maître de balletn.
/ˌmeɪtrə də ˈbaleɪ/, /ˌmɛtrə də ˈbaleɪ/, U.S. /ˈmeɪtrə də bæˈleɪ/, /ˈmeɪdər də bæˈleɪ/ A trainer of ballet dancers. In early use also sometimes: the composer of a ballet who superintended its production and performance.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > ballet > [noun] > arranger or trainer
ballet master1762
maître de ballet1776
maîtresse de ballet1840
choreograph1876
choreographer1886
1776 Norfolk Chron. 21 Dec. That is my Lord C——e, who is said to go Lord Lieutenant to Ireland, and is remarkable for being..our best maitre de ballet.
1823 T. Creevey Let. in H. Maxwell Creevey Papers (1903) II. iii. 64 Yesterday I spent a very amusing hour with Sefton at the Opera House, seeing the maitre de ballet manœuvre about 50 figurantes for the approaching new ballet of Alfred.
1828 J. Ebers Seven Years King's Theatre xii. 351 An amiable and able individual..has experienced the common fate of mortality; I mean M. Boisgerard, the second Maître de Ballet.
1845 Morning Post 9 Apr. 5/5 Maîtres de ballet have to begin a new course of study.
1913 A. E. Johnson Russ. Ballet 3 But though his [sc. Noverre's] ambition as a maître de ballet outran his perceptions as an artist,..he initiated and firmly established a new form of art.
1959 Times 1 Sept. 11/3 Under its maître de ballet..it has reached international standards.
1975 Times 27 May 11/5 Hu's fight master is a former Peking maître de ballet.
1990 Dancing Times Oct. 107/4 (advt.) One of Diaghilev's star dancers, later maitre de ballet and choreographer at the Paris Opéra Ballet.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1776