History of The Position
Especially during the early centuries of ballet troupes and ballet companies from the 18th century until the early 20th century, the position of First Ballet master, referred to traditionally as the Premier Maître de ballet en Chef or more simply as the Maître de ballet, was the undisputed head of the company who acted as chief choreographer and Artistic Director. His duties included creating ballets, dances in operas, commissioning music, and presiding over the teaching of the dancers and style desired. It was this head ballet master who had the responsibility of the artistic directorship of a particular group of dancers or of a theatre.
After the early 20th century, primarily after the disbandment of the original Ballets Russes, the title has been used more to describe the master teachers/assistant directors of a ballet company, (previously known as Second Ballet master), with the head of a company being referred to as the Artistic Director.
Read more about this topic: Ballet Master
Famous quotes containing the words history of, history and/or position:
“So in accepting the leading of the sentiments, it is not what we believe concerning the immortality of the soul, or the like, but the universal impulse to believe, that is the material circumstance, and is the principal fact in this history of the globe.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“To place oneself in the position of God is painful: being God is equivalent to being tortured. For being God means that one is in harmony with all that is, including the worst. The existence of the worst evils is unimaginable unless God willed them.”
—Georges Bataille (1897–1962)