The Magnificent beginning

The Magic of Dance • Season 1 • Episode 5

About this episode

The first real ballet school was founded by King Louis XIV of France in 1669. From Louis's great palace at Versailles, Margot Fonteyn tells the story of Louis's own love of dancing and how it led from the courtly dances of 17th-century France to the worldwide phenomenon of ballet that we know today. At Drottningholm in Sweden, she visits the Court Theatre and sees ballet performed in the original settings and under the original conditions.