Tuesday, January 6, 2009

SS 2009 Course: Origins of Ballet

Course 142
Date: 19–23 January
Time: 6.00 pm
Full Price: R270,00 Staff: R135,00 Reduced: R70,00

The Origins of Ballet
Svetlana K. Lloyd, freelance lecturer, United Kingdom

The urge to dance seems to be a basic human instinct. Sacred dancing to praise nature’s elements or to propitiate various gods, and group bonding dances to instil courage before battle, date back thousands of years. Eventually dancing became a social activity for all, and alongside ritual and social dancing, ballet took on a specialised identity.

This course will trace the history of ballet, with a particular focus on the Russian tradition and influence. It will consider ballet’s development in Renaissance Italy, followed by its popularity within the 17th century French court, and its adoption by the Imperial Russian court in the 18th century. By the 19th century Russia was taking the lead in classical ballet, but it was not until the early years of the 20th century that the apotheosis was reached under the stewardship of Sergei Diaghilev. Diaghilev’s genius was to combine the finest and newest in art, music and ballet, embracing French impressionist art and the Russian Slavophile movement of the time. His work was shattered by the 1917 Revolution, although he continued to steer the Ballets Russes to many triumphs abroad. The company’s influence was considerable, and Diaghilev’s legacy can still be detected in the main ballet companies of France, America and England. After decades of stagnation, post-Soviet ballet has now re-emerged and is beginning to cross-pollinate with the rest of the ballet world.

LECTURE TITLES
  1. Origins of ballet: antiquity to Renaissance Italy.
  2. From the Royal court of France to Imperial Russia.
  3. The age of Romanticism: classical ballet.
  4. The Slavophile movement in Russia and its influence.
  5. Sergei Diaghilev: the apotheosis of Russian ballet.

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