It is impossible to imagine modern or classical ballet dance without entrechat. So what is entrechat in ballet moves, anyways? Basically, it is a step of beating in which a ballet dancer jumps into the air and rapidly crosses the legs before and behind each other. The dancer usually jumps from the fifth position and lands back in the fifth position. We count entrechats moves from two to ten according to the number of crossings required and counting each crossing as two movements, one by each leg. For example, in an entrechat quatre each leg makes two distinct movements.
There are two classes of entrechats in ballet dancing: even-numbered and odd-numbered. The even-numbered entrechats, or those which land on two feet: deux, quatre, six, huit and dix (2,4,6,8,10). The odd-numbered entrechats, or those which land on one foot: trois, cinq, sept and neuf (3,5,7,9).
For example: in an entrechat-quatre starting from fifth position, right foot front, the dancer will jump crossing legs and beating first the right heel on the back of the left heel, then at the front of the left heel, landing in the same starting position.
Young ballerina who performed first in history of ballet entrechat quatre was magnificent dancer Marie Camargo. She performed it during her debut at the Paris Opera with the ballet Les Caracteres de la Danse in 1726. It brought Marie Camargo fame and fortune. And, no doubt she deserved it: after all at those times the standard women’s ballet shoes looked differently. These were not ballet slippers or pointe shoes as we know them. Ballerinas danced in the conventional shoes that had heels!
In a sample YouTube video famous ballet dancer Laurent Hilaire performs quite tough 32 entrechats six in the second act of Giselle. The ballet was taped in Opéra de Paris in 1995.
One can not confuse a ballet tutu with any other female skirt. Designers use various materials to create tutus, the most traditional among them are tulle, voile, muslin and nylon.
It’s been a couple of centuries since female ballet dancers started using tutus during ballet performance. To an untrained eye they all look the same, but balletomanes know that it is not true. In the modern ballet there are 4 major types of tutus worn for ballet dancing. Two of them are classical with the difference in shape (bell or pancake). And the other too are romantic tutu and Balanchine-Karinska tutu.
Classical tutus of both types extend outwards from the hips. They are made with layers of netting and have fitted bodice. The main difference between them is that the tutu shaped as a bell does not use a wired hoop while the pancake tutu uses one that keeps the layers flat and stiff.
Romantic Tutu is probably the most famous of all ballet clothing. Specialists say that Marie Taglioni, famous ballet dancer of Romantic ballet era invented it and popularized it among European ballet dancers. This bell shaped tulle skirt is free flowing and emphasizes lightness and ethereal quality of the romantic ballets. The length varies between the knee and the ankle.
The last type of a tutu has an interesting origin. Father of American ballet and famous ballet master George Balanchine often choreographed ballets with a large assembly of dancers on stage. This led to an unusual problem with the traditional pancake tutus - ballerinas skirts often brushed against each other.
In 1950 famous designer Karinska that costumed Ballanchine’s ballets solved this problem. She invented so-called powder puff tutu that had looser appearance than a stiff pancake tutu. Her newly designed tutu was self supporting and did not require the wired hoop anymore.
It seemed such a simple idea to create special shoes for ballet dancing that would be lightweight and give the appearance of dancing barefoot. However, it took centuries to implement the whole concept before ballet slippers (or ballet shoes) began to look the way we know it now.
Ballet slippers usually come in four colors: pink, black, gray or white and made from satin, canvas or leather with flexible thin soles. People who just start to learn about the ballet dancing usually confuse them with pointe shoes, which have their own place in the history of ballet as we know it.
Male ballet dancers almost always wear ballet shoes, which is understandable, because they practically don’t dance en pointe. Young ballerinas always start with ballet slippers as their young bones and muscles are not strong enough for more for more sophisticated type of footware. It takes them not less than five years and lot of training before they can wear both types.
An experienced French ballet dancer Charles Didelot had a steady position of an instructor in dance at the Swedish Opera in the 18th century. His son, future famous dancer and choreographer Charles-Louis Didelot was born right here in Stockholm in 1786, and during his adolescence years studied dance with his father.
Young Charles was definitely very gifted and talented dancer, that is why when he was 19 years old he debuted in 1786 in Royal Swedish Ballet theater called Bollhuset.
He did not spend much time there though, because he needed to hone and polish his dancing skills. So he moved to Paris where he studied with Jean Dauberval, the Ballet Master and creator of famous ballet La Fille mal gardée.
Charles was lucky enough to have as his next teacher Jean-Georges Noverres, who revolutionized dancing with the invention of the ballet d’action. Under the lead of the great master Charles Didelot debuted in London in 1788.
His fame spread all over Europe and that is why the director of the Imperial Theatres in Saint Petersburg invited Charles to work there as the first dancer in 1801. Charles started strong there and was on top of the world for almost five years when the bad luck entered his life.
His beautiful wife Rose was a brilliant ballerina but, unfortunately, she died young in St. Petersburg during the height of her career. And soon after Didelot’s career as a dancer ended too because of the accident.
In spite of all this misfortune Charles did not give up. He switched to teaching French style of ballet dancing and became an influential figure over the development of European and Russian ballet. In fact, he is considered to be the “Father of the Russian Ballet“. He did this successfully till the end of his life when he died in 1837 in the city of Kiev.
Ballet is a highly technical form of dance with its origins in the Italian Renaissance court, where it emerged in the late 15th century as a dance interpretation of fencing.
Later ballet was developed into a very complicated dance works with mime, acting and other components that are set to music. Ballet has graceful, flowing and very precise movements with almost ethereal qualities.