In ballet, the corps de ballet (from French, body of the ballet) is the group of dancers who are not soloists. They are a permanent part of the ballet company and often work as a backdrop for the principal dancers. A corps de ballet works as one, with synchronized movements and corresponding positioning on the stage. Specific roles are sometimes made for the corps de ballet, such as the Snow Corps de Ballet and the Flower corps in Nutcracker.
See also: BallerinaFamous quotes containing the words corps and/or ballet:
“The Washington press corps thinks that Julie Nixon Eisenhower is the only member of the Nixon Administration who has any credibility—and, as one journalist put it, this is not to say that anyone believes what she is saying but simply that people believe she believes what she is saying ... it is almost as if she is the only woman in America over the age of twenty who still thinks her father is exactly what she thought he was when she was six.”
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—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)