600 BC Dancing at heart of Greek theatre
The choros, originally danced in a circle by temple virgins, is the centrepiece of the developing Greek theatre

600 BC Dionysiac frenzies
Frenzied dances, in honour of the god Dionysus, become part of Greek theatre - deriving probably from the northeast, in Thrace

1581 First ballet for French wedding
The first dramatic ballet, the Balet Comique de la Reine, is presented during French wedding festivities

1653 Sun King dances
The 14-year-old Louis XIV dances in a court ballet as Apollo, wearing a glorious sun costume, and finds that he likes the role

1661 Louis XIV encourages others to dance
Louis XIV establishes a royal dancing academy and soon follows it with a music academy

1681 World's first prima ballerina
A professional ballet company in Paris introduces female dancers and the world's first prima ballerina, Mlle de Lafontaine

1791 Bank of the United States
Under the guidance of Alexander Hamilton the First Bank of the United States is established in Philadelphia

1832 Schumann's Papillons
Robert Schumann's first published composition is Papillons ('Butterflies'), twelve short dance pieces for piano

1870 Coppélia
Coppélia, with choreography by Arthur Saint-Léon to music by Delibes, has its premiere at the Paris Opera

1873 Degas inspired by ballet dancers
French painter Edgar Degas finds inspiration in the onstage and backstage world of ballet dancers

1877 Swan Lake
The ballet Swan Lake, with choreography by Julius Wenzel Reisinger to music by Tchaikovsky, has its premiere at the Bolshoi in Moscow

1878 Dvorák's Slavonic Dances
Czech composer Anton Dvorák writes his first set of Slavonic Dances, originally as piano duets

1888 Wovoka's Ghost Dance
An American Indian visionary, Wovoka, launches a new religion that will bring the dead back to life, calling it the Ghost Dance

1890 Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty, with choreography by Petipa to music by Tchaikovsky, has its premiere in St Petersburg

1892 Nutcracker
The Nutcracker, with choreography by Lev Ivanov to music by Tchaikovsky, has its premiere in St Petersburg

1895 Petipa and Ivanov revive Swan Lake
Swan Lake is performed in St Petersburg in its definitive version, with choreography shared between Lucien Petipa and Lev Ivanov

1900 Isadora Duncan makes her European debut
Isadora Duncan dances professionally for the first time in Europe in London's Lyceum Theatre

1903 Prix Goncourt
The annual Prix Goncourt is established in France, in accordance with the will of Edmond de Goncourt

1905 Mata Hari dances in Paris
The Dutch dancer Gertrud Zelle begins a career in Paris, using the stage name Mata Hari

1906 Infant Astaire goes professional
6-year-old Fred Astaire and his sister Adele give their first professional performance, in the pier theatre in Keyport, New Jersey

1907 Les Sylphides
Michel Fokine creates the ballet Les Sylphides (originally called Chopiniana) to music by Chopin

1907 Pavlova's Dying Swan
Anna Pavlova dances The Dying Swan, choreographed for her by Michel Fokine to music by Saint-Saëns

1908 Nijinska joins Nijinsky
Bronislava Nijinska joins her brother Vaslav in the Maryinsky company in St Petersburg

1909 Fokine and Diaghilev join forces
Michel Fokine becomes the choreographer for the ballet company that Sergei Diaghilev is taking to Paris

1909 Benois directs Ballets Russes
Alexandre Benois becomes the first artistic director of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes

1909 Diaghilev takes Russian ballet to Paris
Diaghilev presents the first season of Ballets Russes in Paris, with Pavlova and Nijinsky in the company

1909 Les Sylphides
Fokine's 1907 ballet Chopiniana is revised and given a new name, Les Sylphides

1909 Bakst designs for Ballets Russes
Set-designer Leon Bakst begins a long association with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes

1910 Fokine's Schéhérazade
Schéhérazade, with choreography by Fokine, music by Rimsky-Korsakov and designs by Bakst, is premiered by the Ballets Russes in Paris

1910 The Firebird
The Firebird brings together Fokine (choreography), Stravinsky (music) and Golovine and Bakst (sets and costumes)

1911 Pavlova moves to England
Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova settles in London and forms her own touring company

1911 Le Spectre de la Rose
Le Spectre de la Rose, with choreography by Fokine, music by Weber and designs by Bakst, is premiered by the Ballets Russes in Monte Carlo

1911 Petrushka a success in Paris
The ballet Petrushka brings together Fokine (choreography), Stravinsky (music) and Benois (sets and costumes)

1911 Diaghilev and Nijinsky emigrate
Sergei Diaghilev and Vaslav Nijinsky leave Russia for the west

1912 Nijinsky's debut as choreographer
Vaslav Nijinsky causes a sensation dancing in the first ballet choreographed by himself, L'Après-midi d'un faune

1912 Daphnis and Chloe danced to music by Ravel
Daphnis and Chloe, with choreography by Fokine, music by Ravel and designs by Bakst, is premiered by the Ballets Russes in Paris

1912 Berlin Opera Ballet
The Berlin Opera Ballet is founded to perform in the city's new opera house

1913 Rite of Spring
Igor Stravinsky and Vaslav Nijinsky provoke uproar in Paris with The Rite of Spring for Ballets Russes

1913 Nijinsky marries and is fired
Vaslav Nijinsky marries a Hungarian ballerina and is dismissed from the Ballets Russes by a jealous Diaghilev

1913 Foxtrot in the ballroom
The foxtrot, possibly introduced by US performer Harry Fox, becomes an immensely popular ballroom dance

1915 El Amor Brujo
Manuel de Falla's ballet El Amor Brujo, including the 'Ritual Fire Dance', is performed in Paris

1917 Massine's Parade
Parade brings together Massine (choreography), Satie (music), Cocteau (libretto) and Picasso (sets and costumes)

1917 The Three-Cornered Hat
Manuel de Falla's ballet The Three-Cornered Hat is produced by Diaghilev with choreography by Massine and designs by Picasso

1917 October 15 Mata Hari shot
The dancer Mata Hari is executed in France as a German spy

1919 La Boutique Fantasque
Léonide Massine, Ottorino Respighi and André Derain collaborate on the ballet La Boutique Fantasque

1919 Le Boeuf sur le toit
Darius Milhaud provides the score for Jean Cocteau's pantomime ballet Le Boeuf sur le toit

1920 Rambert ballet school
Marie Rambert, a Polish dancer with the Ballets Russes, opens a ballet school in London

1921 Adler clinic for children
Alfred Adler, in Vienna, opens the first of many child-guidance clinics

1922 Birth of the Charleston
The Broadway show Ziegfeld Follies features an exciting new dance, the Charleston

1923 Roussel's Padmâvâti
Albert Roussel's opera-ballet Padmâvâti is premiered in Paris

1924 Nijinska's Le Train Bleu
Le Train Bleu brings together Bronislava Nijinska (choreography), Darius Milhaud (music), and Coco Chanel (costumes)

1925 Josephine Baker a Paris sensation
African-American singer and dancer Josephine Baker is jazz hot in La Revue Nègre in Paris

1926 De Valois opens ballet school
Irish dancer Ninette de Valois, recently with the Ballets Russes, opens a ballet school in London

1926 Labanotation
Rudolf von Laban publishes a new system of dance notation, which becomes known in English as Labanotation

1926 Ashton's first ballet
English choreographer Frederick Ashton creates his first ballet, A Tragedy of Fashion

1926 The Miraculous Mandarin
Béla Bartók's ballet The Miraculous Mandarin has its premiere (in Cologne) some eight years after he began work on it

1927 Martha Graham teaches modern dance
US dancer and choreographer Martha Graham opens a School of Contemporary Dance in New York

1927 Isadora dies in tragic accident
Isadora Duncan dies in Nice when her scarf tangles in the wheel of a Bugatti sports car, breaking her neck

1927 Discovery of the bee dance
Austrian zoologist Karl von Frisch demonstrates that bees communicate the whereabouts of food by means of a dance

1928 De Valois' first ballet
Ninette De Valois creates her first ballet, Les Petits Riens, at the Old Vic

1928 Balanchine's Apollo
George Balanchine creates Apollo for Ballets Russes, to music by Igor Stravinksy

1928 Boléro
Maurice Ravel writes Boléro as music for a ballet choreographed by Nijinska with designs by Benois

1928 Ulanova joins Maryinsky company
Ballerina Galina Ulanova graduates from the Leningrad Choreography School and joins the Maryinsky company

1930 'Can't act. Can't sing. Balding. Can dance a little.'
The verdict on Fred Astaire's first screen test, so the legend goes, is that he can't act, can't sing, is balding but can dance a little

1930 Camargo Society in London
The Camargo Society, founded to promote British dancers and choreographers, presents its first evening of ballet in London

1930 Busby Berkeley in Hollywood
US choreographer Busby Berkeley moves to Hollywood to provide the first of his famous dance spectaculars, in Whoopee

1931 Ashton makes a ballet of Façade
Frederick Ashton choreographs Façade for the Camargo Society, using Walton's score

1931 Vic-Wells ballet company
A dance company, brought together by Ninette de Valois as the Vic-Wells Ballet, begins performing at Sadler's Wells

1932 Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo
The newly formed Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo opens for its first season, with George Balanchine as ballet master

1932 Bluebell Girls
The Bluebell Girls, formed by Margaret Kelly ('Miss Bluebell'), give their first performances in Paris

1933 Flying Down to Rio
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance together for the first time on film, in Flying Down to Rio

1934 Fonteyn makes her debut
15-year-old English ballerina Margot Fonteyn makes her first appearance, dancing as a Snowflake in Nutcracker

1935 Top Hat
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers have one of their greatest successes dancing in their fourth film together, Top Hat

1935 Balanchine's American Ballet
George Balanchine's new company, American Ballet, has its first brief season in New York

1935 Noguchi designs for Graham
In Frontier the Japanese-US sculptor Isamu Noguchi designs the first of his many sets for Martha Graham ballets

1935 Ballet Rambert
Marie Rambert's London-based company, deriving originally from her school, takes the name Ballet Rambert

1935 Kirov commemorated in company name
Leningrad's opera and ballet company is renamed the Kirov, in memory of the city's recently assassinated commissar

1938 Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet
The first of many ballets to Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet score is premiered in Czechoslovakia

1938 October Sudetenland becomes part of Germany
The Sudetenland is transferred from Czechoslovakia to Germany, in accordance with the Munich agreement

1940 American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre, directed by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, begins its first season in New York

1940 De Mille's Black Ritual
US choreographer Agnes de Mille creates Black Ritual for American Ballet Theatre

1942 Cunningham and Cage join forces
US choreographer Merce Cunningham begins a long creative partnership with the composer John Cage

1942 Copland inspired by rodeo
Aaron Copland's ballet Rodeo has choreography by Agnes de Mille

1944 Fancy Free
Composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins work together on the ballet Fancy Free

1944 On the Town
Fancy Free becomes On the Town, a Broadway musical by Leonard Bernstein, directed by Jerome Robbins

1944 Appalachian Spring
Aaron Copland's ballet Appalachian Spring has choreography by Martha Graham

1946 Ashton's Symphonic Variations
Frederick Ashton choreographs Symphonic Variations, to music by César Franck

1946 Balanchine and Tallchief marry
The marriage of George Balanchine and Maria Tallchief unites two major stars of the US ballet scene

1948 The Red Shoes
British dancer Robert Helpmann choreographs the ballet scenes in the film The Red Shoes, featuring Moira Shearer

1948 Balanchine's company in City Center
George Balanchine's New York City Ballet becomes the resident company in the City Center for Music and Drama

1948 Matsuyama Ballet
Ballerina Mikiko Matsuyama and her husband establish a family-run balllet company in Tokyo

1948 Ashton's Cinderella
Frederick Ashton's Cinderella, to music by Prokofiev, is the first full-length ballet by an English choreographer

1949 Roland Petit's Carmen
Roland Petit's ballet Carmen, starring himself and his wife Zizi Jeanmaire, is a sensation at its London premiere

1950 Festival Ballet in London
Anton Dolin and Alicia Markova form the Festival Ballet, in time for next year's Festival of Britain

1951 National Ballet of Canada
British-Canadian choreographer Celia Franca founds the National Ballet of Canada

1951 Powell's 'Dance to the Music of Time'
A Question of Upbringing begins Antony Powell's 'A Dance to the Music of Time'

1952 Singin' in the Rain
Gene Kelly dances a famous routine with an umbrella in the film Singin' in the Rain

1953 MacMillan's first ballet
British choreographer Kenneth MacMillan creates his first ballet, Somnambulism, to music by Stan Kenton

1953 Cunningham sets up dance company
Merce Cunningham forms his own company of dancers, initially at Black Mountain College in North Carolina

1954 Rauschenberg designs sets for Paul Taylor
US choreographer Paul Taylor begins a long and fruitful collaboration with Robert Rauschenberg as his set designer

1955 Benesh notation
British dancer Joan Benesh and her husband Rudolf develop the Benesh system of dance notation

1956 Jerome Robbins' The Concert
Jerome Robbins creates the ballet The Concert, to music by Chopin

1956 Royal Ballet
The Sadler's Wells Ballet, dancing now at Covent Garden, is renamed the Royal Ballet

1956 Ulanova astonishes western audiences
Russian dancer Galina Ulanova proves a sensation on tour in Europe and the USA in her late forties

1956 Khachaturian's Spartacus
The ballet Spartacus, with music by Aram Khachaturian, has its premiere in Leningrad

1957 Grands Ballets Canadiens
Latvian-Canadian dancer Ludmilla Chiriaeff founds the Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal

1958 Seymour dances for MacMillan
Lynn Seymour creates the first of many roles for MacMillan, dancing the Adolescent in The Burrow

1958 Cranko's Romeo and Juliet
John Cranko's version of Romeo and Juliet, to Prokofiev's score, is premiered by La Scala Ballet in Venice

1959 Netherlands Dance Theatre
A group of dancers leave the Netherlands Ballet and establish their own Netherlands Dance Theatre in The Hague

1960 Ballet of the 20th Century
French choreographer Maurice Béjart is the first director of Belgium's new Ballet of the 20th Century

1961 Cranko directs Stuttgart Ballet
British choreographer John Cranko becomes director of the Stuttgart Ballet

1961 Nureyev seeks political asylum
Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev defects from the Kirov company at Le Bourget airport and seeks political asylum in France

1961 Nureyev dances for de Cuevas
Rudolf Nureyev makes his first appearance in a western company, dancing in The Sleeping Beauty for the Marquis de Cuevas

1962 Tetley's Pierrot Lunaire
US choreographer Glen Tetley creates a ballet to the music of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire

1962 Praagh directs Australian Ballet
British dancer Peggy van Praagh is appointed the first director of the newly formed Australian Ballet

1963 Ashton's Marguerite and Armand
British choreographer Frederick Ashton creates Marguerite and Armand for Margot Fonteyn and her new partner, Rudolf Nureyev

1963 De Valois retires
Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet, retires after building the company to international stature

1964 Dowell and Sibley dream partnership
Anthony Dowell and Antoinette Sibley begin a famous partnership in Ashton's The Dream

1964 Red Detachment of Women
The Beijing ballet company goes political with The Red Detachment of Women, supervised by Mao Zedong's wife, Jiang Qing

1965 Fonteyn and Nureyev in new MacMillan ballet
Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev dance together in the premiere of Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet

1965 Joffrey Ballet
US choreographer Robert Joffrey founds a new company that becomes known (from 1977) as the Joffrey Ballet

1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Paul Newman and Robert Redford star in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

1970 Makarova defects to west
Russian ballerina Natalia Makarova defects to the west while on tour with the Kirov company in London

1971 Dance Theatre of Harlem
The Dance Theatre of Harlem, founded by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook, gives its first performance at the Guggenheim Museum in New York

1971 Hip-hop
Hip-hop originates as a dance style in New York among young African Americans

1973 Tharp's Deuce Coupe
US choreographer Twyla Tharp creates Deuce Coupe, set to songs by the Beach Boys

1974 Sibley and Dowell in Manon
Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell dance together in the premiere of Kenneth MacMillan's Manon

1974 Baryshnikov escapes to west
Soviet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Kirov company while on tour in Canada

1974 Elite Syncopations
Kenneth MacMillan uses Scott Joplin as his score for a ragtime ballet, Elite Syncopations

1975 Kylián directs Netherlands Dance Theatre
Czech choreographer Jiri Kylián becomes director of the Netherlands Dance Theatre in The Hague

1976 Push Comes to Shove
Mikhail Baryshnikov dances in the New York premiere of Twyla Tharp's ballet Push Comes to Shove

1976 Ashton's Month in the Country
Frederick Ashton creates a ballet based on Turgenev's play A Month in the Country, to music by Chopin

1978 MacMillan's Mayerling
Kenneth MacMillan turns a double suicide of 1889 into a ferociously dramatic ballet, Mayerling

1980 Mark Morris Dance Group
US choreographer Mark Morris founds his own company, the Mark Morris Dance Group, based in New York

1981 Guillem dances in Paris
16-year-old ballerina Sylvie Guillem joins the Paris Opera Ballet

1983 Nureyev directs Paris Opera Ballet
Rudolf Nureyev begins a successful 6-year period as artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet

1984 Forsythe directs Frankfurt Ballet
US choreographer William Forsythe becomes director of the Frankfurt Ballet

1987 In the middle somewhat elevated
Sylvie Guillem and Laurent Hilaire dance in the Paris premiere of William Forsythe's In the middle somewhat elevated

1989 English National Ballet
The English National Ballet evolves from London's Festival Ballet

1989 Guillem moves to London
French ballerina Sylvie Guillem moves from Paris to join the Royal Ballet in London

1989 Darcy Bussell gets her chance
Kenneth MacMillan gives 20-year-old Darcy Bussell the leading role in his new full-length ballet, The Prince of the Pagodas

1990 Martins directs New York City Ballet
Danish choreographer Peter Martins becomes director of the New York City Ballet

1990 White Oak Dance Project
Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris establish the White Oak Dance Project as a touring company

1990 Birmingham Royal Ballet
The Sadler's Wells ballet company moves to Birmingham, to become the Birmingham Royal Ballet

1990 Mukhamedov joins Royal Ballet
Russian dancer Irek Mukhamedov leaves the Bolshoi company to join the Royal Ballet in London

1992 Dance Theatre of Harlem in South Africa
The New York company Dance Theatre of Harlem tours South Africa, with the slogan 'Dancing Through Barriers'

1994 Riverdance
Riverdance, based on traditional Irish step dancing, is presented first as an entertainment in the Eurovision Song Contest

1995 All-male Swan Lake
British choreographer Matthew Bourne has a great success with his all-male Swan Lake

1997 Schaufuss founds ballet company
Danish choreographer Peter Schaufuss founds his own ballet company at Holstebro

2005 Israel removes settlers from Gaza
Israel uses force to remove settlers who refuse to leave Gaza in accordance with Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan