Las Reglas del Ballet. El discurso de la Academia Real de Danza de Paris (1661- 1725)

The purpose of this paper is to explore the foundation of the Royal Academy of Dance in France during the second half of the seventeenth century. This event gives rise to a regime of supervision and control of the practice of dance at professional level which, in turn, results in the dissemination of rules concerning dancing through a dynamic of emulation. A series of sources related to the foundation of the Royal Academy itself and to the dissemination of its practices through the publication of manuals and other forms of chorographical writing are analysed. Our research attempts to evaluate the historical conditions underlying this process and the related importance of a new approach to the body.