Classical » Ballet

While dance and music have been intertwined since their origins, the visual-corporeal-musical spectacle we call ballet has its origins in the 17th and 18th century French court. In its most common manifestations, ballet combines music and dance to tell a story. It was brought to perfection in the 19th century, peaking with France's Adolph Adam and Russia's Tchaikovsky. Stravinsky and Copland composed the most well-loved ballets of the 20th century, both representing the tradition of great ballet music arising as collaborations between composer and choreographer, such as that of John Cage and Merce Cunningham. For much of the 20th century new dance works were designated by the term "modern dance" rather than "ballet," and were more abstract in subject. Modern choreographers tend to draw eclectically on a variety of musical sources for their works. Meredith Monk is an inventive, contemporary creative figure whose works include both music and dance elements.