UNESCO has designated the birthday of French dancer and choreographer Georges Noverre as a World Dance Day.

World Dance Day aims to shine the spotlight on ballet and dance. Classical ballet is still the basis for some forms of modern dance today.

Georges Noverre (1727 – 1810) decisively modernized and further developed the ballet of his time. He wanted to reform courtly ballet, which had become a sequence of conventional dance steps and was also used in operas merely as a decorative element.

His idea was to make dance tell a story that could be understood by everyone. Revolutionary in his time.

He spoke out in favor of new costumes that gave the body more freedom and considered the masks and wigs dancers had worn until then to be superfluous.

His extensive publications on dance, which first appeared in printed form in Stuttgart in 1760, are regarded as an important foundation for modern dance as we still see it on stage today.

Noverre, who counted Voltaire, Mozart and Frederick the Great among his friends, was active in Paris, Dresden, Strasbourg and Vienna, among other places, and died impoverished as a result of the French Revolution in France.

The Sun King dances

The ballet has much to thank the French King Louis XIV for. He loved dance and is said to have participated in choreographies himself. He created the first ballet company, the “Akademie Royal de la Dance” and appointed Pierre Beauchamp as director, who developed the five ballet positions still practiced today and created the French ballet style.

Louis XIV later founded the Ballet de l’Opera des Paris, also with Pierre Beauchamp at the helm. And this place is still the dream destination of many hopeful, ambitious ballet elves today.

If you want to get an impression of the training at the Paris Opera Ballet Boarding School, you can watch the young enthusiastic boys and girls in an ARTE documentary entitled “The best ballet school in the world“.

However, you should not plan anything else for this evening. Accompanying the ambitious, likeable ballet students in their training over several years, watching them talk about dance and experiencing their enthusiasm for the strict school in the film immediately makes you want to watch the next episodes of the documentary.

But what’s not to like about cozying up in front of the screen with a nice bottle of Bordeaux or a white wine from the Loire and being inspired by the international ballet students and their dance development?

“City Dance is the best part of my day”

This quote is not from a ballet teacher from Paris but from a student whose school participates in a Boston Ballet (City Dance) program. For many years, Boston Ballet has been working with schools in the City of Boston and children whose parents are not usually part of the typical ballet audience.

The encounter with dancers, the first dance steps and the experience of expressing themselves through dance is an invaluable experience for the students. An experience that can open many other doors that might otherwise have remained closed.

The investments in dance projects of this kind that exist worldwide are comparatively small. In the townships of South Africa, a church room, a choreographer and music are often enough.

Dance has many facets, from classical ballet and modern dance to dance performance, the modern version of expressive dance.

Interestingly, the dancer and choreographer William Forsythe, appreciated worldwide, has also returned to classical ballet for his works, which at first glance appear to be the greatest possible break with classical dance discipline, which can be fascinating in good quality and with modern choreography, but at the same time is very rare.

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Anyone who has the chance to see outstanding dance works, sometimes also available digitally, will understand why William Forsythe says “Isn’t ballet delightful?“

Dance for all

Have you ever stood at the ballet barre? If not, no problem. It’s never too late to start ballet training. Courses such as those offered by the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company for all age groups and also suitable for absolute beginners are available in many cities.

The first experience of studying the classical steps with like-minded people is pure joy. The movements are unusual for any layperson, which is precisely why they are so attractive.

You may not become a second Rudolf Nureyev or Carlos Acosta, but the immediately noticeable elegance of ballet training and the joy of a first little choreography are indescribable.

Still not convinced? In the following video you can see the Royal Ballet from London at the morning class. Watch out for the ballet mistress.

Cover photo © Alamy Stock Photo | Photography © GloriousMe