The Architects Of Classical Ballet

‘Classical ballet’ as a technique derives from a set of codified principles – the placement of the feet, the iconic steps and stances, the clarity and proportion of the positions originally devised in the highly elaborate social world of the French courts. Petipa developed this style to virtuoso levels, displaying the brilliance of his dancers as if to raise a mirror to the grandeur of his Russian imperial audience. The ballerinas’ short, stiffened tutus showed off their fancy footwork and perfect alignment. Their ‘steely’ pointe work, sharper and harder than the softer romantic style, emphasised precision, line and balance.

But classical ballet is not just technique, it is also theatre. In this respect, too, Petipa both played to his aristocratic imperial audience and led them to new heights. His first major success was The Pharaoh’s Daughter (1862), an elaborate, evening-length epic with a cast of 400 dancers that established the fashion for the ballet à grand spectacle.

In these sprawling productions, classical ballet dancing was reserved for the principal roles, and interspersed with ‘character’ or ‘national’ dances. These balleticized imaginings of folk or regional dances were used to add splashes of local colour or to create alluring mirages of far-off places. Highly stylized mime sequences were used to spell out particular moments in the story, and to offer a vital change of pace between set pieces.

The opulence of these dance extravaganzas made Petipa successful, but they are not what made him great. That was down to the skill of his choreography, both for thecorps de ballet and for the soloists.

http://www.roh.org.uk/discover/ballet/choreographers/petipa/context.aspx