The overall impression of the performance depends on the skill and coordination of the corps de ballet dancers. No matter how brilliant the performers of the main roles are, without a good corps de ballet you cannot stage a performance.
What is a corps de ballet?
This is part of the troupe, whose artists do not dance solo roles, they perform dances in groups. In the imperial theater, there was a strict hierarchy in ballet: children, pupils, luminaries, figurants, extras, six soloists, ballerina, prima.
Today there are no defendants and extras, but the rest of the artists dance strictly according to the hierarchy.
There is a second corps de ballet, the first corps de ballet, luminaries.
French terminology is used in ballet, although in France itself, Italian terms were first used.
But now almost all the swings and kicks, turns, jumps are called in French. And the word corps de ballet means in its translation the composition of the ballet, which dances group dances.
Does everyone want to be soloists?
The more famous the theater, the higher the requirements for artists. For example, the troupe of the Bolshoi Theater in the corps de ballet is not just recruited skillful dancers. Take into account growth, external data, length of arms, legs, so that together they look beautiful, and not just each separately. In the best ballets La Bayadere, Giselle, Swan Lake, the corps de ballet performs magnificent compositions that for hundreds of years have thrilled the audience with their beauty.
To break into soloists from the corps de ballet, you need, in addition to rehearsals and performances, to learn solo parts in your free time. If good results are achieved, then the artist will be able to get a role in the play.
Corps de ballet perform in opera, operettas, music halls. Not everyone is destined to become soloists, not everyone dreams of it. What is the corps de ballet for many of his artists? They enjoy life dancing. They can do their favorite art and perform on the best stages of the world. Being an artist of the corps de ballet in a famous world-class theater is very honorable.