A theatrical form of dance typically combined with music, stage design, and costume in an integrated whole, based around a scenario. Italian Renaissance court spectacles developed into the French ballet de cour under Louis XIV. Ballet became a professional theatre form in the 18th-c, gradually formalizing its technique in the early 19th-c.

It can be divided roughly into historical periods; mid-19th-c Romantic ballets such as La Sylphide, Giselle, and the late 19th-c Russian classics (eg Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty); 20th-c neoclassical works, such as Balanchine's Apollo; and modern ballets, such as Ashton's Monotones and MacMillan's Gloria. Recent works may incorporate modern and jazz elements. The ballet technique is based on turn out from the hip socket.

There are five positions of the feet and a codified system of arm positions (port de bras). Exercises at the barre (the horizontal support found in studios) move to extended phrases (enchainements) in the centre of the space. Intensive training is required from a young age, often in specialist schools.