Domenico da Piacenza is credited with the first use ot the term ballo (in De Arte Saltandi ed Choreas Ducendi) instead of danza (dance) for his baletti or balli which later came to be known as Ballets. The first Ballet per se is considered to be Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx's Ballet Comique de la Royne (1581) and was a ballet comique (ballet drama). 1851 also saw the publication of Fabritio Caroso's Il Ballarino, a technical manual on ballet dancing that helped to establish Italy as a major centre of ballet development.
Dancing en pointe is the action of rising to 'tips of the toes' whilst performing steps from ballet technique. Also known as pointe work, it is mostly performed using hard toed pointe shoes but can be performed using soft toed ballet shoes. A development of the Romantic ballet period pointe work was developed by Marie Taglioni who danced the full length of the La Sylphide en pointe in 1832. Pointe work has now become a fundamental ballet technique for female ballet dancers (ballerinas). While pointe work is usually practiced and performed by female dancers some roles in ballets call for the male dancers to perform en pointe.
Ballet pas de deux (step / dance for two) is a duet in which ballet steps are performed together. grand pas de deux refers to a duet in which a male and female dancer perform together and features supported leaps, lifts, and pirrouttes. pas de trois are trios and pas de quatre quartets.
Pas de dueux, trois and quatre can be indiviual works or part of a larger ballet (but are often performed out of context) and are usually danced by principal, solo and guest artist of a ballet company.
