Ballet

Ballet is a kind of dance that tells a story or shows a feeling through careful, graceful movements. It began in Italy more than 500 years ago and grew into the art form we know today in France and Russia. Ballet is performed on a stage, usually with music played by an orchestra. The dancers wear special costumes and shoes made just for ballet.

Ballet started in the royal courts of Italy in the 1400s, during the Renaissance. Wealthy families held big parties with music and dancing. When an Italian princess named Catherine de' Medici married the king of France in 1533, she brought these dances with her. French kings loved the new style. King Louis XIV danced in ballets himself and started the first ballet school in 1661. Many ballet words today are still in French, like plié (a bend) and jeté (a jump).

Every ballet move is built from five basic foot positions. Dancers train for years to make hard moves look easy. They learn to spin, leap, and balance with their bodies pulled tall and their arms shaped just so. Female dancers, called ballerinas, often dance on the very tips of their toes. This is called dancing en pointe. To do it, they wear special shoes with hard tips made of layers of glue, fabric, and paper. Pointe shoes only last a few hours of dancing before they wear out. A professional ballerina can go through more than 100 pairs in a single year.

Ballet often tells a story without any words. The dancers act everything out through their movements and faces. Some of the most famous ballets are Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty. All three were written by the Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky in the late 1800s. Russia became the center of ballet during that time, and Russian dancers and teachers helped spread the art form around the world.

Modern ballet has changed a lot. Some companies still perform the old classics with full orchestras and fancy costumes. Others mix ballet with jazz, hip-hop, or other styles to make something new. Dancers today come from every country and every background. They train at schools where lessons can start as young as age three or four.

Ballet is one of the hardest things a human body can do. A leap that lasts one second takes years of practice to make look effortless.