Character dance

Character dance is the stage form of folk and national dances within classical ballet, including Hungarian csárdás, Polish mazurka, Italian tarantella and Spanish and Russian dances, adapted in movement and music for the theatre. Famous examples are the national dances of the third act of Swan Lake and the Spanish numbers in Don Quixote. Dancers wear character shoes with a small heel.

At the Imperial Theatre School in St Petersburg, Alexander Shiryaev, an assistant to Marius Petipa, opened the first character class in 1891, and character dance became a codified part of ballet training. It is still taught at the Vaganova Academy and appears in the syllabi of schools such as the Royal Ballet School and the Royal Academy of Dance.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Character dance
• Wikipedia: Alexander Shiryaev
• Dance Advantage: Character dance

Organisations connected with this dance

• Vaganova Ballet Academy
• Royal Academy of Dance (RAD)
• Mariinsky Theatre (Mariinsky Ballet)
• The Royal Ballet School

Listed as references; being listed is not an endorsement by or of the organisation.

Back to ←