Lyrical ballet

Lyrical ballet is an offshoot of the now-obsolete Russian Lyrical (Soviet Ballroom Dances) It is a lilting style of dance that uses the ballet technique along with the soviet ballroom dance forms. The word lyrical here refers to a lilting, poetic feel associated with the movements and the steps flow from the one to the next. It belongs to the genre of classcal/folk dances.

History

The origins of the Lyrical Ballet lie in the Soviet ballroom dances, the Russian Lyrical dance in particular. The Russian Lyrical dance was a progressive dance based on Russian folk tunes with a soft & smooth character, danced at medium tempo in 2/4 or 4/4 time. Today, the nomenclature 'Russian Lyrical' has lost its relevance but the dance-form remains and continues to flourish under the name of Lyrical Ballet.

Form and Technique

The technique adopted is that of ballet abiding by the rules of turnout and body alignment to which is incorporated the different soviet ballroom dance steps. A distinguishing feature of Lyrical ballet as opposed to Lyrical dance is that it does not make any departure from the classical style and takes no liberties with its rigid structure. So it is unlikely that one finds the turning-in of legs or finger-gestures that is common in jazz dance choreography.

Costume

The costume of this dance is a flaired skirt (preferably knee length between the long ball-gowns and the short tutu) allowing free flow of movement between the legs.