Ballet is a beautiful form of dance that has captivated audiences for many years. Typically performed in a theatre, ballet is a powerful art that combines beauty and grace to tell a story. Ballet dancers must work very hard for many years to become good enough to perform in a professional ballet company, but this doesn't stop many little girls from dreaming that they can become the next prima ballerina.

Contrary to belief, ballet as a dance form originated in Italy during the Renaissance period of the 1400s. Most people associate ballet with France owing to the fact that ballet steps have predominantly French names, such as the plie. France is where ballet as a dance form was developed and the first ballet company 'The Queen's Ballet Company' came up in France.

As the years passed the beautiful dances began to be performed in gorgeous and complicated costumes, and intricate sets and props were introduced. Royalty fell in love with the ballet as it became more popular. The costumes became more elaborate and within a few hundred years dancing on toes began. Since there were no block toe shoes yet, the dancers could only hold a pose for a few seconds at a time.

La Sylphide is credited with introducing the romantic style of ballet in the 1800s. This style used the toe dancing technique extensively and brought about many changes to ballet. However, to answer the question posed by many, the traditional tutu came from the ballet Giselle where the tutu was worn by all the ghostly spirits.

Women were the feature of the romantic ballet, and ballerinas were even coming out of the United States. During this time ballet was also very popular in Russia and Denmark. However, in France the ballet was seeing a decline. Throughout this time ballet was seen as being very other worldly, with the ballet steps being very mythical and not resembling the way a human would move.

The shift from mythical steps to a more reasonable style that could be co-related to human movements came about in the twentieth century. This was because of the many different styles of dance that were becoming increasingly popular. The change that started in the twentieth century continues to transform ballet even today where it incorporates different styles of dance.

One of the first instances of this was in 1944 when the Fancy Free was introduced. This revolutionary dance combined jazz dance and ballet steps. It was an immediate hit.

Today many more modern ballets are being performed, while at the same time audiences still love the classical and romantic forms. All of these styles are still taught and performed as ballet is immensely popular. People are constantly impressed at the variety and complexity of movements that humans are capable of. Even though most of us will never be able to perform these moves, we can marvel and dream when we see ballet on stage.

About the author: Nadya Petronas is the chief editor for Ballet @, the #1 source on the internet when you are searching for the latest knowledge, accurate up to date advice and commentary to do with Ballet, For questions or comments about this article visit: http://www.balletat.com/articles
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