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” o
