Hello lovelies! 🩰 It's Emma here, and welcome back to Pink Tutu Time Travels! I'm absolutely thrilled to share with you all my latest adventure, transporting me all the way back to February 2nd, 1817. Buckle up your pink tutus and grab your champagne, darlings, as we're going on a journey back in time! This is post number 1874, and you can find all my previous posts at www.pink-tutu.com. I've been posting these monthly, with a bit of magic and some serious time-traveling skills, and I must admit, this is one for the books!
Now, you may be wondering, how did I end up in 1817? Well, it was a delightful stroke of serendipity, wouldn't you agree? My dearest Magic Meg, a truly majestic shire horse with the most dazzling pink sparkle and a golden-hooved swagger, snorted and stomped her way through the Derbyshire countryside, a whirlwind of pink enchantment. We landed near the Théâtre de l'Opéra in Paris, and oh, what a sight it was! I must say, I’m smitten with 18th- and 19th-century ballet. It was the perfect time for the golden age of the dance.
As I was looking at my calendar in 1817, I saw there were actually quite a few different dance performances to watch. Firstly, it was all about French ballets - Italian operas were still very popular, and they all contained some amazing ballet! Now, you may be aware of that glorious masterpiece, ‘La Sylphide’, which debuted in Paris in 1832. It’s definitely an amazing ballet to watch. However, I am finding that it’s quite similar in style to many others that were performed in 1817 - that said, 1817 had some excellent ones.
One was 'Le Retour du Carnaval', and while a French ballet (written by Castil Blaze, and featuring music from Charles Simon Catel, as well as the music of the ‘big’ Mozart (his famous ‘Figaro’) for its finale), this piece had more than one performance in this time period, with many adaptations by some notable choreographers of the day, namely Louis Milon and Jean-Baptiste Blache. If you fancy getting the 1817 ballet style right, ‘Le Retour du Carnaval’ will set you on the right track. In it, we get to see not only some really brilliant classical French dance, we also get the spectacle of masks!
We can all admire ‘The Romantic Era’ now - and that’s because the ballet is very passionate and emotional and can be linked back to many famous operas, especially Rossini’s operas - ‘William Tell’ in particular - and indeed, ‘Le Retour du Carnaval’ borrowed from him as well, to bring us the spectacular dances of 1817. I did find it intriguing to watch as they combined dancing, beautiful costumes, theatrical lighting and really made good use of masks and other scenery for dramatic effect!
Speaking of theatrical spectacles, we just had to attend a showing of ‘La Bayadère' by Pierre Gardel and Marius Petipa at the Théâtre de l'Opéra. The music came from composer Charles Simon Catel and its Parisian Premiere was January 1817, while the most notable version was danced at the Russian Imperial Ballet in the middle of the 19th Century and became its biggest ‘workhorse’ in that time period. They were all very successful works and, from what I saw in my time travelling experience, very beautiful in design and execution.
The 1817 season opened at the Parisian opera house in December 1816, but it featured operas with some fantastic ballet work as well as some pantomime, where again, dance featured strongly. The ‘Grand Pas des Déesses’ and ‘La Sylphide’ really made me appreciate how ballets of the future like ‘Le Lac des Cygnes’ or ‘Don Quixote’, for example, were inspired by those in the early nineteenth century. That’s another thing to love about being a time traveler, I can see how dance developed, the patterns, styles and costumes have a story behind them.
There’s something that’s hard to explain in ballet, you just need to see it - and feel it - and I’m convinced that every dancer out there would want to be transported back to see the very foundations that their ‘steps’ come from. It’s like, well, seeing the story in the ballet dance itself…
But now, I want to hear all about YOU, darlings! What did you think of the early 19th century? Have any of you seen the pieces I’ve talked about? Or what are your favorites? Let’s chat in the comments section below! I simply cannot wait to hear about your time travels in the world of ballet! 💕 🩰
Oh! And don't forget to browse my latest ballet fashion collection on the Pink Tutu website! You can get the ultimate pink tutu, shimmering shoes and all the gorgeous garments I have been picking up from my time travels, to truly transform yourself into the ballerina of your dreams!
See you all next month for another time-travelling adventure, my loves!
Love,
Emma 💕✨
And remember, lovelies, no one can make the world a more magical place quite like the ballerina in a pink tutu. I can't wait for us to see what the future of ballet fashion holds, together!
