Parts of a Ballet | Ballet Education

Prologue – The first part of a ballet which provides more information on the story. It is important to note that not all ballets have prologues. An example of a prologue would be the christening of Princess Aurora in ‘The Sleeping Beauty’.

Act – A section of a performance in which the dancers are present on stage. The length of an act in ballet is typically 30-45 minutes long. Ballets usually have around two acts, for example, Act I of ‘The Nutcracker’ takes place in the Stahlbaum home and a wintry forest. Act II takes place in the Land of Sweets.

Scene – A portion of an act. Often in ballet, each act has about two scenes. An example would be the party scene from Act I of ‘The Nutcracker.’

Intermission – An intermission is a break between acts in a ballet. This break is usually around 20 minutes long, which allows the dancers to rest and change costumes as well as provide the stage workers time to adjust the background and prep special effects as needed. The more acts a ballet has, the more intermissions can be expected. Some ballets, such as ‘The Firebird’ are only one act long and so they do not have any intermissions.

Variation – Most often refers to a choreographed solo performance, but it can also be for multiple people such as the dance of the little swans from ‘Swan Lake’ (which involves four ballerinas). Many variations still follow their original choreography, which can be hundreds of years old. Some well-known variations include the Sugar Plum Fairy from ‘The Nutcracker’, the Lilac Fairy from ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, and Odile (or the Black Swan) from ‘Swan Lake’.

Pas de Deux – A dance of two people. Some famous pas de deux variations include the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier from ‘The Nutcracker’, Bluebird and Princess Florine from ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, and the Grand Pas de Deux from ‘Paquita’.