Italian ballet

[4] When Catherine de' Medici, an Italian aristocrat with an interest in the arts, married the French crown heir Henry II, she brought her enthusiasm for dance to France and provided financial support.

These glittering entertainments supported the aims of court politics and usually were organized around mythological themes.

Along with his students, Antonio Cornazzano and Guglielmo Ebreo, he was trained in dance and responsible for teaching nobles the art.

At first, ballets were woven in to the midst of an opera to allow the audience a moment of relief from the dramatic intensity.

[10] Over time, Italian ballets became a more beloved and important part of theatrical life: ballet companies in Italy's major opera houses employed an average of four to twelve dancers; in 1815 many companies employed anywhere from eighty to one hundred dancers.