Ballet

Ballet /ˈbæleɪ/ (French: [balɛ]) is a type of performance dance that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary based on French terminology. It has been globally influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres. Becoming a ballet dancer requires years of training. Ballet has been taught in various schools around the world, which have historically incorporated their own cultures to evolve the art.

Ballet may also refer to a ballet dance work, which consists of the choreography and music for a ballet production. A well-known example of this is The Nutcracker, a two-act ballet that was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a music score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained artists. Many classical ballets are performed with classical music accompaniment and use elaborate costumes and staging, though there are exceptions to this. Most notably, American choreographer George Balanchine is known for his plotless neoclassical ballets which are often performed in simple leotards and tights without scenery.

Ballet (music)

Ballet as a music form progressed from simply a complement to dance, to a concrete compositional form that often had as much value as the dance that went along with it. The dance form, originating in France during the 17th century, began as a theatrical dance. It was not until the 19th century that ballet gained status as a “classical” form. In ballet, the terms ‘classical’ and ‘romantic’ are chronologically reversed from musical usage. Thus, the 19th century classical period in ballet coincided with the 19th century Romantic era in Music. Ballet music composers from the 17th–19th centuries, including the likes of Jean-Baptiste Lully and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, were predominantly in France and Russia. Yet with the increased international notoriety seen in Tchaikovsky’s lifetime, ballet music composition and ballet in general spread across the western world.

History

Until about the second half of the 19th century the role of music in ballet was secondary, with the main emphasis on dance, while music was simply a compilation of danceable tunes. Writing "ballet music" used to be a job for musical craftsmen, rather than for masters. For example, critics of the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky mentioned his writing of ballet music as something demeaning.

I Created Disco

I Created Disco is the debut studio album by Scottish recording artist Calvin Harris, released on 15 June 2007 by Columbia Records. It was preceded by the singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls", which reached numbers ten and three on the UK Singles Chart, respectively.

The album debuted at number eight on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 16,121 copies. On 23 May 2008, it was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).I Created Disco had sold 223,845 copies in the United Kingdom by November 2014.

Writing and recording

Writing and recording for I Created Disco started in 2006 when Harris moved back to his hometown of Dumfries, Scotland, after living in London for two years. All recording and producing for the album took place on an Amiga computer with audio tracker OctaMED in Harris's home studio, called Calvinharrisbeats Studio. All fourteen tracks on the album were written, produced and performed solely by Harris.

Promotion

Preceding the release of the album, Columbia released two singles, "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls", and Harris and his band supported both Faithless and Groove Armada on their live arena tours in the second quarter of 2007. The album cover was also used to promote the fourth generation iPod Nano in yellow.

Vegas (Vegas album)

Vegas is a one-off collaborative album between British solo-artist Terry Hall - formerly of the 2 Tone and ska revival band The Specials - with Dave Stewart formerly of Eurythmics. The duo working with Eurythmics assistants engineer and drummer Olle Romo and engineer Manu Guiot recorded under the group name Vegas. Vegas includes the singles "Possessed", "She" and "Walk into the Wind". Of the three only "Possessed" charted in the UK Top 40. Receiving positive reviews the album was released on CD, Cassette and vinyl LP by the major record label RCA/BMG in October 1992, but failed to chart. The album has since been deleted.

The album was written by Hall and Stewart with the exception of the musical standard "She". No performer credits are provided, Allmusic speculates that Vegas is almost certainly a Dave Stewart production. Dave Stewart likely was responsible for the lion's share of the musical backing with assistance from Romo and Guiot and Hall contributing his vocal.

Following the album's commercial failure the group split. Hall subsequently launched a solo-career, releasing Home in 1994. Stewart also returned to solo-work, releasing Greetings from the Gutter in 1994. The pair re-united in 1997 to support Bob Dylan during his Never Ending Tour for a pair of concerts in Japan.

Vegas (song)

"Vegas" is the fourth single by English Britpop band Sleeper, written by the band's vocalist and guitarist Louise Wener. It was the fourth and final single to be released from their debut album Smart in March 1994 (see 1994 in British music). The single peaked at #33 on the UK Singles Chart.

The single version, also used in the video, is a completely re-recorded version of the song originally featured on the album. This version features saxophone credited to Morgan C. Hoax- an anagram of Graham Coxon from Blur who recorded his contribution after Sleeper supported Blur on tour.

Track listing

Personnel