XPost: alt.arts.ballet, alt.answers 
 From: twp@panix.com 
  
 Archive-name: dance/ballet-modern-faq/part2 
 Posting-frequency: bimonthly 
 Last-modified: Jul. 8, 2002 
  
 ================================ 
 Part 2 of seven parts 
 ================================ 
  
     Copyright (c) 1995-2002 by Thomas Parsons; all rights reserved. 
     This FAQ may be posted to any USENET newsgroup, on-line service, BBS, 
     or Web page, provided it is posted in its entirety, including this 
     copyright statement, EXCEPT that this FAQ may not be posted to any Web 
     page where such posting may result in assignment of copyright.  This 
     FAQ may not be distributed in part or in full for financial gain.  No 
     portion of this FAQ may be included in commercial collections or 
     compilations without express permission from the author. 
  
 ================ 
  
 Contents: 
  
 PART 2: GENERAL QUESTIONS ABOUT BALLET AND MODERN DANCE 
  
     2.1. What is ballet? 
     2.2. What is modern dance? 
     2.3. What is a ballet class like? 
     2.4. What is a barre? 
     2.5. Why do dancers take so many classes? 
     2.6. Why do dancers wear such funny shoes? 
     2.7. Do women really dance on their toes?  Why? 
     2.8. Why don't men dance on pointe? 
     2.9. Why do dancers stand with their feet turned out? 
     2.10. What is a tutu...and why do they call it that? 
     2.11. What are all these "positions?" 
     2.12. What is "placement?" 
     2.13. Why all that French? 
     2.14. If a female dancer is called a ballerina, what is a male dancer 
     called? 
     2.15. What is a "Prima Ballerina Assoluta"? 
     2.16. What are: a choreographer, a regisseur, a repetiteur, a ballet 
     master, and an artistic director? 
     2.17. What are the most popular ballets? 
     2.18. Where can I find books about dance? 
     2.19. Where can I find dance-related gifts? 
     2.20. Where can I find dance videos? 
     2.21. Where can I find dance-related clipart? 
     2.22. Where can I find recorded music for ballet? 
  
 ================ 
  
 2. General questions about ballet and modern dance 
  
  The entries in this section and the next are largely for beginners 
 and non-dancers.  They may not all be "frequently asked" on the Net, but 
 they are certainly frequently asked, or wondered about, by beginners in 
 class or by people who go to ballet or modern dance performances. 
  
  Note: Ballet terminology is largely French (see question 2.11), and 
 since the 7-bit ASCII code does not include accented characters, we are 
 resorting to printing the accent just before its vowel; thus assembl'e, 
 encha^inement, terre-`a-terre.  It looks strange, but omission of the 
 accents looks stranger and may sometimes lead to confusion.  (If you put 
 the accent after the vowel, then a plural like assemble's looks like a 
 possessive.) 
  
  
 2.1. What is ballet? 
  
  There are many definitions; here's one of the earliest:  Ballet is 
 "the geometrical groupings of people dancing together, accompanied by the 
 varied harmony of several instruments" (Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx, writing 
 in 1582).  This definition omits one feature commonly associated with 
 ballets: they tend to tell stories.  (Beaujoyeulx's own ballet told a 
 story.)  On the other hand, many modern ballets--for example, many of 
 Balanchine's--have no explicit plot.  So we might also say, ballet is 
 dancing done as a theatrical performance--as an art, in fact--frequently 
 telling a story, and drawing on a tradition of expressive movements dating 
 back to Beaujoyeulx and probably earlier. 
  
  Ballet normally consists only of dancing and music.  But a few 
 ballets have been choreographed for performance without music, and some 
 ballets have included singing or recitation.  Beaujoyeulx's ballet called 
 for speeches from some of the characters, and the ballets of Jean-Philippe 
 Rameau (1683-1764), called "ballets" on the title-pages of their scores, 
 are actually opera-ballets.  But normally it is expected that any story 
 incorporated in a ballet will be conveyed by dance and mime alone. 
  
  An answer along different lines might be that ballet is the foun- 
 dation of all of Western theatrical dance.  People aspiring to be modern 
 dancers or to be dancers in show business are frequently advised to start 
 with ballet before specializing in these other forms.  Many people in the 
 rec.arts.dance group also report that a grounding in ballet makes you a 
 better ballroom dancer. 
  
  
 2.2. What is modern dance? 
  
  Modern dance (sometimes just "modern" for short and also called 
 "contemporary" in Britain and on the Continent) is the name given to a 
 dance tradition that arose as a reaction to ballet.  It may have started 
 as a rebellion against the formalism and conventions of ballet, but it was 
 probably also a reaction to the sorry state of Western European ballet in 
 the late 19th century (see question 4.8.4).  It also arose out of a desire 
 to express things and feelings that were thought appropriate to the new 
 century, things that, it was felt, the traditional ballet vocabulary 
 couldn't express.  It rejected many of the conventions of ballet--turnout, 
 pointed feet, the stated positions, the attempt to defy gravity with leaps 
 and other steps of elevation, dancing on pointe, the use of ballet shoes, 
 and so on. 
  
  The two styles have borrowed from each other to the point that the 
 lines between them are becoming blurred.  For a discussion of whether there 
 is or still ought to be a distinction between ballet and modern dance at 
 this late date, see the file modern-vs-ballet.txt or scan the archived 
 material in the ballet-modern directory, both in the Dancers' Archive.  Tom 
 Parke , posting in rec.arts.dance, offered the following 
 definitions: 
  
  If the dancers are attempting to prove that gravity does not exist, 
      then it's ballet. 
  If the dancers are attempting to demonstrate that gravity does 
      exist and it's a bitch, then it's modern. 
  If the dancers are attempting to demonstrate that gravity does 
      exist but they'd rather die fighting it than give in to it, 
      then it's jazz. 
  
  
 2.3. What is a ballet class like? 
  
  A ballet class is a carefully graded sequence of exercises lasting, 
 typically, an hour and a half.  The work falls into three parts.  The first 
 part consists of stretching and warming-up exercises done with the support 
 of the barre (see question 2.4).  You may spend anywhere from forty minutes 
 to an hour at the barre.  Then you move to the center of the studio to 
 work without support.  The second part of class, called _adage_, consists 
 of slow work in which the emphasis is on sustaining positions and on 
 balance.  The final part of class, allegro, consists of fast work, mostly 
 combinations (sequences of steps) with the big jumps and turns that make 
 ballet such an impressive and dazzling sight. 
  
  
 2.4. What is a barre? 
  
  The barre is a handrail, approximately waist-high, that dancers 
  
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