Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that answer the question.
Query: Where did ballet begin?
Ballet is a formalized form of dance with its origins in the Italian Renaissance courts of 15th and 16th centuries. Ballet spread from Italy to France with the help of Catherine de' Medici, where ballet developed even further under her aristocratic influence. An early example of Catherine's development of ballet is through 'Le Paradis d' Amour', a piece of work presented at her daughter's wedding, Marguerite de Valois to Henry of Navarre. Aristocratic money was responsible for the initial stages of development in 'court ballet', as it was royal money that dictated the ideas, literature and music used in ballets that were created to primarily entertain the aristocrats of the time. The first formal 'court ballet' ever recognized was staged in 1573, 'Ballet des Polonais'. In true form of royal entertainment, 'Ballet des Polonais' was commissioned by Catherine de' Medici to honor the Polish ambassadors who were visiting Paris upon the accession of Henry of Anjou to the throne of Poland. In 1581, Catherine de' Medici commissioned another court ballet, Ballet Comique de la Reine, however it was her compatriot, Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx, who organized the ballet. Catherine de' Medici and Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx were responsible for presenting the first court ballet ever to apply the principles of Baif's Academie, by integrating poetry, dance, music and set design to convey a unified dramatic storyline. Moreover, the early organization and development of 'court ballet' was funded by, influenced by and produced by the aristocrats of the time, fulfilling both their personal entertainment and political propaganda needs.
The music was recorded by the Ballet Theatre Orchestra on June 2, 1944, and conducted by Bernstein himself, except for the song "Big Stuff". "Big Stuff" was performed by Billie Holiday, who was also signed to Decca, along with a band composed of Joe Guy (trumpet), Joe Springer (piano), Tiny Grimes (guitar), Billy Taylor (bass), and Kelly Martin (drums). Bernstein had composed the song with Holiday in mind, to be played as a recording in the theatre before the ballet proper began. He knew Holiday from her Cafe Society days, but at the beginning of his career did not believe he was in a position to have her record his song, so originally in 1944 the song heard in the ballet was a recording made by his own sister, Shirley. But Holiday heard and liked the tune, and recorded it several times, with this recording made March 13, 1946.
Elo debuted as a choreographer in 2000 with “The View from Over Here” and “Blank Snow” (Alberta Ballet). After 2004 he has worked in the US and been a resident since 2010, although he also kept his home in the Netherlands. At the beginning he worked as a freelancer for a variety of dance companies, but in 2005 he was appointed the Resident Choreographer of Boston Ballet. In addition to Boston Ballet he has also worked with New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Royal Danish Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.
A notable feature of grand opera as it developed in Paris through the 1830s was the presence of a lavish ballet, to appear at or near the beginning of its second act. This was required, not for aesthetic reasons, but to satisfy the demands of the Opera's wealthy and aristocratic patrons, many of whom were more interested in the dancers themselves than in the opera, and did not want their regular meal-times disturbed. The ballet therefore became an important element in the social prestige of the Opéra. Composers who did not comply with this tradition might suffer as a consequence, as did Richard Wagner with his attempt to stage a revised "Tannhäuser" as a grand opera in Paris in 1861, which had to be withdrawn after three performances, partly because the ballet was in act 1.
Caniparoli was born in Renton, Washington to Francisco Caniparoli, a clothing manufacturer, and Leonora (Marconi) Caniparoli, who worked at Boeing. He attended Washington State University (WSU), where he studied music and theater. When the First Chamber Dance Company was touring Eastern Washington, they did performances at WSU, and offered worskhops in ballet. Caniparoli attended one and was told he had talent, and should audition at the San Francisco Ballet School. Thereafter he decided to pursue a career in ballet, and left WSU. He received a scholarship from the Ford Foundation that enabled him to attend the San Francisco Ballet School. Caniparoli performed with San Francisco Opera Ballet, and in 1973, just a year and a half into his studies, he was offered a contract with San Francisco Ballet. In his debut season, he worked under Co-Artistic Directors Lew Christensen and Michael Smuin, and later, under Helgi Tomasson.
After a few years in Washington, D.C., Franklin began a freelance career reviving and staging works around the United States and developed artistic associations with many ballet companies including Cincinnati Ballet where he was artistic director for two years and later Director Emeritus, Dance Theatre of Harlem where he became artistic advisor in 1989, Chicago Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, the Oakland Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and American Ballet Theatre.
The opportunity to join foreign ballet companies is a big incentive for numbers of the National Ballet of Cuba, where a top dancer's pay is about $30 a month. Today several American and British companies have former dancers from the National Ballet dance school among their principal dancers as "Lorna Feijoo" and her husband "Nelson Madrigal" who perform with the Boston Ballet, Lorna's sister is with the San Francisco Ballet, in the San Francisco Ballet where Cuban Jorge Esquivel is one of the ballet masters. In 2004 "Jose Manuel Carreno" was the first Cuban to win the Dance Magazine award for contributions to ballet since the prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso did in 1958.
In 2010 the company were asked to premier their new ballet Fidelio on September 11 in Bonn, Germany at the beginning of The Beethoven Festival, where they performed their Beethoven Opera inspired ballet to packed audiences accompanied by the 106-piece Beethoven Orchestra. The ballet was received with a positive reaction from both the audiences and critics alike.
After leaving the "Ballet Russe", Svetlova came to the United States to dance as a guest artist with the American Ballet Theatre in New York City. She then joined the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, where she appeared for seven seasons, beginning in 1943–44. In 1951 she danced with the New York City Opera Ballet as a featured soloist for one season. From 1944-1969 Svetlova led her own touring dance concert group.
The girls are beginning to realize that being a model is not only glittering when they are going to a classical ballet class and they do not know that the ballet lesson will prepare them for the next task, where the posture and the holding of the body are the most important thing.
In 1946, with the re-opening of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the ballet company was invited to become the resident company there. De Valois decided that a second company was needed to continue ballet performances at Sadler's Wells, and so the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet was formed, with John Field as artistic director. The Sadler's Wells company later relocated to Covent Garden, where it was incorporated into the Royal Ballet's charter in 1956, becoming The Royal Ballet Touring Company. After a number of years as a touring group, it returned to Sadler's Wells in 1976, becoming the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. In 1987, the Birmingham Hippodrome and Birmingham City Council invited Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet to re-locate to Birmingham. It did so in 1990 and changed its name to Birmingham Royal Ballet. Since the departure of the company, there has not been a resident ballet company at Sadler's Wells.
This is the list of ballets for the 2008 Winter season beginning Wednesday, January 2, and ending Sunday, February 24.
This is a list of ballets for the 2008 Winter tour, beginning at the Kennedy Center, Wednesday, February 27, through Sunday, March 2, and finishing at the London Coliseum, Wednesday, March 12, through Saturday, March 22.
This is the list of ballets for the 2008 Spring season, beginning with the gala, Tuesday, April 29, and ending Sunday, June 29.
In 1939, the company lost its link with the Old Vic theatre and, in 1940, Sadler's Wells theatre was bombed during World War II. These events forced the company to begin touring the country, becoming known as the Sadler's Wells Ballet. The company did return to Sadler's Wells theatre, where it stayed until 1946, when the company was invited to become the resident ballet company of the newly re-opened Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The company relocated to the opera house the same year in 1946, with their first production at the venue being Ninette de Valois' staging of "The Sleeping Beauty".
This is the list of ballets for the 2009 Winter tour to the Kennedy Center, beginning Wednesday, March 4, and ending Sunday, March 8th.
This is the list of ballets for the 2009 Fall tour to Bunkamura in Tokyo, beginning Thursday, October 8, and ending Monday, October 12th. 
The following season Minkus and Saint-Léon produced the ballet "Le Lys" ("The Lily"), based on a Chinese legend "Three Arrows". The ballet featured a score by Minkus that was derived from the composer's work on "La Source". The ballet premiered at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre on for the benefit performance of the ballerina Adèle Grantzow. In spite of his efforts, both "Le Lys" and the expanded "Le Poisson doré" proved to be catastrophic failures for Saint-Léon. In light of this the directorate of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres did not renew the Ballet Master's contract, and soon he re-located to Paris where he died in 1870.
She was keen on dance from an early age, beginning ballet at the age of four. At the age of 15, she moved with her parents to the United Kingdom, where she was enrolled in a boarding school. Yeoh later studied at the Royal Academy of Dance in London, majoring in ballet. However, a spinal injury prevented her from becoming a professional ballet dancer, and she transferred her attention to choreography and other arts. She later received a BA degree in Creative Arts with a minor in Drama.
She trained at the School of American Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet. At PNB she performed ballets by George Balanchine, Kent Stowell, Val Caniparoli and Michael Smuin. Drew joined Lines Ballet in San Francisco at age 17, where she was made principal dancer and had works created on her by Alonzo King. During her time with Lines Ballet she performed in works such as "Handel" and "Following the Subtle Current Upstream", both of which were choreographed by Alonzo King. In 2007 she moved to New York CIty to begin her freelance career, and market herself independently from a ballet company. During her time in New York City she had works made on her by Lar Lubovitch and Dwight Rhoden, whose Complexions Contemporary Ballet she danced with that year, performing William Forsythe’s "Herman Schmerman" with Desmond Richardson. In 2007 she formed independent dance duo Jacoby & Pronk with fellow Complexions Contemporary Ballet dancer Rubinald Pronk. The duo was featured on the cover of the August 2009 Dance Magazine. She has worked with many choreographers such as Mia Michaels, Edwaard Liang, and Emily Molnar. She has also performed as a principal guest artist with the Dutch National Ballet.
She graduated from the Bolshoi School in 1899 and joined the Bolshoi Ballet, where she was most admired as a character ballerina. She danced with the Diaghilev Ballet from its beginning in 1909, dancing major roles throughout the entire history of the Diaghilev Ballet. Fedorova continued to dance with the Bolshoi until 1917, dancing also with Diaghilev's and Anna Pavlova's companies. Her husband was , a Russian opera singer and opera director. After his death in 1922 she immediately went into exile in France, where she continued to dance ballet.
Godani developed his career as a choreographer creating original works for international companies such as: Royal Ballet Covent Garden, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Compañía Nacional de Danza, Nederlands Dans Theater, Royal Danish Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, Le Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse, Corpo di ballo del Teatro alla Scala, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Ballet de l’Opera national du Rhin, Finnish National Ballet, Semperoper Ballett, Sydney Dance Company, Israeli Opera Ballet & Suzanne Dellal Centre, Het Nationale Ballet, Aterballetto, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet.
Godani was appointed as Artistic Director and Choreographer of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company beginning with the 2015/2016 season.
Tchaikovsky made a selection of eight of the numbers from the ballet before the ballet's December 1892 première, forming "The Nutcracker Suite", Op. 71a, intended for concert performance. The suite was first performed, under the composer's direction, on 19 March 1892 at an assembly of the Saint Petersburg branch of the Musical Society. The suite became instantly popular, with almost every number encored at its premiere, while the complete ballet did not begin to achieve its great popularity until after the George Balanchine staging became a hit in New York City. The suite became very popular on the concert stage, and was excerpted in Disney's "Fantasia", with everything omitted prior to Sugar Plum Fairies. "The Nutcracker Suite" should not be mistaken for the complete ballet. The outline below represents the selection and sequence of the "Nutcracker Suite" culled by the composer.
Vladimir Yaroshenko (Russian: Владимир Ярошенко; born November 2, 1985 in Slavyansk-na-Kubani) – Polish-Russian ballet dancer in type danseur noble, first soloist with Yury Grigorovich's Ballet Theatre, Krasnodar, trained in classical Russian ballet school. Polish resident since 2007, engaged with Teatr Wielki, Warsaw, where since September 2010 is a first soloist of Polish National Ballet under direction of Krzysztof Pastor.
Yaroshenko, a son of Ludimla and Aleksandr Yaroshenko, was born in Slavyansk-na-Kubani in Krasnodar Krai on the Russian South. He takes up folk dance in children's dance company at the age of seven, and in 1998 begins his classical ballet training in Choreographic School in Krasnodar. As a 3ed grade student he takes over the part of the Mouse King in "The Nutcracker" by Yury Grigorovich in his Ballet Theatre, Krasnodar and takes part in theatre's shows ever since. In 2003, after graduating he gets his first professional contract with Ballet Theatre in Krasnodar, immediately as a soloist.
In 1856, both Selinder and Sophie Daguin lost their positions at the royal ballet. This has been pointed out as the beginning of a certain decay which affected the Royal Swedish Ballet during the second half of the 19th-century, when ballets where given much less space and often only allowed to be a complement of the opera plays. 
Toth founded several ballet schools throughout her career beginning with New England Ballet where she specialized her instruction using the Bournonville method. In 2002, Edra Toth began the Edra Toth Academy of Dance & Music in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire and Dover, New Hampshire.
He was also concertmaster of four major ballet companies—the Pennsylvania Ballet from Philadelphia, the New York City Center Ballet, the Harkness Ballet of New York and the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto where he did all of the solo work for Rudolf Nureyev.
Beginning her stage career in 1966, Crowther debuted with London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet), playing Clara, the lead role in the annual production of "The Nutcracker". At the time, she was training at Arts Educational Schools, London, where she studied from ages 10-17. She later went on to train at École Jacques Lecoq, Paris, where she focused primarily on mime and physical theatre. 