The Vaganova method is a method of teaching classical ballet that was developed by Agrippina Vaganova. This method fused the romantic style of the French ballet and dramatic soulfulness of the Russian character with the athletic virtuosity that characterizes the Italian school to reform the...

The Bournonville method is a ballet technique and training system devised by the Danish ballet master August Bournonville. August Bournonville trained with his father Antoine Bournonville and other notable French ballet masters. He was heavily influenced by the early French school of ballet, which he...

The Cecchetti method is a ballet training method devised by the Italian ballet master Enrico Cecchetti (1850-1928). The method is a strict training system with special concern for anatomy within the confines of classical ballet technique, and seeks to develop the essential characteristics of dance...

The "École Française", is characterized by an emphasis on precision, elegance, and sobriety. Ballet quickly spread from Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th and 16th centuries the French court of Catherine de' Medici where it was developed further. In the 17th century at the time of Louis XIV, ballet was codified,...

Ballet’s major training systems all use Beauchamps’s original five positions of the feet and, for the most part, the same French terminology. On the most fundamental aspects of technique there is no disagreement. However, the schools do diverge on, among other things, which arm positions are...