How did Jean-Georges Noverre transform ballet through ballet d'action?

Jean-Georges Noverre transformed Western dance by championing the ballet d’action, a revolutionary approach that shifted the focus of ballet from mere technical display to dramatic storytelling.12

In his influential treatise, Lettres sur la danse et sur les ballets (1760), Noverre argued that dance was meaningless if it served only as ornamental entertainment or a showcase for virtuosity. He advocated for the following reforms:13

• Dramatic Motivation: He insisted that all elements of a production—including choreography, set design, and costuming—must be subordinate to the plot and theme.4
• Integration of Mime: Noverre incorporated mime alongside academic dance to provide narrative context and emotional expression, allowing the performance to "speak to the heart".536
• Naturalism: He sought to purge ballet of artificial conventions, encouraging more natural movement that could accommodate a wider range of human emotion and character.32

By establishing these principles, Noverre elevated ballet into an independent, expressive theatrical art form, setting the stage for the narrative-driven works of the Romantic movement and beyond.536