Perhaps the most obvious division between types is that between theatre and non-theatre dance. The separation of dancer and spectator in theatre dance has tremendous influence on the style of the dance itself and on its reception as an art form. In theatre dance the professionalism of dancer and choreographer, the presentation of dramatic and formal movement, the use of visual effects, and even the philosophical question of the role of the spectator reach their most sophisticated level. In non-theatre dance the unity of dancer and spectator, of observation and participation, means that the dance styles and even the function within the social group are quite different from those of theatre dance.
Of course, the division between the two types is not as clear in practice as in theory. For example, although ethnic and folk dances are not, in theory, theatre dances, many of them are preserved, choreographed, and presented to audiences in theatrical settings. Some scholars have even argued that ballet is an ethnic dance form that grew out of the European dance tradition. On the other hand, Indian and Southeast Asian dance forms are usually called ethnic dances, but within these traditions there are numerous classical dances whose theatrical settings and elaborate choreographies qualify them as theatre dances.
Bhangra, folk dance of the Punjab region of Pakistan and India.© Pete Birkinshaw (CC BY 2.0)
Among the theatre dances, this section discusses the two major Western genres, ballet and modern dance, as well as Indian classical dance. Among the non-theatre dance forms, this section discusses tribal and ethnic dance, folk dance, and social dance. Theatre dance Ballet Basic characteristics
Ballet has been the dominant genre in Western theatre dance since its development as an independent form in the 17th century, and its characteristic style of movement is still based on the positions and steps developed in the court dances of the 16th and 17th centuries (see above Basic steps and formations). Perhaps the most basic feature of the ballet style is the turned-out position of the legs and feet, in which the legs are rotated in the hip socket to an angle of 90 degrees and the feet point outward. This position gives the body an open, symmetrical appearance, and it also facilitates the high leg extensions and fast turns typical of ballet. Openness is most characteristic of the ballet dancer’s stance, for the head is nearly always lifted and the arms held out in extended curves. Even when the dancer executes fast or energetic steps, the arms rarely move in a way that is not fluid, calm, and gracefully extended, and they are frequently held in positions that either frame the face or form a harmonious relation to the position of the legs. The body is nearly always held erect, apart from controlled arches in the back or a slight turning of the shoulders toward or away from the working leg. This positioning of the shoulders, called épaulement, gives a sculpted, three-dimensional quality to the dancer’s positions.
Court dance in early balletic form as seen in Catherine de Medicis Receiving the Polish Ambassador, tapestry designed by François Quesnel, c. 1575; in the Uffizi, Florence.SCALA/Art Resource, New York
Whenever the ballet dancer’s foot is not flat on the floor, it is pointed, and, of course, women dancers (and occasionally men) frequently dance on the tips of their toes with the aid of blocked shoes. Dancing en pointe lends lightness and airiness to the dancer’s movements, and the pointed toe extends the line of the leg—particularly when it is raised in the air, as in an arabesque.
The long vertical line is the other basic feature of ballet: verticality in the upright stance of the body, in the high leg extensions, and above all in the aerial quality of the movement. Ballet dancers rarely move close to the ground, and they frequently seem to defy gravity through the height of their jumps and their vigorous batterie (beating together of the legs in midair), through the speed and multiplicity of their turns, and through the fast linking steps that seem to move them effortlessly, almost without touching the floor, from one virtuoso movement to another. In ballet the stress and effort of the dancer’s movements are always concealed beneath the fluid, graceful surface of the dance and the perfect repose of the face and torso. This gives the dance its characteristic qualities of dignity and control, which it inherited from the early court ballets, where the movements were designed to show off the aristocratic polish of the dancers.
Ballet has, of course, undergone many stylistic alterations. The Romantic style of the early to mid-19th century was much softer—less studded with virtuosic jumps and turns—than the classical style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Russian ballet, frequently regarded as the paradigm of the classical school, is itself a blend of the soft and decorative French school, the more brittle and virtuosic style of the Italians, and the vigorous athleticism of Russian folk dances.
Léonide Massine as the Peruvian in Gaîté Parisienne, with members of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, 1942.Fred Fehl
The design of classical ballet is traditionally symmetrical in the shapes made by the dancers’ bodies, in the grouping of the dancers on stage, and even in the structure of the whole dance. For example, if two principal dancers perform a pas de deux (a dance for two), other dancers on stage remain still, are arranged in symmetrical framing patterns, or move in harmony with the main dancing, not distracting from it. Even when large groups of dancers move, they are usually arranged in formal lines or circles. Jean-Georges Noverre in the 18th century and Michel Fokine in the first decades of the 20th both argued that this kind of formal symmetry was detrimental to the dramatic naturalism of ballet. Fokine’s own choreography encouraged the use of less rigid and artificial groupings in later ballet, as in Kenneth MacMillan’s dramatic works, where the crowd scenes are often composed of asymmetrical groups that rarely seem artificial. Innovations in the 20th century
Fokine’s reforms were a major influence on the development of 20th-century ballet. Particularly in the works that he created for Serge Diaghilev’s company, the Ballets Russes, he showed the range of different dance styles that classical ballet was capable of absorbing, helping to pave the way for more radical innovation. For example, in Chopiniana (1908; later called Les Sylphides), a virtually plotless ballet that recalled the earlier Romantic tradition, Fokine created a soft and uncluttered style that contained no bravura feats of jumping, turning, or batterie. Arm movements were simple and unaffected, the grouping of the dancers had a fluid, plastic quality, and above all there was a flowing, lyrical line in the phrasing and movement.
Members of the Ballets Russes performing in a production of Pulcinella, under the direction of Serge Diaghilev, with music by Igor Stravinsky and designs by Pablo Picasso. Sasha—Hulton Archive/Getty Images
In Prince Igor (1909) and L’Oiseau de feu (1910; The Firebird) Fokine incorporated the vigorous style and athletic steps of Russian folk dances. These works revealed his talent for organizing large crowds of dancers on stage and transforming their previously ornamental function into a powerful dramatic force. Neither ballet is longer than a single act, because Fokine believed that the full-length ballet was generally both an excuse for, and the cause of, useless choreographic padding, and that a work should last only as long as its theme required.