| Right from the beginning, ballet and music | | | | to the works of classical composers such as |
| have been uniquely intertwined. Without music | | | | Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi, Chopin, Brahms, and |
| ballet is nothing more than the empty motions | | | | Handel to perform the art of ballet dancing |
| of a ritual. Without the movement and rhythm | | | | too. |
| of dance, music looses all vitality. And so, | | | | |
| ballet as a doorway to human expression | | | | Many agree that ballet owes its very |
| hinges on both music and dance. | | | | existence to the likes of those who are both |
| | | | composers and choreographers. Because being |
| Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), the | | | | musicians in nature, they naturally pay close |
| Italian-born French composer who founded the | | | | attention to ballet following the rhythmic |
| national French opera was not just a court | | | | structure of its accompaniment precisely. One |
| composer to Louis XIV, but also a | | | | who does not understand music can easily |
| choreographer who produced court ballets for | | | | create ballet that looks good that in of |
| Molière's plays. This probably explains why | | | | itself, yet at the mercy of a great classical |
| his productions never lacked an | | | | piece the novice falls short of expressing |
| accompaniment. However, theatre productions | | | | the true nature of the piece. Instead, they |
| of the eighteenth century turned composers | | | | turn the production into a form of movement |
| away from ballet and toward the music of | | | | that is devoid of both art and beauty. The |
| ballroom dancing. | | | | experts instead know when it is appropriate |
| | | | to go against the grain of the accompaniment |
| This phase sustained its self straight | | | | to heighten those dramatic periods which |
| through the nineteenth century with the | | | | capture their audience's attention and leaves |
| exception of pieces by Russian classical | | | | them breathless. |
| composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) | | | | |
| which include the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and | | | | As we dawn a new era of music and dance, it's |
| Sleeping Beauty. | | | | undeniable that ballet will continue to |
| | | | change. However, just as music and dance have |
| In the twentieth century however, ballet came | | | | always been the best of friends, ballet will |
| back to the spotlight. Once again considered | | | | continue to find its new identity in the |
| a respectable art form, choreographers looked | | | | constantly changing music of today. |