Anyone who has danced for an extended number of years has heard the age-old mantra about ballet: that it is the “foundation of all dance.” Youngsters that have complained to their dance teachers about their disinterest in ballet have had this drilled into them. The idea that ballet is crucially supplemental to other dance genres is common knowledge to dancers around the world. It is information that is rarely questioned or scrutinized. But if we study the origins of ballet, we can see that it perhaps isn’t as universalized as it’s thought to be. The benefits of ballet technique cannot and should not be divorced from its problematic founding ideals that still influence dancers today.
Read More