Académie Royale de Danse

The Académie Royale de Danse, founded by Letters Patent on the initiative of King Louis XIV of France in March 1661, was the first dance institution established in the Western world.

On joining the Académie, Jean-Georges Noverre, one of ballet d’action’s most influential choreographers, commented on its ineffectiveness in making meaningful contributions to the dance world.

It is often claimed that the Académie ceased to exist after 1778, merely because a list of the thirteen members was no longer published after this date, or alternatively after 1789, with the coming of French Revolution and the abolition or nationalization of royal institutions.

In a tribute to his deceased brother Maximilien published in the Courrier des spectacles (30 September 1798), Pierre Gardel, the head choreographer at the Paris Opéra at that time, writes that "these positions, which came with a pension [of 500 livres], passed in turn to the most distinguished dancers.

Using their proximity to the King and other royals in ballets de cour, the dancers were able elevate their profession above guild status while simultaneously securing wealth and influence.

[5] In service of the broad objective to revitalize dance, the Letters provided sweeping powers to the Académie which brought the art squarely under royal control.

Other statues, like VII and XI, went beyond the académistes, requiring all professional dancers in Paris and the surrounding area to be officially registered with the Académie; the best of that number were then expected to be available for casting in court ballets at the whim of the King.

As ballet became more formalized at the hands of the Académie, the technical ability required to perform choreography went up substantially, quickly outpacing the skill of non-professional courtiers.

Unable to keep up with the steps, members of the court could not dance alongside their accomplished masters as they did in the days of Le Ballet de la nuit (1653) and were thus consigned to observing performances from the sidelines.

The number of academy members is fixed at thirteen, and they enjoy the privilege – as do their children – of demonstrating the art of dance without lettres, as well as the right of committimus and other such, like those of the Officiers Commensaux of the Maison du Roi.

The original document signed by King Louis XIV was preserved in the French National Archives, and upon its close inspection in 1997 by scholar Maureen Needham, the thirteenth name was revealed to be "Molière.

In her own right, Marie Mollier was an accomplished dancer of ballets de cour and was no stranger to the stage of Louis XIV by the time of the Académie's establishment.