The Art of Ballet is Mark Edward Perugini’s history of dance as a theatrical art, tracing the development of ballet from its courtly origins through its flowering on the European stage. The book follows the great choreographers, dancers, and works that shaped the form.
Perugini covers the evolution of technique, costume, and staging, the role of music in dance, and the celebrated ballerinas and companies of the past. Written for the cultivated reader, it sets ballet within the wider story of the performing arts. As an early English-language history of the form, it offers an informative and affectionate account of the art of dance and its long tradition.