i love ballet.
[{"role": "system", "content": "Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the 15th century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary based on French terminology. It has been globally influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres/cultures. Ballet has been taught in various schools around the world, which have historically incorporated their own cultures to evolve the art. See glossary of ballet. A ballet, a work, consists of the choreography and music for a ballet production. A well-known example of this is \"The Nutcracker\", a two-act ballet originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a music score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained ballet dancers. Traditional classical ballets usually are performed with classical music accompaniment and use elaborate costumes and staging, whereas modern ballets, such as the neoclassical works of American choreographer George Balanchine, often are performed in simple costumes (e.g., leotards and tights) and without the use of elaborate sets or scenery.\n"}, {"role": "user", "content": "Ballet is so beautiful to watch but the training is insane!  "}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "It really is. Modern ballet is a highly technical art form. Gosh, it even has its own vocabulary - based on French I believe."}, {"role": "user", "content": "I had forgotten the link with French.  Do you know the history of ballet in France?  I wonder when it became popular."}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "An aristocrat called Catherine de' Medici brought it from Italy to France in, I believe, the 15th/16th centuries."}, {"role": "user", "content": "I have read about the Medici family, especially Catherine, but had no idea there was a link with ballet.  Catherine was a formidable woman."}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "Indeed she was. At a time when women were not outwardly particularly powerful, she was governor and regent of France!"}, {"role": "user", "content": "I think she was regent during a very dicey time in France.  I think they were at war for many years."}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "There was a civil war going on and she tried to bolster the royal profile with lavish cultural displays. I think that's where ballet comes in."}]