How Louis XIV Affected Dance Culture Essay

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How Louis XIV Affected Dance Culture (contd.)

It is instructive to note that Louis was a goal-getter. He was a man who knew what he needed at different phases of his kingship and knew the right strategies to use in getting them. As stated above, having had a taste of rebellion from the Frondes, and learnt an unforgettable political lesson, which made him stronger and wiser. He knew he had to stamp his authority and strip the nobles of their sense of entitlement to the throne and aggrandizement. That he did by forming his own army loyal to him, and also declared to as many that cared to listen saying "I am the state." He did not stop at that; he was determined to maintain his relevance and was always on guard to avoid being caught unawares. Louis would practice for several hours with Pierre Beauchamp. The continuous practice, beyond dancing, was more of a way of asserting his authority.

Louis XIV was a man who loved perfection and would encourage that also in people around him. He ensured that the nobles' presence and performance at the theatre were on merit and not by sheer virtue of prominent status. After evaluating their skills, Louis affirmed that only a few nobles were qualified to dance in his court. He would not condone people's lackadaisical attitude toward dancing because to him, dance was not just a mere movement of the body, it was a fundamental identity of the French people, and that he was always ready to uphold. He made sure that all choreographies performed at the court were well-rehearsed beforehand. Ballet, as a result of Louis’ reformation, became “a very disciplined, structured, and precise dance genre” (English p.217). The king’s foresight in creating the first dance notation afford today’s generation of dancers the opportunity of tracing the origin and transformation of many dance steps that are in the system. As noted by Hilton (9), the study of choreography can always be tracked to the emergence of dance notation in the French court.

The Reformation brought about the hierarchical system in dance structure. As a social model in France, the dancers were categorized and ranked according to “order of social precedence,” people with higher social status danced first before others could take their turn (Hilton p 11). This hierarchical procedure is still being strictly followed in the modern-day Ballet dance according to dancers' level of professionalism which is "from ballerinas and soloists, down to the corps de ballet, interns, and often, a second-tier dance company" (English p. 310). The structure is one of the factors that distinguish Ballet from other dance styles. It is not only shown in the artistic performance, but it is also, even more, reflective in the organization of dance companies. The codified and regulated framework makes the companies more demanding and requires that they are meticulously set up following a globally-accepted standard.

Deservedly, many renowned historians alluded that Louis XIV was one of the greatest accomplished men ever lived. However, his exploits in the expansion of French culture cannot be discussed holistically without delving into other areas of his life that made him an exemplary leader. Louis was not just a great dancer; he was also a prudent manager and a great planner. Before he rose to power, the French economy was in bad shape, and the national treasury was on the verge of bankruptcy. Louis swiftly stepped into action and executed a plan to revive the economy. He brought in professionals and manufacturers from different parts of Europe and made France a hub of skill acquisition and manufacturing. This initiative made France self-sufficient, reduced importation and increased its foreign earnings.

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A few years after, Louis ingenuity stabilized the economy, and France became buoyant financially.

His calculative cleverness was also employed in warfare. Louis was a man who knew when to attack, to restrain and to retreat - a hallmark of a great dancer. In 1665, the War of Devolution was initiated by him against the Spanish Netherlands. The contest was an easy victory for him as the French army overran the Spanish Netherlands and thereby claiming the territory. However, Louis was forced to give back most of the claimed portion when “a Triple Alliance of England, Sweden, and the Dutch Republic” was formed against France (“France and Authoritarianism” https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/france-and-authoritarianism/ ). Before he retreated, his goal had already been achieved as he had succeeded in expanding the French territory. His ingenuity was also felt in the French legal system. Just like the theatre culture pre his era, the country’s law was also in a discordant state. The country’s law was filled with different types of criminal and civil legal frameworks in different parts of France. However, Louis worked to harmonize the judicial system by introducing a practicable legal reform called Code Louis. With the code, there was uniformity in the laws of the land and the system became very efficient. The enactment of the code, Klimaszewska (138) posited “marked a very significant reform of the law, which led France into a new era of codification in the domain of civil procedure.

Though the enormous responsibility bestowed on Louis XIV required that he kept affairs of the state in shape which he showed in various sectors such as the finance and legal reforms as discussed above. However, he never lost his focus on improving the dance culture. Louis continued to work with his advisers such as Pierre Beauchamp, Jean Baptiste Lully, and together they made a notable landmark in the Ballet history. Despite having a strong military force, Louis still would not solely rely on that. He wanted to portray the French kingdom to entire Europe as the epitome of culture and luxurious etiquette. His approach and importunity in pursuing that desire made him one of the most influential French past leaders. Most European countries, including those that were at war with France, had to admire Louis' style and could not resist the artistry revolution of his initiative which began from the neighboring countries and later spread across the continent. In a classy version, Louis won over the hearts of his enemies both home and abroad with the power of culture and dance. The impact made by him and his men was so iconic that even after long after their era, it was still difficult for the next generation of Ballet and theatre culture influencers to match their attainment. For instance, across the continent, there was an emergence of several useful notation systems, especially the Lorin and Favier systems, however, as good as those systems were, “none were quite as influential as the development of Beauchamp-Feuillet notation” (Rinehart p. 73). Despite many dance notation systems from England, Germany, Spain, and Portugal, even within France, most dancing masters and dance students from those European countries still widely use Beauchamp and Feuillet's works.

Louis had made a landmark in the traditional French dance that it became a national identity so much that the culture was continued by the next generation of performers after his retirement from dancing. His Courtiers had to retire with him, which left the kingdom in need of professional dancers….....

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