We get
singing, dancing, mimicry and pantomime in the early stages of Greek
art, and the development of the dance rhythm in music is equally
ancient.
The Alexandrine Pantomime, introduced into Rome about 30 B.C. by
Bathillus and Pylades, appears to have been an entertainment
approaching the ballet.
In the middle ages there were the mysteries and "masks"; the latter
were frequent in England, and are introduced by Shakespere in "Henry
VIII."
In Italy there appears to have been a kind of ballet in the 14th
century, and from Italy, under the influence of Catharine de' Medici,
came the ballet. Balthasar di Beaujoyeulx produced the first recorded
ballet in France, in the Italian style, in 1582. This was, however,
essentially a Court ballet.
The theatre ballet apparently arose out of these Court ballets. Henry
III. and Henry IV., the latter especially, were very fond of these
entertainments, and many Italians were brought to France to assist in
them. Pompeo Diabono, a Savoyard, was brought to Paris in 1554 to
regulate the Court ballets.
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