said there were virtually no rules; that last document would be better named, "Guidelines for posting....") ================================ 2. General questions about ballet The entries in this section and the next are largely for beginners and non-dancers. They may not all be "frequently asked" on the Net, but they are certainly frequently asked, or wondered about, by beginners in class or by people who go to ballet or modern dance performances. Note: Ballet terminology is largely French (see question 2.11), and since the 7-bit ASCII code does not include accented characters, we are resorting to printing the accent just before its vowel; thus assembl'e, encha^inement, terre-`a-terre. It looks strange, but omission of the accents looks stranger and may sometimes lead to confusion. (If you put the accent after the vowel, then a plural like assemble's looks like a possessive.) 2.1. What is ballet? There are many definitions; here's one of the earliest: Ballet is "the geometrical groupings of people dancing together, accompanied by the varied harmony of several instruments" (Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx, writing in 1582). This definition omits one feature commonly associated with ballets: they tend to tell stories. (Beaujoyeulx's own ballet told a story.) On the other hand, many modern ballets--for example, many of Balanchine's--have no explicit plot. So we might also say, ballet is dancing done as a theatrical performance--as an art, in fact--frequently telling a story, and drawing on a tradition of expressive movements dating back to Beaujoyeulx and probably earlier. Ballet normally consists only of dancing and music. But a few ballets have been choreographed for performance without music, and some ballets have included singing or recitation. Beaujoyeulx's ballet called for speeches from some of the characters, and the ballets of Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), called "ballets" on the title-pages of their scores, are actually opera-ballets. But normally it is expected that any story incorporated in a ballet will be conveyed by dance and mime alone. An answer along different lines might be that ballet is the foun- dation of all of Western theatrical dance. People aspiring to be modern dancers or to be dancers in show business are frequently advised to start with ballet before specializing in these other forms. Many people in the rec.arts.dance group also report that a grounding in ballet makes you a better ballroom dancer. 2.2. What is modern dance? Modern dance (sometimes just "modern" for short and also called "contemporary" in Britain and on the Continent) is the name given to a dance tradition that arose as a reaction to ballet. It may have started as a rebellion against the formalism and conventions of ballet, but it was probably also a reaction to the sorry state of Western European ballet in the late 19th century (see question 4.8.4). It also arose out of a desire to express things and feelings that were thought appropriate to the new century, things that, it was felt, the traditional ballet vocabulary couldn't express. It rejected many of the conventions of ballet--turnout, pointed feet, the stated positions, the attempt to defy gravity with leaps and other steps of elevation, dancing on pointe, the use of ballet shoes, and so on. The two styles have borrowed from each other to the point that the lines between them are becoming blurred. For a discussion of whether there is or still ought to be a distinction between ballet and modern dance at this late date, see the file modern-vs-ballet.txt or scan the archived material in the ballet-modern directory, both in the Dancers' Archive. Tom Parke , posting in rec.arts.dance, offered the following definitions: If the dancers are attempting to prove that gravity does not exist, then it's ballet. If the dancers are attempting to demonstrate that gravity does exist and it's a bitch, then it's modern. If the dancers are attempting to demonstrate that gravity does exist but they'd rather die fighting it than give in to it, then it's jazz. 2.3. What is a ballet class like? A ballet class is a carefully graded sequence of exercises lasting, typically, an hour and a half. The work falls into three parts. The first part consists of stretching and warming-up exercises done with the support of the barre (see question 2.4). You may spend anywhere from forty minutes to an hour at the barre. Then you move to the center of the studio to work without support. The second part of class, called _adage_, consists of slow work in which the emphasis is on sustaining positions and on balance. The final part of class, allegro, consists of fast work, mostly combinations (sequences of steps) with the big jumps and turns that make ballet such an impressive and dazzling sight. 2.4. What is a barre? The barre is a handrail, approximately waist-high, that dancers use to steady themselves during the first part of a ballet class. The barre provides a reference point; it can be used to provide resistance, as when you press down on it to lengthen the spine; and it is your first partner. "Barre" is also a shorthand term for exercises done at the barre; dancers frequently refer to "doing a barre," for example to warm up just before performing. 2.5. Why do dancers take so many classes? Because dancers must practise under supervision. In ballet so much depends on the movements and positions of the dancer. A pianist, who may also practise for several hours each day, can monitor his or her playing by listening; but when dancing you cannot always watch yourself, mirror or no mirror, and in any case you need constant guidance and correction from an informed and impartial observer. So where the pianist can practise alone each day, the professional dancer must take daily classes. For the serious dancer, the first ten years are a time when intense class is vital. This is the time when repeated practice gets the steps "into your muscles"--gets them into your unconscious, so you can do them without thinking and can link them into combinations at a moment's notice. 2.6. Why do dancers wear such funny shoes? Do you mean ordinary ballet shoes or women's pointe shoes? Ordinary ballet shoes are peculiar in two respects: they have no heels and paper-thin soles, and the shoes are identical for right and left feet. They have had no heels since the time of Camargo (about 1720), who had her shoes made without heels so she could pass her legs from front to back more easily and so her heels would be right on the floor and provide a more solid impetus for jumps. The custom of making separate shoes for left and right feet in general is only a little more than a century old; this innovation was somehow never picked up by the makers of ballet shoes. The shoes acquire left- or right-footedness through use. For pointe shoes, see the next question. 2.7. Do women really dance on their toes? Why? Yes, in ballet they do dance literally on their toes, wearing special reenforced shoes to help the toes bear the weight of the body. (The technical term is the French "en pointe," usually Englished as "on pointe." Dancing on pointe lends an etherial, weightless appearance to the performer. This was part of the romantic image of Woman, and it has persisted, in one form or another, to this day. But pointe work also lengthens the line of the leg, and ballet is a form that favors long lines. Pointe shoes have reenforced toes to provide extra support for dancers going on pointe. As you can imagine, the force on the toes is considerable; the reenforcement distributes this force over the entire tip of the foot. Dancers usually add padding of some sort inside the shoe to cushion their feet further. 2.8. Why don't men dance on pointe? Men *do* dance on pointe, on rare occasions. They may be deliberately dancing women's roles, as in the Ballet Trockadero. Some choreographers have had men wear pointe shoes for special effects; posters in this group have instanced Sir Frederick Ashton's _The Dream_ (based on _A Midsummer Night's Dream_), in which a man wears pointe shoes to represent Bottom's hooves (when he has been turned into a donkey), Mark Morris's _Hard Nut_, (based on the _Nutcracker_), and some versions of _Cinderella_ and of _La Fille Mal Gard'ee_. In addition, some men also find pointe work good for strengthening the arch of the foot. 2.9. Why do dancers stand with their feet turned out? For greater freedom of movement. Many of the steps in ballet are done with the leg extended; the kicks we associate with a chorus line are like this. For various reasons having to do with the structure of the hip joint, a dancer can obtain the greatest extension if the leg is rotated outward, away from its usual position. This rotation means that you can move to the side as readily as to the front or back. You also frequently need to change the position of the feet, from right foot in front to left foot in front or vice versa. One of the most elementary jumps, called a _changement de pieds_ ("change of the feet"; _changement_ for short), consists of nothing else: jump up and land with the other foot in front. These changes must be made very quickly, and again they can be done most easily if the feet are pointed in opposite directions. This position of the legs is known as turnout, and it is probably the most conspicuous aspect of balletic posture. As this description implies, it is mostly a practical measure, although it may be done for appearance as well. In the first ballets, the dancers performed in the middle of the hall, surrounded on all sides by the audience. When ballet moved to the proscenium stage, in the middle of the seventeenth century, men began to dance turned out. This has led historians to suggest that turnout originated because it looked better on stage. But it may have been because extension showed to better advantage on the stage and that dancers turned out for the sake of greater extension. Turnout does not begin from the ankles. You do not force your feet into that position and let everything from there on up follow. Turnout begins at the hip joint, and it is better to be turned out imperfectly from the hip than to strain the joints at the ankles and knees. Indeed, few people can turn out perfectly, with the feet pointing in exactly opposite directions, unless they have started as children (and sometimes not even then), and boys are not expected to be as turned out as girls are. If you were going to select one thing that sets ballet off from every other kind of dancing (not a good idea, but suppose you had to) it would probably be turnout. Dancers sometimes say that you turn out your entire body. Physically, this is impossible--the ribs are firmly attached to the breastbone, after all--but that describes the way it *feels*. It is most visible in the feet, but it originates from the hips, and sometimes seems to originate from even higher than that. There's an openness to the dancer's whole body in ballet. For additional information, see the file, why-turnout-in-ballet.txt in the Dancers' Archive. 2.10 What is a tutu...and why do they call it that? A tutu is a light ballet skirt. There are two general kinds, the "romantic" tutu, a long, bell-like skirt extending to mid-calf or below, and the "classical" tutu, a very short, fluffy skirt that stands out almost horizontally from the dancer's body. Both kinds are made of many layers of light material, typically nylon or tarlatan. (Tarlatan is a very light, starched, thin muslin.) _Tutu_ is a French word, apparently a euphemistic variant of _cucu,_ which in turn is a baby-talk form of _cul,_ "behind." The term is thus a reference, not so much to a garment, as to that which the garment covers. This may be more understandable if Kersley and Sinclair are correct in saying that the tutu was originally the under-skirt. (According to Arnold Haskell, however, the modern French term isn't _tutu_ but _juponage._ The romantic tutu was introduced by Marie Taglioni in the ballet, _La Sylphide_ (1832). The classical tutu dates, probably, from the 1880s. 2.11. What are all these "positions?" There are positions for the arms, and the feet. Different schools number the arm positions differently, but the positions of the feet have been fixed since the time of Beauchamps (Question 4.5). The positions of the feet are as follows: In first position, the heels are together. In second position, the feet are separated so there is a distance between the heels roughly equal to the length of a foot. In third position, one foot is right in front of the other, with the two feet partly overlapping. In fourth position, one foot is in front of the other, but there is a space between the feet. Fifth position is like third, except that the overlap is complete. If we represent the foot by o---- (where o is the heel), and if the feet are fully turned out, then we can sketch the positions as follows. (How well these sketches turn out may depend on how your software handles strings of blanks.) First: ----oo---- Second: ----o o---- Third: o---- Fifth: o---- ----o ----o o---- Fourth: ----o These are the basics, but there are some fine points. The Cecchetti fifth is a little less strongly crossed than a Russian fifth, and dancers make a distinction beween a closed fourth (shown) and an open fourth. 2.12. What is "placement?" Placement is, roughly, alignment of the body. Becoming properly placed means learning to stand up straight, with hips level and even, shoulders open but relaxed and centered over the hips, pelvis straight (neither protruding nor tucked under), back straight, head up, weight centered evenly between the feet. This posture is frequently described as "pulled up," but it is also a relaxed posture; you aren't tensed up like a soldier standing at attention. (A teacher once said you should imagine that you are suspended by a thread attached to the top of your head. This suggests both the "pulled-up" and relaxed aspects of good ballet posture.) And as you dance, you seek to maintain this posture except when the step requires something different, like the slight forward arch of the spine that accompanies an arabesque. 2.13. Why all that French? The first ballet school was in France, and the terminology was crystallized there. Nearly everything in ballet is described by a French word or phrase. (You even wish dancers good luck in French. Actors wish one another good luck before a performance by saying, "Break a leg!" Dancers say, "_Merde!_") The drawback of this is that you must learn the French names for the steps and movements; but you would have to learn *some* names in any case, and the advantage is that you can take a ballet class anywhere in the world and, no matter how unintelligible the rest of the talk is, the terminology will still be in French and you will understand it. 2.14 If a female dancer is called a ballerina, what is a male dancer called? There's no satisfactory answer to this one. Theoretically, even though the Italian "ballerina" means simply "female dancer," only a *principal* female dancer is supposed to be called a ballerina. If that restriction were universally observed, then the nearest male equivalent would be the French premi`er danseur ("first dancer"). But in practice, people use ballerina to refer to any female ballet dancer, and in that case all you can say is "dancer" for the male. I suppose you could be pedantic and use the Italian masculine form ballerino, but people probably wouldn't understand you and, worse, are likely to mis-hear the word as "ballerina," which could lead to endless confusion. 2.15. What is a "Prima Ballerina Assoluta"? "Assoluta" is Italian for "absolute"; so if a prima ballerina is the first (i.e., top-ranking) ballerina then a prima ballerina assoluta is absolutely the first. In answer to a query about how many PBA's the world has seen, Robert Greskovic has the following historical points to add: The title was first conferred by the Tsar during the late 19th c. for exemplary ballerinas of the Imperial Theater's ballet troupe. The last of that line was the second, Mathilde Kchessinska; the first was Pierina Legnani, Italian virtuosa extraordinaire of the Russian company. Since then the Soviet Union that took over after the fall of the imperial system semi-officially used to the title for one ballerina, Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova. So, since it was really an imperial ballet designation, the one connected with the Soviet era might not actually count. Britain took up the tradition in 1979 for Margot Fonteyn, who had by then already retired from her long career as leading ballerina of London's Royal Ballet. Fonteyn has thus become, to date, England's only designated "Prima Ballerina Assoluta." So, technically there have been only two such honored ballerinas in ballet history; three if you include the Soviet continuation of the tradition; and four if you consider the Royal Ballet's borrowing of the title for its own. 2.16. What are: a choreographer, a regisseur, a repetiteur, a ballet master, and an artistic director? A choreographer is a composer of dances. In practice, the other terms may be used in different ways by different companies, and their meanings overlap. Grant's dictionary (see the Reading List, Section 6.1.5) defines a regisseur as a stage manager and then expands this by saying that the regisseur is responsible for rehearsing and staging the company's ballets. A repetiteur is one who rehearses ballets. A ballet master teaches company class (the class taken regularly by the dancers in the company) and, according to Grant, rehearses the company's ballets. An artistic director makes artistic policy decisions for the company--e.g., deciding what new ballets are to be accepted, or assembling programs for a season. The artistic director may also be the principal choreographer for the company. 2.17. What are the most popular ballets? Estelle Souche ran an informal poll of alt.arts.ballet in March, 1995, asking people to list their six favorite ballets. The results of this poll may or may not be representative of the population as a whole, but here are the ballets that got two or more votes. Note that some ballets, like _Romeo and Juliet,_ exist in more than one version; the different versions had to be consolidated in tabulating the result. _Swan Lake_ (Petipa): 22 votes _Romeo and Juliet_ (MacMillan, Cranko, Van Dantzig, Smuin or others): 17 votes _Giselle_ (Perrot-Coralli): 14 _Serenade_ (Balanchine): 12 _Don Quixote_ (Petipa): 10 _Sleeping beauty_ (Petipa): 9 _The Four Temperaments_ (Balanchine): 9 _La Sylphide_ (after Taglioni or Bournonville): 5 _Coppelia_ (after Saint-Leon): 5 _La Bayad`ere_ (Petipa): 5 _The Nutcracker_ (Petipa): 5 _Green Table_ (Jooss): 5 _Jewels_ (Balanchine): 5 _Symphony in C_ (Balanchine): 5 _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ (Ashton): 5 _Les Sylphides_ (Fokine): 4 _Concerto Barocco_ (Balanchine): 4 _Apollo_ (Balanchine): 4 _Push Comes to Shove_ (Tharp): 4 _Le Corsaire_ (after Mazilier): 3 _Agon_ (Balanchine): 3 _Rodeo_ (Agnes De Mille): 3 _Diversion of Angels_ (Graham): 3 _Monotones_ (Ashton): 3 _Le Jeune Homme et la Mort_ (Roland Petit): 3 _Revelations_ (Ailey): 3 _La Fille mal gard'ee_ (after Dauberval): 2 _L'apres-midi d'un faune_ (Nijinski): 2 _Rubies_ (Balanchine): 2 _Who Cares?_ (Balanchine): 2 _Stars and Stripes_ (Balanchine): 2 _Rubies_ (Balanchine): 2 _Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux_ (Balanchine): 2 _Lilac Garden_ (Antony Tudor): 2 _Acts of light_ (Graham): 2 _Clytemnestra_ (Graham): 2 Dance interlude in _Oklahoma_ (De Mille): 2 _The Concert_ (Jerome Robbins): 2 _Taming of the Shrew_ (Cranko): 2 _Aureole_ (Taylor): 2 _Hard Nut_ (Morris): 2 _Gloria_ (Morris): 2 _Da Mummy, Nyet Mummy_ (Christopher d'Amboise): 2 _Cinderella_ (various productions): 2 2.18. Where can I find books about dance? 2.18.1. Bookstores Some of the larger bookstores may have special sections devoted to dance. For example, Barnes & Noble's main store in Manhattan (5th Ave. and 18th Street) has such a section. Bookstores located near performing-arts locales may offer dance books. Otherwise, you will have to resort to specialty stores. Here are a few; others will be added in time. Arts Books E-mail: cathm@arts-books.com Web: http://www.arts-books.com An on-line dance bookstore. The Ballet Company 1887 Broadway New York, New York 10023 (212) 246-6893 (800) 219-7335 Fax (212) 246-6899 Collectibles, books, videos, apparel Dance Books, Ltd. http://www.antiquarian.com/dancebooks/ An on-line dance bookstore. The Dance Mart (books and memorabilia) Box 994 Teaneck, N. J. 07666 (Send them a large stamped envelope and they will send you a catalog.) Golden Legend, Inc. (Member Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America) 7615 Sunset Boulevard Los Angeles, Calif. 90046 (323) 850-5520 Fax (323) 850-1524 e-mail legenda@ix.netcom.com JB Muns Fine Arts Books 1162 Shattuck Ave Berkeley, Calif. 94707 Dance/Music Catalogue #156 Original Music (books and videos, mostly non-Western and "ethnic") 418 Lasher Road Tivoli, N. Y. 12583 Phone 914-756-2767 Fax: 914-756-2027 E-mail orimu@aol.com Pages - Books of the Dance 16 Dakin Avenue, Mount Kisco NY 10549 914-666-8281 E-mail PagesTLG@aol.com Antiquarian book dealers specializing in ballet. Princeton Books POB 57 Pennington, New Jersey 08534 (800) 326-7149 http://www.dancehorizons.com 2.18.2. Libraries Among libraries, the best known collection in the United States is the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library, located at Lincoln Center. They have an on-line catalog; to access it, telnet nyplgate.nypl.org and respond to the login prompt with nypl At this writing (Mar., 1996), the on-line catalog is accessible only during the hours when the library itself is open. For people on AOL who want to reach the New York Public Library catalog, Amy Reusch gives this advice: Go to Dance Links (http://www.dancer.com/dance-links/) Select Miscellaneous Resources Somewhere on the Miscellaneous Resources page (I think under "Research"), there's a link to the Dance Collection. When the computer asks you for a log-in, enter nypl In Washington, D. C., the George Washington University has a Dance Archive. For an informational brochure, contact Cheryl A. Chouiniere Phone: (202) 994-7549 Manuscripts Librarian Fax: (202) 994-1340 The Gelman Library The George Washington University Bitnet: indmss@gwuvm 2130 H Street, NW Internet: Washington, D. C. 20052 indmss@gwuvm.gwu.edu 2.19. Where can I find dance-related gifts? I know of the following places: The Ballet Company 1887 Broadway New York, New York 10023 (212) 246-6893 Fax (212) 246-6899 Collectibles, books, videos, apparel Dance, Etc. P. O. Box 724 Brainerd, Minn. 56401 (800) 762-3347 (218) 829-7618 T-shirts, trinkets, charms, some dancewear Dance Xtras Store www.dancextrastore.com An on-line store; gifts, books, videos, stationery, jewelry, posters, etc. Dance Stuff 135 Lansdowne Court Lansdowne, Penn. 19050 (800) 377-7571 Dancestuff@AOL.COM T-shirts, posters, figurines, etc. State whether you're school, store, or private individual. Steve O'Connell Fine Arts 248 Canterbury Way Stevenage, Herts SG1 4DW England Tel/Fax +44 (0) 1438 367208 Two other sources for posters: Triton Gallery, 323 W 45th Street, New York--Phone (212) 765-2472--has very large collection of show posters for sale. I'll bet they have the type of posters you are looking for, as well. --Joel Levine Go to the NYCB website. They sell posters at their gift shop (hypertext), including autographed ones. --Jean Fitzpatrick 2.20. Where can I find dance videos? There are two lists put out by the Dance Films Association back in 1986: - Modern Dance & Ballet On Film & Video: A Catalog ISBN 0-317-41588-3 - Dance Film and Video Guide ISBN 0-87127-171-0 There are also the following sources. (Most of this list contributed by Sandi Kurtz. Annotations are hers except as noted.) The Ballet Company 1887 Broadway New York, New York 10023 (212) 246-6893 Fax (212) 246-6899 Collectibles, books, videos, apparel Corinth Video 34 Gansevoort Street New York N. Y. 10014-1597 (800) 221-4720 They send out a quarterly newsletter and four-page price list with approximately 150 ballet tapes and several hundred other tapes of Opera, Film Classics, and Theater. (Bob D. Peterson) Dance Films Association (212) 727-0764 Fax (212) 675-9657. Web: www.virtualscape.com/dance_films Lisa Harris 2319 N. 45th St. #207 Seattle WA 98103 Web: http://www.eskimo.com/~lisa/ Ballet CDs: wholesale and retail Home Vision POB 800 Concord, Mass. 01742 (800) 262-8600 Some PBS. Kultur 121 Highway 36 West Long Branch, New Jersey 07764 (800) 4KULTUR (201) 229-2343 kultur@monmouth.com www.kulturvideo.com Relationship with the Bolshoi, large lists of Bolshoi rep, mostly ballet. M.A.D. Degrees Productions P. O. Box 2945 Beverly Hills, Calif. 90213 (800) 326-4997 http://www.dance90210.com/catalog.html New York City Ballet Gift Shop New York State theater 20 Lincoln Center New York, New York 10023 (212) 870-4232 fax: (212) 870-5693 e-mail: nycbtick@interport.net web: http://www.nycballet.com/ Princeton Books POB 57 Pennington, New Jersey 08534 (800) 326-7149 One of the best modern dance lists as well as ballet. TMS Home Page/Video Catalogue http://www.totalmarketing.com/ Danczarina writes, "They have an extensive Dance section, and provide quite a bit of detail about each selection. (They strike me as being to video what Amazon.com is to books.)" Unlimited Dance Files (Florida) PO Box 160335 Miami, Fla 33116-0335 (800) 430-4297 Video Artists International POB 153, Ansonia Station New York, N. Y. 10023 (800) 338-2566 View Video 34 E 23rd Street New York, N. Y. 10010 (212) 674-5550 There is also a ballet CD-ROM available; this shows the execution of hundreds of ballet steps, with information on correct execution and even a guide to pronunciation. It also contains a brief history of ballet and interviews with a number of professional ballet dancers. The CD-ROM, which is available in both Macintosh and Windows versions, is obtainable from Performing Arts Video, Inc. Ballet CD-ROM P. O. Box 193121 San Francisco, Calif. 94119-3121 (800) 600-6568 http://www.pav.org/ballet.htm At this writing (February, 1997), the price is $49.95 plus $5 for shipping. 2.21. Where can I find dance-related clipart? Koo@monmouth.com writes, "You can download ballet clipart at no charge from a website at: www.danceart.com. They will also take your photo and computerize it into clipart, also at no charge, which you can then use for newsletters, personal stationery, etc. It's pretty cool." And bluesy writes, "I have some nice ballet clipart for anyone to download. Check it out!" http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/9676/ballet.html Rocio C. Barraza Rivacoba offers free ballet and dance clipart at Danza Dance Gallery, http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/1854/dndngall.html 2.22. Where can I find recorded music for ballet? If you're looking for pieces for performances (i.e., things like "Swan Lake" or "Petrouchka," any well-stocked store that carried fine music should have these. The only problem is when the music has been adapted from some other source--for example, Tudor's "Lilac Garden." You will have to look in a reference book to find that this was choreographed to Chausson's Poeme for Cello & Orchestra. If you're looking for recordings for class, the search is usually harder, because these recordings are not generally stocked. One possibility: The Ballet Company 1887 Broadway New York, New York 10023 (212) 246-6893 Fax (212) 246-6899 There is also a listing of music for dance class websites in Dance Links' Miscellaneous Resources section: http://www.dancer.com/dance-links/misc.htm ================================ Continued in Part 2.... ================================ -- -- twp@panix.com | The greater the power, | the more dangerous the abuse. http://www.panix.com/~twp | --Edmund Burke