Dancing at the opera - dancers (as well as two singers and a few actresses) of the Paris Opéra, circa 1690-1700

 

In 1661 Louis XIV, a lover of ballet and an enthusiastic dancer himself, established the Académie Royale de Danse, intended to codify court and character dances and to certify dance teachers. The Opéra de Paris, still the primary opera and ballet company of France, was founded in 1669 by the king as the Académie d'Opéra, and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully; it was officially renamed the Académie Royale de Musique, but continued to be known more simply as the Opéra. The two institutions were closely related but never merged, and members of the dance academy were also associated with the Opéra. From 1671 until Lully's death, the dance academy was under the direction of the great dancing master Pierre Beauchamp, the man who codified ballet's five positions of the feet. Together, Lully and Beauchamp made theatrical ballet an important part of the Opéra's productions. The ballet of the time was merely an extension of the opera, having yet to evolve into an independent form of theatrical art, as baroque ballet would one day evolve into classical ballet.