French ballet

== ballet The "École Française" (French school of ballet, French style), is characterized by an emphasis on precision, elegance, and sobriety.

Mega-star dancer & choreographer Rudolf Nureyev choreographed re-worked versions of the great academic classic ballets (such as "La Bayadère", "Swan Lake", "Romeo and Juliet", "Raymonda", "Cinderella", "The Sleeping Beauty"), and directed the Paris Opera Ballet. His artistic direction was extremely strong, and he formed and named a whole generation of young principals ("Étoiles"), called the Nureyev Babies. (Manuel Legris, Laurent Hilaire, Kader Belarbi, Isabelle Guerin, Elisabeth Maurin, amongst others). Since that time the French school has turned into the Nureyev school, with his very idiosyncratic style, based on all the steps that Nureyev himself excelled at. Great speed and quantity of steps, necessitating the music to be played slower are characteristic of this style. This influence lasts from the 1980s to the 2000s, when it is just starting to wane, as the Nureyev Babies retire. Louis XIV opened the first ballet school in 1661 in France, when, at the time, ballet dancing was restricted to men. (citation)

See also

• Choreography

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