Ballet

I thought that next, I should talk about one of the most famous types of dancing in the world. Ballet tends to be purely a performance dance. The French word "ballet" traces back to the Latin word "ballare" meaning "to dance".

It originated in 16th and 17th century French courts. It later developed in England, Italy and Russia. The earliest ballet dancers were not as highly talented or skilled as dancers today. It has since become a highly technical form of dance, with its own vocabulary of terms and phrases. This is one of the hardest forms of dance to achieve. It focuses on the graceful movements of the dancers, primarily the female dancers, which may simply require some natural skill above all else. It is most often danced to classical music - traditionally, at least.

There are two types of shoes worn in ballet; normal ballet shoes (or 'slippers') and pointe shoes. They tend to come in pink, white, black or grey. Ballet slippers are made from soft leather, canvas or satin. Beginner dancers are restricted to ballet slippers until their bones have ossified and their muscles have strengthened enough to dance "en pointe" (see below). Male dancers tend to always wear soft ballet shoes, as they rarely dance "en pointe".

(courtesy of dancemania.biz)

A pointe shoe, on the other hand, is worn when dancing "en pointe". This is when the dancer dances on the very tips of their toes for indefinate lengths of time, giving the illusion of being weightless.
Because every dancer has different feet (including toe length and shape, arch flexibility and mechanical shape), many different types of pointe shoes are made to accommodate this. But every pointe shoe has the same two basic structural features:

1) There is a box that is a hard enclosure at the top of the shoe that surrounds, protects and supports the toes. The front end of the box is flattened to create a platform on which the dancer can balance.

2) There is a shank that is a piece of firm material that stiffens the sole of the shoe to provide support for the arch of the foot.

The exterior of the pointe shoe is covered with fabric to conceal the box and other structural elements, most commonly pale pink satin. Usually, the sole is a piece of leather attached onto the shoe with adhesive, reinforced by stitching along the sides. The shank is often made from leather or plastic. The pointe shoe is secured to the foot by two fabric ribbons and an elastic band.

(courtesy of freewebs.com)

Over time, many different forms of ballet emerged.

Classical ballet is the most formal form of ballet, it adheres strictly to ballet technique. There are slight variations around the world due to different cultural origins, but the basic technique is the same.

Neoclassical ballet emerged in the 20th century and uses the traditional ballet vocabulary but is slightly less stiff. It often uses more extreme tempos in the music danced to. This type of ballet is often performed in the New York City Ballet.

Contemporary ballet is influenced by both classical ballet and modern dance, forming an interesting mix of the two. It uses the technique and pointework of classical ballet, but it permits a wider range of movement that does not always comply with the strict form of classical ballet.