Editing Paris Opera Ballet (section)

===Background===
[[File:Ballet de la nuit 1653.jpg|thumb|[[Louis XIV]] as Apollo in the ''[[Ballet Royal de la Nuit]]'' (1653)]]
The Paris Opera Ballet had its origins in the earlier dance institutions, traditions and practices of the court of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]]. Of particular importance were the series of [[Comédie-ballet|''comédies-ballets'']] created by [[Molière]] with, among others, the choreographers and composers [[Pierre Beauchamps]] and [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]]. The first was ''Les Fâcheux'' in 1661 and the most important, ''[[Le Bourgeois gentilhomme]]'' in 1670.<ref>Guest 2006, pp. 5–7.</ref> Many of these were also performed by [[Molière's company]] at the public [[Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré)|Théâtre du Palais-Royal]] in Paris, which was later to become the first permanent home of the opera company and the opera ballet.

Also in 1661, Louis XIV had founded the [[Académie Royale de Danse]] (Royal Academy of Dance) in an effort "to improve the quality of dance instruction for court entertainments". Members of the academy, as well as the dance teachers who were certified by it, and their students, participated in creating the ballets for the court, Molière, and later the opera.<ref>Astier 1998a, p. 3.</ref> In 1680, Beauchamps became the chancellor (director) of the Académie Royale de Danse.<ref name=Christout86/><ref name=Astier396>Astier 1998b, pp. 396–397.</ref> Although the Académie Royale de Danse and the Opera were closely connected, the two institutions remained separate, and the former disappeared with the fall of the monarchy in 1792.<ref>Astier 1998a, p. 4. The last list of its members was published in the 1779 ''Almanach des spectacles de Paris'' [http://www.larousse.fr/archives/danse/page/2 Archive Larousse].</ref>