The Triumph of Love

ballet

Also known as: “Le Triomphe de l’amour”

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July 14, 2026

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Le Triomphe de l’amour (The Triumph of Love) was the first ballet performed without spoken dialogue or song. Choreographed by Charles-Louis Beauchamp in 1681 to music by Jean-Baptiste Lully, it was originally a court ballet revived for the stage with professional dancers. This marked a significant step in the development of ballet as a narrative art form, moving away from mixed-media spectacles towards a focus on storytelling through dance and mime alone. This evolution continued with the emergence of ballet d’action, which aimed to convey entire stories through movement and gesture.1

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Western dance
Varieties of the ballet
…Le Triomphe de l’amour (The Triumph of Love; 1681), choreographed by Charles-Louis Beauchamp (1636–c. 1719) to Lully’s music. Originally a ballet de cour, it was revived for the stage with a professional cast. Its star, Mlle Lafontaine, became ballet’s first première danseuse exactly 100 years after the Ballet comique…
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…Le Triomphe de l’amour (The Triumph of Love; 1681), choreographed by Charles-Louis Beauchamp (1636–c. 1719) to Lully’s music. Originally a ballet de cour, it was revived for the stage with a professional cast. Its star, Mlle Lafontaine, became ballet’s first première danseuse exactly 100 years after the Ballet comique…
Read More