Ballet

(UPDATED: October 16, 2011)

Whether you love it for its grace or if you dislike it because it's too "pretty," ballet is one of the greatest showcases of grace and spirit among any art. It is by far one of the most popular and oldest performing arts in existence today. Both males and females ranging from children to adults take part in the beautiful and graceful art of ballet. This blog post is my contribution to ballet. I don't know much about ballet or is any kind of aficionado of ballet, but I will do my best to discuss and showcase ballet in a classy and respectful manner. I hope you will enjoy my blog post on ballet.

If any of you are in ballet or have done ballet before, I'd like to salute you and thank you for visiting John's Blog Space!

LATEST UPDATE(S):

OCT 16 2011 - made a few simple edits to this post

--- Ballet at a Glance ---

Some information supplemented from Wikipedia for this section.

(from Wikipedia) The origins of ballet originate back to the the Italian Renaissance courts in 15th Century, and then later enhanced by the French and Russians. Ballet is something that requires great concentration and grace to be amazing. No one average person- not even my out-of-shape self- can ever do any of these moves as gracefully as a conditioned and trained ballet dancer. There is an exact science to precisely and properly executing the many maneuvers ballet dancers make. A good deal of fitness and exercise can help in more precisely executing each stunt and performance. I don't know the name of any such ballet moves even if my life depended on it.

Anaheim Ballet mentions ballet as a "beautiful strength." This video will set the mood for the style of dance to be showcased in this blog post:


You have now been introduced (by me) to ballet. You can read much more about ballet from a much more qualified source than I by reading the Wikipedia page on Ballet.

--- Ballet Misconceptions ---

I touched on it a bit in the introduction. I won't name all of them, but I will touch up on some of the most common misconceptions.

I guess for a lot of people, ballet is too pretty and girly and soft. Like EVERYTHING is supposed to be hard and raw. Almost as if many people believe those who are in ballet are somehow wimpy and couldn't fend for themselves if in a compromising position. Then again, who said ballet dancers are as tough as gridiron football players or any hockey players? I think people often look beyond the grace and charm of ballet and just think of ballet as a pretty art form where everything is seemingly perfect. The training to have everything perfect is tough. I wouldn't survive one day in ballet class, let alone multiple days trying to get EVERYTHING perfect.

If you'd like to learn about more ballet misconceptions, I invite you to read "Ballet Myths Busted" at www.theballetbag.com.

--- Ballet Outfits ---

Let's see these ballet dancers in their outfits. This is ballet from a style perspective. All of these are descriptions of what most ballet folk wear.

Leotards and Unitards.

The most basic outfit for any ballet dancer is a leotard. Leotards cover the body much like a one-piece swimsuit. Some leotards may or may not have sleeves to them (most do not). These leotards mostly are in spandex, but some may even be polyester among other materials.

Leotards are usually accompanied with tights to complete an outfit. Unitards can be thought of as rompers/playsuits or jumpsuits for ballet dancers. They consist of the leotard top and are joined with either short legs or pant legs as part of the whole outfit.

Ballet Skirts.

Dress yourself up a bit with a ballet skirt. Accompanied to a leotard or unitard, a little extra diversion is offered to your ballet outfit with these skirts.

Ballet Dresses.

As beautiful as any leotard, a ballet dress can be equally graceful and beautiful to wear. What girl wouldn't want to be just a bit more lovely in her ballet dancing?

Tutus.

The tutu is a petticoat for ballet dancers. Just put one on and twirl to your heart's delight!


And of course...

Ballet Shoes.

Ballet shoes are mostly form-fitting shoes designed for various foot movements. A good pair of shoes designed for tip-toe moves and bending the feet are needed for various ballet dancers. Two of the most common ballet shoes are your basic ballerina slippers and pointe shoes. Their soles range from full sole shoes to split sole shoes. My best guess is that they offer different levels of comfort and control when performing ballet moves.

You are probably thinking of ballet flats if you're reading this. However, ballerina slippers are the real dancing shoes of ballet dancers. These shoes were specifically designed for ballet dancing. They contour to the feet and are more comfortable to wear for the various routines and moves such ballet dancers execute. The appeal and style of ballerina slippers found their way into ballet flats you've probably seen or worn. I asked online what makes ballet flats different from ballerina slippers, and one girl said that ballerina slippers were specifically made for ballet dancing; not just to wear with your outfits casually. The cute ribbons and bows you see on most ballet flats usually originate from the lovely ribbons and straps you see on ballerina slippers. Just know that your ballet flats are for wearing with your outfits; ballerina slippers are graceful shoes to wear in your ballet routines and moves.

Pointe shoes are so beautiful with the ribbon ties to secure them. Pointe is so graceful and beautiful as a form of ballet dance. Pointe shoes offer a basic ballerina shoe with many ribbon ties to help secure them. To get an idea of what Pointe is like, I have found this video, courtesy of the Ballet Center of Houston. Take a look at this video and see these Pointe shoes in action as well as pointe ballet:



By the way, I doubt they were wearing blue in support of my blog. ;) The song playing in the background is beautiful.


Many of these items have even influenced everyday fashion. In fact, the movie "Black Swan" in 2007 offered up a look at ballet-inspired fashion. For a detailed look at ballet-inspired fashion, please check out this site: "ballet inspired fashion" on dancemana.biz.

--- Ballet Videos ---

Would you like some ballet videos? I've found a number of them online to share with all of you. Feel free to get your ballet fix right here!

• Russian Ballet
I mentioned Russia as one of the key players in the evolution of ballet. Well, a young lady named Natalia Osipova at Moscow's (as in Moscow, Russia) Bolshoi Ballet Academy performs a ballet routine for all of you in this video. Take note of her graceful moves. This is a beautiful performance:



• Twinkle Toes!
Here are some videos showcasing a few different ballet moves.

Italian fouettes are performed by this (then) 13-year Canadian old girl named Alys Shee:


How about some pirouettes? Here you go:


Finally, here are some arabesques. These are done beautifully by this lady:



• Ballet Boys
My objective in blog posts like this one is on factual material. So therefore, I tried to find a proper video to suit this section. I tried to find a proper video on a male in ballet rather than some random video of males fooling around as ballet dancers. I don't have just one video... I have two. Many people think that males who practice ballet are gay or wimpy. Fact is- males have performed ballet LONG before mostly females have taken up the ballet scene. So what you're about to see is the kind of ballet most have come to know before most know ballet as a girly form of dance.

Believe it or not, what you will see in the first video is classic ballet... but are all played by males! Before women essentially took on these ballet roles, these roles were played by men. So have a look at this interesting video featuring men wearing feminine ballet outfits and wigs:


This male performer practices in contemporary ballet here. Check out his moves here:



• Ballet Fun With Kids
This video could not be embedded. Therefore, I will make this link regarding the video. This is a very cute and fun video of a little girl (then) 10-years old showcasing a vivid imagination coupled with ballet dancing.

Again, embedding was disabled. So if you want to see this video, click on "KIDS BALLET DREAMS Rochelle Marks (10yrs old)" on YouTube.


There are your video inspirations on ballet. Hope you enjoyed your time here!

--- To All Who Practice (or Have Practiced) Ballet... ---

You all are the ones who help exhibit and showcase what makes ballet so enjoyable and graceful. You help showcase the beauty and grace of such fluid movements while also dancing to lovely musical scores. It is just too bad you ballet folk get such a bad rap from most people. Those especially include people who think ballet is just pretty and wimpy, like everything has to be hardcore and tough. People fail to realize (let alone appreciate) all that goes into being great ballet dancers. I am not any kind of serious fan of ballet, but I greatly appreciate what all goes into ballet.

So uh, keep doing your thing! You dig? :)

--- Ballet Resources ---

That concludes this blog post for the most part. I may make a post to my alternative blog, "John's Shop Space," but JSS is still being considered and mapped out for renovation. So I will not be posting to that site until renovations are complete. And if I do post to JSS, it will feature more personal selections for you ballet lovers/dancers.

So here are some resources for you ballet dancers. More will be added in future edits. These are all my own words on each resource. I am not paid anything to talk about any of these resources in the way that I do:

Discount Dance Supply.

With many kinds of dancewear items for dancers (including those in ballet), this is one place to look towards online for your ballet gear. Dancewear for other kinds of dancing are also offered here.

The Ballet Store.

All the gear and merchandise you could want for ballet can be found here at The Ballet Store. There are even various resources available for all of you into ballet including news items regarding ballet. This is more of an all-in-one place for all kinds of ballet fans.

Capezio.

Capezio is one of the most respected companies in the realm of dancewear. With over 125 years of dance, Capezio has something for just about everyone.

Motionwear.

From ballet to cheerleading to gymnastics, Motionwear has just about everything for every kind of dancer. Relevant to this blog post, click on the "Dance" link to see the ballet material.

Dancewear Solutions (links to Ballet).

Dancewear Solutions has all kinds of items for all kinds of dancing. The link above takes you to the Ballet store of the site. Various items and accessories are offered on the site for ballet dancers to be properly suited for gracing the floor with their moves. Everything from ballet outfits to ballet shoes are offered on DWS.

Tip Toe Dancewear.

With a variety of items offered for various dancers, Tip Toe Dancewear has you covered with many different items to dress you up for dancing. There are also items offered for cheerleaders as well. So if you enjoyed my Cheerleading blog post, you may find some great cheer gear here as well.

Men's Dancewear.

An Australian author on HubPages named Marisa Wright mentions mens' dancewear on her page. My male audience can look at this site for some notes on male ballet items.


Again- more items should be made available to this blog post should I find some more worthy resources. If there are some you think I should consider posting, I would appreciate if you contacted me via Email. Help me help my reading/visiting audience.



Special request for all of my readers- please help support my work by finding items online featured in my blog posts. One such way is by checking out these items on Amazon. Use these widgets to dress yourself up for ballet. I would appreciate your business if you buy something useful. If you enjoyed my blog post (or any of my blog posts) please support my work, if you don't mind, by finding certain items that interest you based on this blog post:

Ballet on Amazon: Apparel.

Ballet on Amazon: DVDs.

Ballet on Amazon: Books.

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