Q 01/05

Ballet originated in the courts of which country's Renaissance before spreading to France?

A) Spain

B) Austria

C) England

D) Italy

Answer · why

D) Italy

The word itself comes from the Italian balletto, a diminutive of ballo, 'dance'; it entered English from French around 1630.

Q 02/05

Which queen is credited with bringing court ballet from Italy to France?

A) Marie Antoinette

B) Anne of Austria

C) Catherine de' Medici

D) Eleanor of Aquitaine

Answer · why

C) Catherine de' Medici

The dancers in these early court ballets were mostly noble amateurs weighed down by ornate costumes.

Q 03/05

Which French king founded the Académie Royale de Danse in 1661?

A) Louis XIII

B) Louis XV

C) Louis XVI

D) Louis XIV

Answer · why

D) Louis XIV

He was an enthusiastic dancer himself; his ballet master Pierre Beauchamp is credited with codifying the five positions of the feet.

Q 04/05

How many basic positions of the feet does classical ballet recognise?

A) Three

B) Four

C) Five

D) Six

Answer · why

C) Five

Lully and his ballet-master Beauchamp get the credit for fixing them at the Paris Opera in the 1670s.

Q 05/05

Which composer wrote the music for Swan Lake?

A) Sergei Prokofiev

B) Igor Stravinsky

C) Adolphe Adam

D) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Answer · why

D) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

He wrote it in 1875-76; the 1877 Bolshoi premiere flopped and it took the 1895 Petipa-Ivanov revival to make it a classic.