Coppelia essays

Coppelia essays Some ballets get better with age. The romantic ballet Coppelia has an inbuilt scope for innovation. It remains fresh because of the wonderful music, clever, sometimes sublime choreography, the strong narrative, and the infinite variety of dolls that can be introduced into doctor Coppelius workshop in the second act. The costumes, sets and character development of Swanhilda, Franz The roots of classical ballet go back to renaissance Europe (1300-1600) in the palaces of Italian princes and dukes. Court Ballets (Ballet De Cour) were presented during elaborate banquets, festivities and celebrations. Steps and movements were based on social dances of the day and were more elegant versions of folk and peasant dances. This can be seen in the third Act with Arthur Saint Leon (the original choreographer) including an adapted version of a csardas a Hungarian folk dance, into the ballet. These court ballets usually ended with performers and audience members dancing together. Ballet started as relaxed social celebrations and then became more professional and distant from their audience. But during the first half of the 19th century romanticism swept across Europe and changed the world of ballet forever. The romantic period came about during the industrial revolution for people to escape the harsh realities of life. People suffered badly during the wars and therefore t he romantic period offered color, fantasy, fairytales and folk legends for society to follow. "Coppelia" was developed in 1870, at the height of the Franco-Prussian war. It was the last new ballet presented, before the closure of the Opera in the siege of Paris. Hence, it was developed to reflect the rising tide of French nationalism. It was a ballet for the people, of the people. As such, it borrowed...