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ballet
Theatrical dance in which a formal academic technique (the danse d'\u00e9 cole) is combined with music, costume, and stage scenery. Developed from court productions of the Renaissance, ballet was renewed under Louis XIV, who established France's Acad\u00e9 mie Royale de Danse in 1661, where Pierre Beauchamp developed the five ballet positions. Early ballets were often accompanied by singing and were often incorporated into opera-ballets by such composers as J.-B. Lully. In the 18th cent. J.-G. Noverre and G. Angiolini separately developed the dramatic ballet (ballet d'action) to tell a story through dance steps and mime, a reform echoed in C. W. Gluck's music. Significant developments in the early 19th cent. included pointe work (balance on the extreme tip of the toe) and the emergence of the prima ballerina, exemplified by M. Taglioni and F. Elssler. In the late 19th and early 20th cent. Russia became the center of ballet production and performance, through such innovators as S. Diaghilev, A. Pavlova, V. Nijinsky, M. Petipa, and M. Fokine; great ballets were composed by P. Tchaikovsky and I Stravinsky. Since then, ballet schools in Great Britain and the U.S. have elevated ballet in those countries to Russia's level and greatly increased its audience. See also American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Ballets Russes, Bolshoi Ballet, New York City Ballet, Royal Ballet.


Oakland
City (pop., 1996 est.: 367,000), W California, on the E side of San Francisco Bay. Settled by the Spanish in 1820, it was incorporated as a city in 1854. In 1869 it was chosen as the terminus of the first transcontinental railroad, which led to the development of its deepwater port. It suffered damage and loss of life in the earthquake of 1989, which also damaged the Bay Bridge that connects it with San Francisco. Lake Merritt, near the central business district, is a wildfowl refuge surrounded by parkland. Several colleges are located there.


Valletta
Seaport city (pop., 1996 est.: 9,000), capital of Malta. It is located on a rocky promontory with harbors on either side. Built after the Great Siege of Malta in 1565, which checked the advance of Ottoman power in S Europe, it was named after Jean Parisot de la Valette, grand master of the Knights of Malta. It became the Maltese capital in 1570. After 1814 it was made the principal base of the British Mediterranean naval fleet and remained important through World War II, during which it suffered heavy damage from bombing raids. Several 16th-cent. buildings still exist. The city's economy relies mainly on trade and tourism.

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