Short answers, pulled from the story.
Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It later developed further in France under the influence of Catherine de' Medici and King Louis XIV before spreading to Russia and beyond.
The Paris Opera Ballet, the first professional ballet company, arose from the Academie Royale de Musique after King Louis XIV appointed Jean-Baptiste Lully as its director in 1672. Pierre Beauchamp served as Lully's ballet-master, and the two are credited with codifying the five major positions of the feet.
The Vaganova method was created by Agrippina Vaganova, who began teaching at the Leningrad Choreographic School in 1921 after retiring from performance in 1916. It fuses the classical French style with Italian athleticism and the expressive quality of Russian ballet, and is detailed in her books published in 1934 and 1948.
Romantic ballet was a movement in classical ballet during the early to mid-nineteenth century that emphasized intense emotion, pointe work, female dancers, and plots featuring supernatural spirit women. The 1827 ballet La Sylphide is considered the first Romantic ballet, and Giselle, choreographed by Jules Perrot, is often called the most widely celebrated work of the era.
The six widely recognized methods are the French School, the Vaganova Method, the Cecchetti Method, the Bournonville Method, the Royal Academy of Dance method, and the Balanchine method. Each is associated with a distinct national tradition or founding figure and emphasizes different technical priorities.
As of 2020, American dancers across all dance forms earned an average of nineteen dollars per hour, with teaching positions paying somewhat better than performing roles. Ballet-specific jobs are scarce and highly competitive, with most employment found in private dance studios.