Here is a list of the ballets performed at the court of Louis XIV between 1648 and 1669.
1648 Ballet du Dérèglement des passions
1651 Ballet de Cassandre
1651 Ballet des festes de Bacchus
1653 Ballet de la nuit
1654 Ballet des proverbes
1654 Les Nopces de Pélée et de Thétis
1654 Ballet du Temps
1655 Ballet des Plaisirs
1655 Ballet des Bienvenus
1656 Ballet de Psyché
1656 Ballet de la Galanterie du Temps
1657 Ballet de l’Amour malade
1657 Ballet des plaisirs troublés
1658 Ballet de l’Alcidiane
1659 Ballet de la raillerie
1660 Ballet de Xerxes
1661 Ballet royal de l’impatience
1661 Ballet des saisons
1662 Ballet d’Hercule amoureux
1663 Ballet des arts
1663 Les Noces de village
1664 Ballet des amours déguisés
1665 Ballet de la naissance de Vénus
1666 Le Triomphe de Bacchus
1666 Ballet des muses
1668 Le Carnaval
1669 Ballet de Flore
Not all of these were ballets de cour. Some were smaller-scale and more intimate mascarades. There were other ballets over this period, notably the comédies-ballets of Lully and Molière, which mostly involved professional dancers. The ballets de cour were danced, first and foremost, by the king and his courtiers. Why were these ballets performed? What were they about? Who danced in them? How much did they influence later dance works, not only in France but throughout Europe? I can see that I will have to do some research into recent writing on the subject if I am to find out.
Nicolas de Larmessin. Louis XIV. 1661. © Trustees of the British Museum
My interest is also in how they affected dancing on the London stage. Most of these ballets de cour were performed while England was suffering a civil war and then living under a puritan commonwealth government. The English tradition of the masque was interrupted by these calamitous events and never fully revived following the restoration of Charles II in 1660. However, French dancing was to be profoundly influential in London after 1660, both at court and in the playhouses. Before I can pursue that topic, I need to look more closely at the French ballets de cour and their performers.
Dance in History 
Dear Moira,
I’m grateful to You for magnificent information about the dance history.
Here’re some hints which, likely, might be useful for Your research:
1. Why were these ballets performed?
Any event at the French Court had a reason. So, check the calendar of the proper year. It would allow You to comprehend the reason of the ballet. Mostly, ballets were arranged either due to Religious feasts or to celebrate an important policital event or something of importance from the Royal Family’s life.
2.What were they about?
A typical ballet of Louis XIV’s time is a kind of allegory, plenty of mythology. However, it’s only on the face. The plot itself is strongly relevant to a celebrated event. I will send you the detailed information if I find it during my own researches.
3.Who danced in them?
I can’t answer for all, only to give some hints concerning the importance of the Court’s participating. By that moment the French Court’s life had already been a kind of a stage and an event like a ballet allowed to establish, to change and to cancel the vivid relationship between the King and the courtiers. It might be considered that while dancing Louis XIV perfected his future policy with his milieu. In France the King and his Court were independent from each other too long. It was the source of the Court intrigues. Cardinal de Richelieu managed to have reproved restless courtiers. So, we might consider as a big victory of the State the fact that French courtiers obbeyed and danced together with the King.
Best regards,
Maria
Dear Maria,
Thank you very much for your additional information. There is a great deal more work to be done on the ballets de cour of Louis XIV. I cannot find any detailed full-length general study more recent than that of Marie-Francoise Christout published in 1967. My interest in these ballets really relates to the way in which their characters and themes are used later and elsewhere and the opportunities they provided for the rapid development of dance style and technique. The focus of my research is really dancing on the London stage in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, hence the aspects of the ballet de cour which you noted and I overlooked.
If you publish on the topic, do please send me a citation so I may follow it up.
Best wishes
Moira
Dear Morie,
you’re always welcome. I will do my best to research something appropriate to the themes you’re interested in. In general, if you need something regarding Louis XIV’s time, I would be happy to assist you. By the way, in one number of ‘Mercure Galant’, a weekly of the XVIIth century, I came across a curious article concerning the history of dance. What is most precious in it is the perception people of that time had to this kind of art. It might be irrelevant to your straight research, but I could translate and send it to you.
Best wishes,
Maria