Corps de ballet

The corps de ballet is the ensemble of dancers in a ballet company who perform group sections, usually alongside or behind principal and soloist dancers.

Ballet company: An organization that trains and employs dancers to perform ballet productions. The corps de ballet forms the ensemble tier within this performing organization.
Corps de ballet synchrony: The coordinated timing and movement that make an ensemble appear to act as one. Synchrony is the defining technical demand of corps performance.
The Kingdom of the Shades: A scene in Act III of La Bayadère featuring a procession of ballerinas descending in repeated arabesque patterns. Its repeated ensemble entrance is a celebrated test of corps precision.
Marius Petipa: A French ballet dancer and choreographer who shaped classical ballet in nineteenth-century Russia. Petipa's grand ballets established large-scale corps scenes as structural and visual anchors.
Principal dancer: A leading dancer entrusted with major roles in a ballet company. Principal dancers carry featured roles while the corps performs larger group sections.
Ballet formation: The arrangement of dancers onstage in patterns designed for choreographic and visual effect. Formations let the corps create geometric patterns and frame featured dancers.
The Nutcracker: A two-act ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, first performed in 1892. Its divertissements give the corps varied national and character dances.
George Balanchine: A Russian-American ballet choreographer and co-founder of New York City Ballet. Balanchine expanded the corps's choreographic role beyond decorative support.
Soloist: A dancer who performs featured roles between the corps and principal ranks in many ballet companies. Soloists occupy the intermediate rank between ensemble work and principal roles.
Ballet rehearsal: The practice process through which dancers learn, refine, and coordinate a ballet performance. Repeated rehearsal aligns the corps's spacing, timing, and movement quality.

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