Claude-François Ménéstrier

French choreographer, chronicler, and dance theorist

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Claude-François Ménestrier was a French choreographer, chronicler, and dance theorist. He is noted for writing Des ballets anciens et modernes (“On Dances Ancient and Modern”) in 1682, which was one of the first histories of dance. His work contributed to the growing body of dance scholarship during the 17th and 18th centuries, a period when ballet was becoming increasingly professionalized in France. This era saw the establishment of the Académie Royale de Danse and the development of technical standards and notation systems for dance.12

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dance criticism
The 15th through 17th centuries
…choreographer, chronicler, and dance theorist Claude-François Ménéstrier, another Jesuit, collected libretti, described performances, and applied Aristotelian principles to rules and guidelines for ballet, which he set forth in Traité des tournois, joustes, carrousels, et autres spectacles publics (1669; “Treatise on Tournaments, Jousts, Tilts, and Other Public Spectacles”) and Des Ballets…
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…choreographer, chronicler, and dance theorist Claude-François Ménéstrier, another Jesuit, collected libretti, described performances, and applied Aristotelian principles to rules and guidelines for ballet, which he set forth in Traité des tournois, joustes, carrousels, et autres spectacles publics (1669; “Treatise on Tournaments, Jousts, Tilts, and Other Public Spectacles”) and Des Ballets…
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