Why?!

So why was ballet started and why do is it still danced today?

Why Start?

It was used in the 1500s to entertain King Louis from France and was one of the most popular forms of dance ever since.

During the Renaissance, people developed a great interest in art and learning. At the same time, trade and commerce expanded rapidly, and the dukes who ruled Florence and other Italian city-states grew in wealth. The dukes did much to promote the arts. The Italian city-states became rival art centres as well as competing commercial centres.

The Italian dukes competed with one another in giving costly, fancy entertainments that included dance performances. The dancers were not professionals. They were noblemen and noblewomen of a duke's court who danced to please their ruler and to stir the admiration and envy of his rivals.

Catherine de Medicis, a member of the ruling family of Florence, became the queen of France in 1547. Catherine introduced into the French court the same kind of entertainments that she had known in Italy. They were staged by Balthazar de Beaujoyeulx, a gifted musician. Beaujoyeulx had come from Italy to be Catherine's chief musician.

Why Continued?

Today Ballet is still danced by people of all ages.
Children start when they are young as their parents want to give them fitness, grace and posture.
If the dancer continues from start (about 4 years old) to teens the dancing gets much more difficult and turns into a serious hobbie.
It is great fitness as you need alot of stamina and it uses all the muscles in the body. You gain flexibility and strength but also poise for when your older. You also gain a broader sense of music and how to dance to all kinds of different music.