|
In 2005, SPCB marked the 55th anniversary of our historic Grand Avenue studio and our fourth year as Saint Paul City Ballet.
From: Brief History of Ballet as it traveled to America via Italy, France and Russia by Kate Castle
— Ballet, as we know it today, began during the Renaissance around the year 1500 in Italy. In fact, the terms “ballet” and “ball” as in masked ball, come from the Italian ballare, to dance. When Catherine de Medici of Italy married the French King Henry II, she introduced early dance styles into court life in France.
The official terminology and vocabulary of ballet was gradually codified in French over the next 100 years, and during the reign of Louis XIV the king himself performed many of the popular dances of the time. Professional dancers were hired to perform at court functions after King Louis and fellow noblemen had stopped dancing.
From Italian roots, ballets in France and Russia developed their own stylistic character. By 1850 Russia had become a leading creative center of the dance world, and as ballet continued to evolve, certain new looks and theatrical illusions caught on and became quite fashionable. Dancing en pointe (on toe) became popular during the early part of the nineteenth century, with women often performing in white, bell-like skirts that ended at the calf. Pointe dancing was reserved for women only, and this exclusive taste for female dancers and characters inspired a certain type of recognizable Romantic heroine—a sylph-like fairy whose pristine goodness and purity inevitably triumphs over evil or injustice.
In the early twentieth century the Russian theatre producer Serge Diaghilev brought together some of that country’s most talented dancers, choreographers, composers, singers and designers to form a group called the Ballet Russes. The Ballet Russes toured Europe and America, presenting a wide variety of ballets.
Here in America ballet grew in popularity during the 1930’s when several of Diaghilev’s dancers left his company to work with and settle in the U.S. Of these, George Balanchine is one of the best known artists who firmly established ballet in America by founding the New York City Ballet.
Key figures in establishing ballet in Minnesota were Lorant Andaházy and Anna Andrianova Andaházy who founded Andaházy Ballet in 1947. They ventured to the Midwest in 1947 after careers in the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. A majority of our staff at the Saint Paul City Ballet School studied under the Andaházys.
In 2005, SPCB marked the 55th anniversary of our historic Grand Avenue studio and our fourth year as Saint Paul City Ballet. Saint Paul City Ballet also has a strong legacy from St. Anthony Park School of Dance begun by Sarah Linner Quie in 1982. St. Anthony brought Jazz, Creative Movement and Sacred Dance to the curriculum. Currently, the SPCB is privileged to have a professional association with Gabriela Komleva, Professor, St. Petersburg Conservatory, coach and former prima ballerina of the Maryinsky Theatre(Kirov) in St. Petersburg, Russia. Ms. Komleva frequently travels to St. Paul to teach and coach the students of SPCB continuing our rich ballet lineage.
SPCB FAMILY TREE
French Court, Louis XIV
|
Enrico Cecchetti/Imperial Russian School
| |
Mikhail Fokine/Les Ballets Russes de Diaghilev Agrippina Vaganova
| |
Leonide Massine/Colonel W. de Basil's Vera Kostrovitskaya
Les Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo
| |
Anna and Lorand Andaházy/Andaházy Ballet Gabriela Komleva
| |
Saint Paul City Ballet
|
