On Sunday, October 15, 1581, in the Louvre's Great Salle, Le Ballet Comique de la Reine was performed to celebrate the marriage of Queen Louise's sister, Marguerite de Lorraine to King Henry's beloved Anne, the Duke of Joyeuse.

This five-hour spectacle was the creation of Balthazar Beaujoyeulx, who was employed for the occasion by Catherine de' Medici. This performance will most likely change the form of ballet, as we know it. Beaujoyeulx's Le Ballet Comique de la Reine combined dance, verse, music, and scenography in one unified performance for the first time to the delight of an impressed audience of nearly 1000 people. The ballet was an interpretation of the Circe fable from Homer's Odyssey. In this story, the evil enchantress Circe has the performers in a spell. As the ballet progresses, the gods Jupiter, Minerva, and Mercury are called upon to defeat Circe and release the performers from her spell. Actual peace and order is not restored until the King of France gets involved.

Supposedly the dances in the production were inspired by the ancient Greeks. Pythagorean and Platonic concepts related to universal harmony and order is d

Balthazar Beaujoyeulx should be commended for his brilliant choreography of Le Ballet Comique de la Reine, but greater applause should be given to the monarch for its attempt bring peace to their kingdom. May the genius of this production be a testament to the capability of man to achieve harmony and accord in both dance and in life.

Specific parallels can be drawn from Le Ballet Comique de la Reine and France's political reality. For instance, when in the production, the performers call upon the King to rid the kingdom of the treachery of Circe and bring peace and order back to the land, it is the same as the people of France asking King Henri III to reinstate concord in France and end the religious strife. Similarly, at the end of the ballet when the spectators are invited to join the performers on the floor to dance, they are metaphorically being asked to join the attempts to regain harmony in France.

The whole performance was a wonderful spectacle for all to watch and was very pleasing to eye due to its creativity and magnificence. However, perhaps a more important and fascinating aspect of Le Ballet Comique de la Reine, are its political implications. In order to understand the political significance of the play, you must have a basic knowl

Some common words found in the essay are:
Ballet Comique, Henry III's, Pythagorean Platonic, Grand Ballet, Henri III, Grand Ball, Reine France's, Balthazar Beaujoyeulx, Homer's Odyssey, Minerva Mercury, le ballet comique, de la, de la reine, le ballet, ballet comique de, la reine, ballet comique, comique de la, comique de, bring peace, grand ballet, performers spell, final grand ballet, final grand, balthazar beaujoyeulx,
Approximate Word count = 851
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)