History of ballet
Ballet originated in the Renaissance court as an outgrowth of court pageantry in Italy, where aristocratic weddings were lavish celebrations. Tutus, ballet slippers and pointe work were not yet used. The choreography was adapted from court dance steps. Performers dressed in fashions of the times. For women that meant formal gowns that covered their legs to the ankle. Early ballet was participatory, with the audience joining the dance towards the end.
Joffrey Ballet
In fall 1987 the Joffrey Ballet premiered a reconstructed version of Igor Stravinsky's seminal ballet "The Rite of Spring" in the city of Los Angeles. The original ballet debuted in 1913 in Paris, France and was choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. Dance experts Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer spent eighteen years gathering research on the original ballet in order to properly reconstruct it. Eighty percent of the original costumes were located and reconstructed for the performance, and Hodson and Archer were able to consult with Nijinsky's rehearsal assistant Marie Rambert on the original choreography, before her death in 1982.