'Azzam' - the World's largest & fastest Super-yacht

The Azzam is 590-feet long, 68-feet wide and can travel at a speed of over 30 knots & The hulking superyacht is longer than a football field, larger than the US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and more capacious than many popular cruise ships.

With the launch of the gleaming new Azzam, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich can no longer lay claim to being the owner of the world's largest superyacht.

At 590- feet long, the Azzam is 57-feet longer than Abramovich's mighty Eclipse -- previously the largest yacht on the waves. The hulking superyacht is significantly longer than a football field, larger than the US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and more capacious than many popular cruise ships.

Last month, the behemoth eased cautiously out of its shipyard in Bremen, Germany, ushered by a team of powerful tugboats which were dwarfed by its enormous scale. The yacht has been kept under wraps throughout its construction for the past three years.

The identity of the huge boat's owner remains a mystery, but some speculate that it belongs to a powerful Middle Eastern billionaire.

The superyacht took one year to design and three years to build. Lürssen Managing Partner Peter Lürssen says that the Azzam 'represents a milestone in yachting history.'

Just building the yacht cost a staggering $605 million -- a fee which doesn't even begin to take into account the sky-high costs of its annual upkeep. In his book on the Lady Linda superyacht, author G. Bruce Knecht said that, "operating and maintaining a yacht is at least 10% of what the thing cost." By which estimation, just keeping the Azzam on the water could cost as much as $60 million every year.

The project was brought to fruition by Mubarak Saad al Ahbabi, who assembled a triumvirate of yacht-building super stars: the Azzam's engineering was done by premier German shipbuilding company Lürssen, the exterior design was by Nauta Yachts and the interior was composed by Christophe Leoni.

At present, very little is known about the interior detailing of the vessel. A spokesperson for Lürssen said "the yacht is still under construction, and I doubt that we will get permission to shoot her even when she is ready."

The vessel is powered by two gas turbines and two diesel engines, with a total of 94,000 horse power.

Experts suggest that the interior could match or even surpass the opulence of Abramovich's yacht which is equipped with two helipads, two swimming pools, a cinema, a disco and a mini-submarine that can dive to 150-feet to explore the ocean floor. Bullet-proof glass and armor plating lines Abramovich's master bedroom, and the boat has its own missile defence system.

The Azzam is described as having a "sophisticated and luxurious interior in a turn of the century Empire style." Although his primary work is not in yachting, French interior decorator Christophe Leoni says he is "confident that the final yacht is everything and more the owner expects."

TheYachtPhoto's Peter Seyfferth commented: "For a yacht of this size, I think that she looks amazingly elegant and sleek."

As well as its prodigious length, the yacht also travels at a record-breaking pace. With a top speed of over 30 knots (around 34 mph), the Azzam is considered to be the fastest superyacht on the sea.

The Azzam is the latest in a line of vessels to have held the mantle of world's largest yacht. Prior to the Eclipse, the 482-foot Prince Abdulaziz, owned by the Saudi royal family, held the record for 22 years. And before it, the Rising Sun was briefly the record-holder. Built by American businessman Larry Ellison, The Rising Sun came in at 454-feet and cost $200 million.

With many more billionaires around the world eager to inscribe their names into the history books, it is anyone's guess quite how long the Azzam will remain at the top. For now, its mystery owner can revel in the knowledge that his or her boat is at the very pinnacle of the yachting pecking order.

Source and Read more news around the world: CNN

UN: India to be world's most populous country by 2028

India looks set to overtake China as the world's most populous country from 2028, according to the United Nations.

At that point, both nations will number 1.45 billion people each. Subsequently India's population will continue to grow until the middle of the century, while China's slowly declines.

The UN also estimates that the current global population of 7.2 billion will reach 9.6 billion by 2050.

That is a faster rate of growth than previously estimated.

The population growth will be mainly in developing countries, particularly in Africa, the UN says.

The world's 49 least developed countries are projected to double in size from around 900 million people in 2013 to 1.8 billion in 2050, whereas the population of developed regions will remain largely unchanged.

The UN said the reason for the increase in its projection is largely new information on fertility levels in certain high birth rate countries.

Nigerian growth

Large developing countries, such as China, India and Brazil, have seen a rapid fall in the average number of children per woman, but in other nations, such as Nigeria, Niger, Ethiopia and Uganda, fertility levels remain high.

Nigeria's population is expected to exceed that of the US by the middle of the century, and could start to rival China's by 2100.

China's population is expected to start decreasing after 2030.

"Although population growth has slowed for the world as a whole, this report reminds us that some developing countries, especially in Africa, are still growing rapidly," commented Wu Hongbo, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

The United Nations publishes an assessment of past, current and future population trends every two years, in a recurrent series known as theWorld Population Prospects.

Researchers have used data for 233 countries and areas to produce Friday's report.

Source: BBC World News

The World’s Busiest Airport as of 2013 February

Atlanta is home to one of the world’s largest airlines, Delta Air Lines. (Barry Williams/Getty)

 One might expect the world’s busiest airport to be located in New York or London or Beijing, but the distinction actually belongs to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, located in the southern US city of Atlanta, Georgia. No matter which way you calculate it, Hartsfield-Jackson has been the world’s busiest since 1998. Not only does it attract more travellers than any other airport in the world (with about 92.4 million passengers passing through in 2011, the last full year on record), it also manages more aircraft movements (that is, more takeoffs and landings) than any airport in the world – with about 950,000 in 2010, also the last year on record.All of this begs the question, why is Atlanta the busiest hub for air travel in the world?

The Delta factor
Atlanta is home to one of the world’s largest airlines. Delta Air Lines was founded in the city of Macon, Georgia (originally as a crop-dusting company called Huff Daland Dusters) and later moved its headquarters about 85 miles north to Atlanta in 1941 (after running its first passenger flights under the name Delta Air Service in 1929).

Until 2012, Delta held the record for most annual traffic – measured by “revenue passenger miles” (RPM) – of any airline in the world. The metric of RPMs takes into account both the number of passengers carried and the distances an airline flew during a given year. In 2012 though, Delta’s RPMwas beaten by United Airlines, which had grown in size following the 2010 merger between United and Continental Airlines.

So it makes sense, then, that Chicago, home to United’s headquarters, hosts the world’s second busiest airport as measured by aircraft movements – with 882,627 in 2010 – and the world’s fourth busiest as measured by sheer passenger numbers – with 66.6 million passengers in 2011. (The second and third busiest by number of passengers in 2011 are Beijing Capital International Airport, with 77.4 million and London Heathrow Airport with 69.4 million)

Hartsfield-Jackson serves 225 destinations in 51 countries, receives more than 250,000 passengers a day, and sees nearly 2,500 arrivals and departures per day. Out of this, Delta runs about 1,000 flights daily, serving more than 200 destinations.

The location
According to data collected by Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Atlanta is located within a two-hour flight of 80% of the US population, making the city a major port of entry into the US and a logical stopover for travel within the expansive country.

Hartsfield-Jackson is also the only airport located in Atlanta and by far the biggest airport in Georgia. Most other major hub cities, such as New York, split traffic between two or more major airports. The nearest major airport to Hartsfield-Jackson, is 250 miles northwest, in Nashville, Tennessee.

The city
Hartsfield-Jackson also happens to be located in a city that attracts its fair share of travellers. Atlanta has been ranked the seventh most visited city for business travel in the US – unsurprising, since it is home to the headquarters of 10 Fortune 500 companies, including Coca-Cola, Home Depot (a massive home improvement retailer), UPS (the United Parcel Service) and, of course, Delta Air Lines.

For non-business visitors, Atlanta is also home to perhaps the world’s largest aquarium, where visitors can find the biggest fish on Earth. Rivalled only by the new SEA Aquarium in Singapore (which also calls itself the world’s largest), the Georgia Aquarium holds more than 8 million gallons of water and provides habitat to around 120,000 animals, according to aquarium statistics.

Atlanta’s big companies also offer behind-the-scenes tours popular with all kinds of travellers. Coca Cola offers an attraction called The World of Coca-Cola, a sort of museum taking tourists into the history of one of the planet’s most consumed beverages. CNN, the 24-hour cable news channel available around the world, has a popular Inside CNN Studio Tour.

If you find yourself enduring the all-too-common layover in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Jaunted offers five ideas for passing the time – including renting out a room at the airport’s unique Minute Suites, which let you rent out a private room by the hour or for the night in Terminal B, and dining at the upscale “southernnational” joint One Flew South, a restaurant in Terminal E incorporating southern ingredients and techniques to international cuisine fit for the typical Hartsfield traveller.

For more on travel to Atlanta, Lonely Planet offers these tips for top attractions to hit.

Travelwise is a BBC Travel column that goes behind the travel stories to answer common questions, satisfy uncommon curiosities and uncover some of the mystery surrounding travel. If you have a burning travel question, contact Travelwise.

 

Article Source: BBC 

Facts about the Greek Economy

Facts about the Greek Economy

In writing this blog, I have come across several facts about the Greek economy that surprised me. In some cases, it was the fact itself that was the surprise; in others, it was the magnitude of something I already knew about. Here they are, along with links to the relevant posts.

Fact #1. Greek GDP is at 2004 levels, and it will take about a decade to reach pre-crisis levels. Greece’s GDP has been declining since Q4 2008, and is now just above 2004 levels. What is more, the initial program agreed to with the troika forecasted that real GDP would not reach its pre-crisis level until the end of the decade. A greater than anticipated recession means it could take past 2020 for Greece to recover to the income level it had coming into this crisis.


Fact #2. Tourism export revenues have declined 28% since 2000. When analysts discuss how the Greek economy may grow, there is an inevitable emphasis on tourism. But tourism has been in steep decline in the last decade. In 2000, Greece’s tourism revenue was €10 bn (based on customs data). Ten years later, it had fallen to €9.6 bn, a 4.5% drop. But if we factor in inflation, revenues from tourism have dropped 28% since 2000, reflecting the structural flaws in Greece’s tourism industry, which relate, chiefly, to getting more tourists who spend less money.

Fact #3. Net exports from shipping have declined 27% since 2000. Shipping, Greece’s other major export, has performed better than tourism but only marginally so. In 2000, Greece’s revenues from shipping netted €4.6 billion. By 2010, that number had fallen to €4.5 bn. Adding inflation means that the drop has amounted to 27%, although some years were better than others. The chief problem is that from a trade perspective, shipping affects both sides of the equation due to money spent to buy ships and on shipping related services. When we take out the outflow of money, the net effect for Greece has been declining.

Fact #4. Collecting 40% of tax arrears would eliminate the 2011 budget deficit. Weak tax collection forms a big part of Greece’s fiscal problem. In June 2011, the Ministry of Finance reported that tax arrears amounted to €41 bn. Of that number, 90% came from 6,500 people and from 8,200 corporations that owe over €150,000 each. Collecting those arrears would more than cover the projected 2011 budget deficit of less than €17 bn.

Fact #5. Employees in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) earn twice as much as employees in the private sector. One of the recurring themes in Greece’s political economy is the dichotomy between an insulated and well-paid public sector and a low-paid (at least for employees) private sector. According to data released by the ministry of finance, employees at SOEs earned, on average, €38,287 in 2008 – which is twice as high as the €19,147 earned in the private sector. For some SOEs, the gap was much higher.

Fact #6. Greeks are as likely to pay a bribe as Nigerians and Pakistanis. According to Transparency International, 18% of households in Greece reported paying a bribe in the last twelve months, versus an average 5% in Europe. That number puts Greece on par with Nigeria and Pakistan.

Fact #7. When you add private debt, Greece’s overall indebtedness is low in Europe. Everyone knows that Greece’s problem is debt. But it is, in fact, public debt that is the problem. A graph shown in a presentation by the former minister of finance adds public and private debt – when the two are combined, it is clear that Greece is at the low end of the spectrum. What distinguishes Greece is not high debt overall, but high government debt.

Fact #8. Greece’s debt was mostly accumulated in the 1980s and early 1990s. Greek society has yet to have a serious debate about how it got into this mess. What is amazing is to see just how recent this debt accumulation is: in 1980, Greece’s public debt was merely 22% of GDP; by 1993, it was 98% where it stayed (plus or minus) for over a decade before going higher in this crisis. In other words, Greece’s debt problem was mostly created over a 13-year period and it was perpetuated thereafter.

Fact #9: Greece had a relatively small state in 1980. Analysts with an eye to history will always point out that the Greek state has been omnipresent in Greek life since its inception. Yet that fact, while true, disguises the extent to which statism is a post 1980 phenomenon. In 1980, government spending amounted to 24% of GDP; by 1990, that number had risen to 45%. It kept rising, somewhat more modestly to 51% in 2009. The Greek government aims to bring that number back to 45% by 2015.

Fact #10. Greece’s relative standard of living dropped after 1980. In 1978, as Greece was about to join the European Economic Community, its per capita GDP was just 5% below the European average (on a PPP basis). In 2000, the gap was 30%. In retrospect, Greece’s entry into the EEC has been seen as a political gesture, and in many ways it was; but the gap between Greece and Europe was much narrower at the point of entry than ever since. Greece was close to Europe when it joined the EEC; it was only later that Greek living standards stagnated and fell relative to the rest of Europe. Europe moved on and Greece was left behind.

Source: Greek Default Watch 

Author: Nikos Tsafos

The EdgeWalk at Toronto's CN Tower

Daredevils in red jumpsuits can teeter around the outside edge of Canada's tallest structure next month as Toronto's CN Tower opens a new attraction for thrill-seekers and those wanting to overcome fear. A reporter leans over the edge of the catwalk during the media preview for the "EdgeWalk" on the CN Tower in Toronto, July 27, 2011. Participants are strapped in to a harness that is attached to a guard rail while walking around the catwalk on the structure 356m (1,168ft) off the ground. REUTERS/Mark Blinch (CANADA - Tags: SOCIETY CITYSCAPE IMAGES OF THE DAY)

The EdgeWalk at Toronto's CN Tower is an adrenaline filled excursion around an open-mesh metal walkway almost a quarter of a mile above the ground. There's no guard rail and no hand holds, just an uninterrupted view of the Toronto skyline and a through-the-mesh view of the ground, 1,168 feet beneath your feet. (Reuters)

Feet are seen in a view from the catwalk during the media preview for the "Edgewalk" on top of the CN Tower in Toronto, July 27, 2011. Participants are strapped in to a harness that is attached to a guard rail while walking around the catwalk on the structure 356m (1,168ft) off the ground. REUTERS/Mark Blinch (CANADA - Tags: SOCIETY CITYSCAPE)

A tour guide demonstrates the length of the rope during the media preview for the "Edgewalk" on top of the CN Tower in Toronto, July 27, 2011. Participants are strapped in to a harness that is attached to a guard rail while walking around the catwalk on the structure 356m (1,168ft) off the ground. REUTERS/Mark Blinch (CANADA - Tags: SOCIETY CITYSCAPE)

A reporter walks on the edge of the catwalk during the media preview for the "EdgeWalk" on the CN Tower in Toronto, July 27, 2011. Participants are strapped in to a harness that is attached to a guard rail while walking around the catwalk on the structure 356m (1,168ft) off the ground. REUTERS/Mark Blinch (CANADA - Tags: SOCIETY CITYSCAPE)

Reporters lean back, 1,168 feet over Toronto's downtown, while participating in a media preview of the new EdgeWalk attraction on the CN Tower Wednesday, July 27, 2011. Participants are strapped into a harness as they walk along a walkway around the CN Tower. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese)

Canadian Press reporter Alex Posadzki leans over Toronto's downtown while participating in a media preview of EdgeWalk on the CN Tower on Wednesday, July 27, 2011. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese)

Source: Yahoo News

The gas platform that will be the world's biggest 'ship'

Shell has unveiled plans to build the world's first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) platform. The 600,000-tonne behemoth - the world's biggest "ship" - will be sited off the coast of Australia. But how will it work?

Deep beneath the world's oceans are huge reservoirs of natural gas. Some are hundreds or thousands of miles from land, or from the nearest pipeline.

Tapping into these "stranded gas" resources has been impossible - until now.

At Samsung Heavy Industries' shipyard on Geoje Island in South Korea, work is about to start on a "ship" that, when finished and fully loaded, will weigh 600,000 tonnes.

That is six times as much as the biggest US aircraft carrier.

By 2017 the vessel should be anchored off the north coast of Australia, where it will be used to harvest natural gas from Shell's Prelude field.

Once the gas is on board, it will be cooled it until it liquefies, and stored in vast tanks at -161C.

Every six or seven days a huge tanker will dock beside the platform and load up enough fuel to heat a city the size of London for a week.

The tankers will then sail to Japan, China, Korea or Thailand to offload their cargo.

"The traditional way of producing gas offshore was through pipelines. You brought gas up to a platform and piped it to the 'beach'. That is the way it's done in the North Sea," said Scotsman Neil Gilmour, Shell's general manager for FLNG.

The World’s Biggest Ships:

• The Seawise Giant was the biggest ship ever built. Fully laden it weighed 657,000 tonnes. It was scrapped in 2009
• Shell refers to its FLNG platform as a "facility" rather than a ship - fully loaded it will weigh 600,000 tonnes
• Daewoo are building 10 Triple-E container ships for Maersk. Weighing 165,000 tonnes, each can carry 18,000 containers
• The Titanic, in comparison, weighed a measly 52,000 tonnes. It sank on its maiden journey in 1912

'Cyclone alley'

But the Prelude gas field is 200km (124 miles) from Western Australia's Kimberley Coast and there are no pipelines there to be used.

Johan Hedstrom, an energy analyst in Australia with Southern Cross Equities, told the BBC: "The FLNG concept is an elegant solution because you don't need so much fixed infrastructure.

"You don't need the pipeline or the onshore refinery and when you run out of gas you can just pull up stumps and go to the next field."

Mr Gilmour said Shell had to overcome a "raft of technical challenges", ensuring for example that the vast amount of equipment on board would work in choppy seas.

The Prelude field is in the middle of what is known as "cyclone alley", an area prone to extremely stormy weather.

But Mr Gilmour said the vessel had been built to withstand category-five cyclones and even a "one-in-10,000-years' storm" producing 300km/h (185mph) gusts and 20m-high (65ft) waves.

The double-hulled vessel is designed to last 50 years.

When the Prelude field is exhausted, in 25 years' time, it will be completely refurbished and packed off to start work on another field off the coast of Australia, Angola, Venezuela or wherever.

Mr Hedstrom said: "FLNG is a neat way of going forward. The way that energy prices are going it does look like a good industry to be in and I think they could make a lot of money out of it."

The price of LNG has risen markedly as demand has increased.

LNG currently sells for $14 per one million British thermal units in Japan, where the price was boosted by the tsunami, which cut the production of nuclear power.

The project, estimated to cost between $8bn (£5bn) and $15bn (£9.5bn), could provide 3.6 million tonnes of gas a year.

Flaring off

Nick Campbell, an energy analyst with Inenco, said Shell's move into FLNG was a "smart move".

"Shell are positioning themselves in an emerging market, not just in China - where gas usage has increased by 20% - but in India, which is also increasing its demand," he said.

The project is expected to generate 12 billion Australian dollars (£8bn) in tax revenues for the Australian federal government and could benefit their trade balance by 18 billion Australian dollars over the life of Prelude.

Australia's Minister for Resources and Energy has welcomed the Prelude project, drawing attention to the reduced environmental footprint as compared with a land-based scheme.

But there has been opposition from environmentalists. Martin Pritchard from Environs Kimberley says he is concerned about the potential for "oil leaks and spills".

WWF Western Australia, meanwhile, argues that the underwater wellheads and pipelines will harm the tropical marine environment, and estimates the project will emit more than two million tonnes of greenhouse gases per year.

The gas raised from the seabed is purified during the process of liquefaction, and waste products will be flared off. This week the Australian government said it would tax carbon emissions from major polluters at A$23 (£15) per tonne.

But Mr Gilmour says the Prelude project could be the first of several. Shell has already identified the Sunrise gas field in the Timor Sea as having potential for FLNG.

The ship, whose first section will be laid in 2012, has no name. Shell normally refers to it merely as a "facility".

"There are only four or five dry docks globally which could have built this facility and there are certainly no yards in the UK large enough," says Mr Gilmour.

He has been to Geoje Island and, speaking in a broad Ayrshire accent, he said of Samsung's yard: "It's an extraordinary place.

"It's just a phenomenal yard. Samsung is very hi-tech, world class. There are going to be some very spectacular images coming out of there during the building process."

Source: BBC News

Antarctica Tops the List of Coldest Places on Earth

Antarctica takes position number one among the coldest places on earth. Mostly uninhabited except for penguin and seal colonies found along the coast, Antarctica has practically no match on the temperature department. At the Plateau Station, temperatures can easily plummet to -119.23° Fahrenheit (-84° Celsius) and the annual average temperature barely reaches -32.8°F (-36°C). The record as the coldest place, however, goes to Vostok Station, Antarctica, where the temperature reached -129°F (-89.4°C) on 21 July 1983. Scientists are the only humans to live on Antarctica for months at a time, and even they do it only in summer.

Of all inhabited areas, one of the coldest places in the world is Siberia. Although global warming has taken a toll on Siberian winters over the past decade, it's normal for temperatures to reach -60°F (-51.1°C) in January. Oymyakon, in Eastern Siberia, has an average winter temperature of -49°F (−45°C), and may have reached a low of -96.16°F (-71.2°C), although the official record is -90°F (-67.7°C). The little village is home to 900 permanent residents, who endure winter for nine months out of the year, and considered -30°F (−34.4°C) "balmy." The area is so cold that empty plastic bags taken outside will freeze within minutes and then crack like glass.

Outside of Russia, the prize as one of the coldest places goes to Greenland, where the cities of Northice and Eismitte frequently see temperatures of -50°F (-45.5°C). The Yukon, Canada, falls close behind by only a few degrees. In the US, one of the coldest places is definitively International Falls, Minnesota, where temperatures normally reach -32°F (-35.5°C) in winter. Prospect Creek, Alaska, has broken several records in the American continent, including reaching -79.8°F (-62.1°C) in 2003.

To survive in the coldest places in the world, humans have had to adapt their environment and lifestyle significantly. Everything freezes at such low temperatures, from electronics to gasoline to pen ink; batteries lose power and pipes crack under the pressure exerted by ice and snow. In Ojmjakon, children are not allowed to play outside for more than 20 minutes at a time during a typical winter day. At -60°F (-51.1°C), their lungs can freeze and collapse. Despite all the difficulties, humans have found a way to change the environment and survive. Many of the coldest places in the world now attract tourists that are eager to see, at least for a few days, what real winter is all about.

Check out the Video to know the Coldest Places in World:

Antarctica tops the list of coldest places on earth, with one spot recording a bone-chilling -129F. By comparison, the US record of -80 seems downright warm.

Source: wiseGeek and Yahoo WhoKnew

Interesting Facts about Ballet Dance and history

Check out the Interesting Facts about Ballet Dance and history:

Ballet [Ital. ballare =to dance], classic, formalized solo or ensemble dancing of a highly controlled, dramatic nature performed to music. 

The Development of Ballet in Western Europe 

Foreshadowed in earlier mummeries and lavish masquerades, ballet emerged as a distinctive form in Italy before the 16th cent. The first ballet that combined movement, music, decor, and special effects was presented in France at the court of Catherine de' Medici in 1581. Organized by the violinist Balthasar de Beaujoyeux, it was entitled Le Ballet comique de la Reine. This production was the first ballet de cour, the ancestor of the modern ballet, which influenced the English court masque, a 16th-century entertainment with dance interludes. The first treatise on ballet dancing was the Orchésographie of Thoinot Arbeau (1588). 

The 17th cent. saw the major development of ballet in France. At first a court entertainment, the simple entrées were extended c.1610 and joined together to form scenes, called divertissements, which culminated in a grand ballet. Louis XIV founded the Royal Ballet Academy (1661), the Royal Music Academy (1669), which became the Paris Opéra, and the first National Ballet School (1672). All parts were performed by male dancers; boys in wigs and masks took the female roles. 

The first ballet using trained women was The Triumph of Love (1681), with music by Lully. Ballet remained a court spectacle and included opera or drama until about 1708, when the first ballet was commissioned for public performance. Thereafter the form, infused with new ideas, developed as a separate art (although the court ballet continued its historic traditions). Choreographic notation came into being, and for the first time mythological themes were explored. 

With the increased influence of the Italian school of ballet, movement became elevated and less horizontal, and the five classic positions of the feet, which form the base for the dancer's stance and movement, were established by Pierre Beauchamps. The costumes, which had been cumbersome with decoration, long skirts, and high heels (for both men and women) were newly designed to allow greater freedom of movement. The virtuosa dancer Marie Camargo, who introduced the entrechat (elevation) for women, shortened her skirt to the middle of the calf and wore tights and what were to be the first ballet slippers (heelless shoes). Her rival, Marie Sallé (who was also the first female choreographer), was the first dancer to wear a filmy, liberating Grecian-style costume, made popular two centuries later by Isadora Duncan . 

Jean Georges Noverre, a revolutionary 18th-century maître de ballet, established the determining principles of the ballet d'action, which he described in his Lettres sur la danse et les ballets (1760). He wanted the ballet to tell a story, aided by the music, decor, and dance; he wanted the performer to interpret his role through the dance and through his own body and facial expression. In stressing naturalism, Noverre simplified the costume and c.1773 abolished the mask. Other important innovations came from the great artists of the period, Gaetan and Auguste Vestris , Salvatore Vigano, and Charles Didelot. Technical innovation in dance movement was increased after further modification of the ballet costume. 

The Romantic Period and Ballet's Eclipse 

In Milan in 1820 Carlo Blasis first set down the technique of ballet as we know it today—with its stress on the turned-out leg, which permits great variety of movement. With the production of La Sylphide (1832) the romantic period formally began, ushering in a new era of brilliant choreography that emphasized the beauty and virtuosity of the prima ballerina. In this production Maria Taglioni first wore the filmy, calf-length costume that was to become standard for classical ballet. The great ballerinas of the era included Taglioni, FannyElssler , Carlotta Grisi, and Fanny Cerrito. In keeping with the literature and art of the romantic movement, the new ballet concerned the conflicts of reality and illusion, flesh and spirit. Love stories and fairy tales replaced mythological subjects. 

At the same time dancing sur les pointes [on the toes] had come into favor. By the end of the century the blocked toe had appeared, and the tutu, a very short, buoyant skirt that completely freed the legs, had come into use. The male dancer functioned as partner to support the ballerina, the central focus of the dance and drama. Ballet declined progressively after 1850 with the ballet d'action giving way entirely to divertissements; finally the great stars had retired, and the sets, costumes, and choreography had become stereotyped and uninteresting. The naturalistic trend in the theater had all but destroyed the imaginative touch necessary to ballet. 

The Modern Ballet Renaissance 

Russian Ballet 

The renaissance in romantic ballet began in Russia after 1875. The Russian Imperial School of Ballet had been founded in 1738. During the early 19th cent. the Imperial Theatre housed more than 40 ballet productions staged by the celebrated Swedish master Charles Didelot. Marius Petipa , who created a powerful sense of unity by rigorously training his corps de ballet as had not been done before, indicated in his choreography the direction of intensified romantic drama that the newly revived art was to take. Petipa contributed many of the classic ballets still considered to be the greatest expressions of the form, includingDon Quixote, La Bayadère, The Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda, Harlequinade, and restagings of Giselle, Coppélia, La Sylphide, and, with Lev Ivanov , Swan Lake. 

In 1909 the celebrated impresario Sergei Diaghilev took his Russian company to Paris, and for 20 years it dominated the world of dance, displaying the creative talents of such choreographers and dancers as MichelFokine , Léonide Massine , Vaslav Nijinsky , Bronislava Nijinska , Anna Pavlova , and George Balanchine . After Diaghilev's death in 1929, offshoots were formed by René Blum and Col. W. de Basil, which kept the Diaghilev tradition alive during the 1930s. The company merged with Blum and de Basil's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, which nurtured the talents of Alexandra Danilova , André Eglevsky, and Igor Youskevitch. 

Russian dancing has been maintained at the highest level of excellence to the present day. Moscow'sBolshoi Ballet , which brought fame to Galina Ulanova , Maya Plisetskaya , and V. M. Gordeyev, and theKirov Ballet (since 1991 the St. Petersburg Maryinsky Ballet), whose dancers have included Rudolf Nureyev , Natalia Makarova, and Mikhail Baryshnikov , are the two foremost Russian companies and are ranked among the finest in the world. 

British Ballet 

In England around 1918, Enrico Cecchetti, who had taught many great dancers including Pavlova, Nijinsky, Massine, and Danilova, set down his method of training (which is still in practice) in collaboration with Cyril Beaumont, proprietor of "Under the Sign of the Harlequin," a world-famous bookstore specializing in the dance. The Cecchetti Society was founded in 1922 to preserve and protect that system. 

In 1930 Marie Rambert founded the Ballet Club, the first permanent ballet school and company in England. A year later Ninette de Valois established what became the Sadler's Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet ). This company has drawn international attention to the work of Alicia Markova , Anton Dolin , Frederick Ashton , Margot Fonteyn , Robert Helpmann, Rudolf Nureyev, Antoinette Sibley, Svetlana Beriosova, and Anthony Dowell. Nureyev, both a choreographer and dancer, was instrumental in changing the traditional supportive role of the male dancer to a far more significant, dynamic, and athletic place in the ballet; many other contemporary choreographers have similarly given their male dancers a more flamboyant showcase. 

American Ballet 

In the United States, Lincoln Kirstein and Edward Warburg founded the American Ballet company in 1934. Under the direction of George Balanchine, its chief choreographer, the company established the first major school of ballet in the country, developed the talents of many notable American dancers (including MariaTallchief , Todd Bolender, Suzanne Farrell , Patricia McBride, Jacques d'Amboise , Arthur Mitchell , and Edward Villella ), and influenced enormously the evolution of an American ballet style as parent company to the New York City Ballet (founded 1948), one of the world's outstanding companies. Other celebrated choreographers who created ballets for the New York City Ballet are Eugene Loring, Jerome Robbins , and Peter Martins . 

The other major American company, the American Ballet Theatre (formerly the Ballet Theatre), was founded in 1939 as an offshoot of the smaller Mordkin Ballet. The company's principal dancers have included Lucia Chase, Anton Dolin, Nora Kaye , Alicia Alonso , Michael Kidd, Scott Douglas, Royes Fernandez, Sallie Wilson, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, performing in works designed for them by Michel Fokine, Léonide Massine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Michael Kidd, Agnes de Mille , Herbert Ross, Eugene Loring, Glen Tetley, Twyla Tharp , and many others. Through numerous tours both the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre have earned international reputations of a high order. Other American companies of note include the Joffrey Ballet (founded 1956) and the Dance Theatre of Harlem (founded 1970). In addition to these, there are many active regional ballet companies throughout the United States. 

Using traditional formal training and movement, American choreographers have designed a new sort of pure, abstract ballet, far less dependent on literary plot, often using modern rock and electronic music, and have developed greatly simplified decor and costuming (e.g., Balanchine's Agon, Robert Joffrey's Astarte, and Glen Tetley's Chronochromie ). Many modern choreographers have also designed dances for stage and film musicals (e.g., Jerome Robbins's West Side Story and Agnes de Mille's Oklahoma! ). In the late 20th cent. ballet was increasingly receptive to techniques and music from many dance forms. It grew in popularity, international touring expanded, and, particularly with the collapse of the Soviet Union, international exchange was encouraged. 

Some of the Fun Facts about Ballet Dance are here:

• A Male dancer lifts over one and a half tonnes worth of ballerinas during performances
• Most ballerinas wear out 2-3 pairs of pointe shoes per week
• One tutu costs up to 1076pounds to make
• That same tutu requires 60-90 hours of labour and 100yards of ruffle!
• A three-hour ballet performance is roughly equivalent to two 90-minute soccer games back to back or running 18 miles.
• Pointe shoes add a minimum of 7 inches of new height to a dancer.
• A prima ballerina can complete 32 fouette turns, while staying in the exact same spot on the floor. After the turns, her pointe shoe tip is HOT to the touch and it is so worn out that it is used then only for rehearsal.

Interesting Facts on The Health Benefits of Ballet Dancing:

Physical

Ballet is a great way to get into shape. Not only is it a good cardio workout, but your muscles are actively engaged as you are developing strength, which will in turn help burn fat and contribute to a sleek physique. A 150-pound dancer can burn 150 calories from 30 minutes of moderate dance activity. Ballet is also a great way to develop good posture, both essential to proper health and an improved appearance. Studies also have linked dancing to the prevention of diseases such as dementia or Alzheimer's disease. If these benefits weren't enough, ballet teaches flexibility, a building block to any sound fitness plan.

Intellectual

There is a lot of brain power to be harnessed from practicing ballet. We have all heard of studies that link listening to classical music with high SAT scores, but did you know learning ballet moves can help your math skills? By learning dance moves and calculating how they fit to the rhythm of the music, you are giving yourself a brain boost. You are also expanding the artistic part of your brain by absorbing the music and emoting your body accordingly. Your interest in ballet will lead you to a piqued interest in musical compositions and theatrical productions.

Psychological

Exercise releases feel-good chemicals called endorphins into the brain, and ballet workouts are no exception. Ballet dancing is also a special time a dancer can enjoy his or her own company, emptying the mind to just relax and enjoy music and movements. Ballet movements are known for releasing stress and tension from the body. This in turn contributes to an overall improved sense of well-being. As the dancer learns and masters various dance moves, his or her confidence level will increase. It is also a great place to meet people and make friends. For those who practiced ballet dancing as a child, reconnecting to the art as an adult can have some pleasant, nostalgic benefits.

Source: Encyclopedia & Bright Hub