The Art of Ballet

Before ballet became the ethereal art form we recognize tonight, it was a political tool, a royal amusement, a language of power spoken in the courts of Versailles and Whitehall. Mark Edward Perugini traces this magnificent transformation in a work written when the art form still carried the ghosts of its origins. He follows ballet from its codification under Louis XIV through its transplanting to English soil, illuminating the figures and innovations that shaped its evolution from aristocratic spectacle to theatrical art. The book captures a pivotal moment in dance history, preserving details and perspectives that risk vanishing as living memory fades. For dancers, choreographers, and anyone curious about how art forms develop their grammar and glamour, this remains a vital portal to ballet's tangled roots.