Types of Ballet
Types of Ballets
Many ballets are classified by era and style. Many books have been written about ballet history, but this book is focused on the fundamentals of classical ballet as we know it today.
Because of this classification system, many choreographers have developed their personal style and choreographed a large enough volume to be recognized as an entire ballet style or a contribution to ballet style.
For example, many people refer to the classics as storybook ballets, which is just a ballet that tells a story or based on a story.
Ballet d’action
A Ballet with a plot or story
The opposite of a storybook ballet is an abstract ballet or a ballet without a plot (libretto). While time has gone on, what was once extremely contemporary or current might now feel dated. Time is very important in recognizing how we view today's companies' repertoire (repertory). Eventually, even this will seem dated.
Abstract Ballet
A Ballet without a plot. A composition of pure dance movement expressed for its own sake.
Neolassical Ballet
This genre of ballet is recognized as the style to come out of the 20th century. It largely starts with the Diaghilev era and ends with the Balanchine ballets. Neoclassical ballet, in retrospect, is now about building upon the classical framework and producing works that spoke to the time and culture. A lot of choreography, style, and vocabulary that came out of the neoclassical ballet era was in response to the excess amount of romanticism and post-romantic modernism.
Contemporary Ballet
It is pretty exciting to think that a new vocabulary is built around ballet every fifty years or so, and something new emerges from the classical framework. Contemporary ballet may have started at the end of the Balanchine era. Still, the definition of contemporary is about living or occurring at the same time or belonging and occurring in the present. While the Balanchine ballets are still celebrated, the majority of dancers who danced under him have passed, and none are currently dancing. Thus, they can’t be contemporary ballets and moved into the neoclassical category. Contemporary ballet is anything that is happening now, and what was once considered a blend of modern and ballet, contemporary now blends all genres of dance, all types of music, gender fluidity, and more.
Ballet Classique (Classical Ballet)
A classical ballet adheres to the definite framework established in the nineteenth century (1801-1900). While classical art refers to ancient Greek or Latin literature, and while we have ballets based on these classics, that is not how we know classical ballet today. Classical ballet is about representing and achieving an exemplary standard through tradition for a long-established period of time. This is important because classical ballet isn’t just about telling a story. This is important when it comes to how we identify choreographers throughout ballet. Many of the classical ballets can be categorized into three major time frames that are widely recognized because of style, costuming, and time frame.
Ballet Blanc (White Ballets)
This term is applied to any ballet in which dancers wear traditional or romantic length white costumes. The look was created by Eugène Lama for Marie Taglioni in La Sylphide in 1830 and was so profound that the the look was carried into the second of Giselle and the ballet Les Sylphides and Pas de Quatre.
Ballet Romantique (The Romantic Ballets)
A period of time in ballet that is designated to the early nineteenth century in which the agent was on the conveyance of a mood to tell a story.
The Imperial Ballets (The Russian Age of Ballet)
The late 1800’s brought a rebirth of ballet, mostly credited to Arthur Saint-Léon and Marius Petipa, ballet was renewed and a huge volume of work was produced out of Russia that have laid the foundation for today’s versions of the ballets. We can thank the survival of these ballets to the ballet masters and mistresses who took notes, and developed notation.
