Courtly Poses and Ballet

Recently, while I was reaserching Louis XIV biography in my free time, i stumbled upon a very interesting aspect of his personallity. Apparently, Louis XIV, the Sun King, the richest, most powerful ruler of his time, loved ballet. Not only loved, but performed as well. Not only that, but he also got all his Courtiers to do it too by making it part of proper court ettiquette! I suppose the reason i find this so interesting is that i find it funny in a very ironic sort of way that the most powerful and possibly feared people in Europe of the age spent their free time striking ballet poses at each other. That aside, this startling revelation prompted a much more in-depth sojourn into Louis XIV's love of ballet. In historical terms, Louis XIV and Ballet perhaps are mentioned most readily in the context of his founding of the French Académie Royale de Danse in 1661, but his love of Ballet streeches much farther back than that. In fact, it started in his childhood. Louis' father, Louis XIII (clearly, these Kings are highly imaginitive when it comes to naming), died when Louis (the younger) was only five years old, so naturally, the only parental figure in the young kings life was his mother, Anne of Austria. Anne herself was an avid fan and patron of the arts, ballet in particular, and as Louis and Anne were very close throughout their lives, she thus imparted her love of ballet upon Louis, who both practiced and preformed throughout his childhood and later life (until 1670). As was the case with most of the things Louis XIV loved, he naturally though that all people should love it, and thus, ballet inexorably became an integral part of the French Court (heroic poses and tights included). So it is that i find myself reaserching ballet poses, for if im to acurately portray Louis XIV, i figure i aught to at least strike the same poses that he would. Apparently they included Pierre Beauchamp's 'Five positions of the hands and feet,' which i haven't had much luck finding (the actual poses that is) so for the trial, my plan is to just imitate the pose in the picture above, as it seems both regal, pompos, and more than a little rediculous all at the same time