In the French courts during the 17th Century, ballet first begins to flourish with the help of several important men: King Louis XIV, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Pierre Beauchamps, and Molière. The combination of different talents and passions of these four men shaped ballet to what it is today.
Famous quotes containing the words french, ballet and/or dancers:
“It was not reason that besieged Troy; it was not reason that sent forth the Saracen from the desert to conquer the world; that inspired the crusades; that instituted the monastic orders; it was not reason that produced the Jesuits; above all, it was not reason that created the French Revolution. Man is only great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)
“Anyone who has a child today should train him to be either a physicist or a ballet dancer. Then he’ll escape.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“I am for those who believe in loose delights, I share the midnight orgies of young men,
I dance with the dancers and drink with the drinkers.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)