Jean-Georges Noverre was a French dancer and ballet master, and is generally considered the creator of ballet d'action, a precursor of the narrative ballets of the 19th century. His birthday is now observed as International Dance Day.
Perronneau, 1764, Louvre
Pas-de-trois in Ludwigsburg porcelain, c. 1763, one of a series of groups probably directly taken from Noverre's ballets
Les Lettres sur la danse et sur les ballets, Lyon 1760
Another Ludwigsburg porcelain group, 1760-63
A ballet master is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In modern times, ballet masters are generally charged with teaching the daily company ballet class and rehearsing the dancers for both new and established ballets in the company's repertoire. The artistic director of a ballet company, whether a male or female, may also be called its ballet master. Historic use of gender marking in job titles in ballet is being supplanted by gender-neutral language job titles regardless of an employee's gender.
Edgar Degas' painting of the ballet master Jules Perrot conducting rehearsal in the Foyer de la Danse of the Palais Garnier, Paris, 1875
Filippo Taglioni, circa 1820
Jules Perrot, circa 1850
Marius Ivanovich Petipa
