The historical dance in M. Petipa’s ballets

Abstract

The article uncovers the role and significance of the historical dance in the heritage and choreographic activity of Marius Petipa. In ballet sciences the name of M. Petipa is usually associated with the term “academic dance” and with the prosperity of the classical dance and the formation of its various stage forms. The author of the article offers to focus on the different aspect of the creative activity of M. Petipa, in particular – on his contribution in the development of other types of stage dance on the academic ballet stage, especially historical dance. The article contains examples of Petipa’s masterful works in the field of historical dance. They reflect his special approach which influenced all further history of this type of dance and showed the way to ballet masters how to stage it and to combine with other dance types. Petipa demonstrated the importance of applying of different forms of ballet plastics which enrich each performance and ballet art generally.