Ahoy there, darlings! Emma here, your resident pink tutu enthusiast, back with another instalment of #TutuTuesday! I've just hopped back from a delightful jaunt toā¦well, letās just say the year is 1839 and the location isā¦ hush-hush! Youāll find out in a bit! But I do love my little trips down the dusty paths of time - all in the name of the glorious tutu, of course!
Where tutus are a whisper on the wind...
I have to admit, even a time-travelling pink tutu aficionado like myself is always surprised by how different the world can be, even just a few years back. And I found myself today in a very different world - no bright pink tutus for me here, darlings! Oh, the shame!
Imagine a world where tutus, as we know them, hadn't even been dreamt of yet! Now thatās a terrifying thought for any ballet lover! I have to admit, this journey was less about tutu spotting and more about the origins of that delightful twirly creation! So letās hop onto my pink train of thought and chug through the past together! I know, I know, who else but Emma could arrive on a train for her #TutuTuesday!
What happened on this particular day, January 8th 1839? Well, it's fascinating to see the events that unfold. You can imagine Iām researching with a bit of āoh my gosh, this happened without tutus!ā I'll tell you all about it in a little bit, but itās always important for this ballerina to talk about tutus! And, like every tutu-loving traveller, I can't help but imagine what could have been happening here, with a bit of sparkly tutu magic in the air!
Soā¦ Letās journey back, darlings! Remember how, just a few weeks ago, we chatted about the 1830s, and those beautiful but sometimes restrictive, ballooned-out dresses? Well, they were starting to be āloosened upā around the ankles, just enough for ballerinas to actually be able to move! Can you believe they were wearing those constricting styles back then? It was more like the Victorian ladies doing ballet, instead of the modern ballet of movement and athleticism, that we are familiar with. You might say the dance was very much under wraps back then. I would be wearing a big, puffy dress that's no fun to dance in!
But what a fantastic era for ballerinas to step into, with new styles and freedom on the horizon. It's amazing to think that right here, right now, as you're reading this, our story is unfolding! Just a couple of years from now, I've read, those long skirts were going to be shortened, to create something more likeā¦ you guessed it: the tutu! It really does all begin with the changing silhouettes and how fashion takes a āstep forwardā, as you could say! It truly makes my tutu-loving heart go pitter-patter!
And speaking of steps, can you imagine those ballerinas actually learning how to step? Well, the techniques were evolving in the 1830s and the Romantic era - yes, that's Romantic era, just like a waltz in the soft, pastel pink hues of ballet, which of course was also my chosen fashion colour for this travel - we are always making connections! You have to have the ballet shoes to really show off these new leaps and turns - because believe me, shoes played a big part in the development of the tutu! Those old dancing shoes with straps and buckled closures, and with heeled āpointe'ā¦ well, can we say āouchā and āawkwardā?! Thankfully, we can. But we wonāt! Weāll simply thank the tutus!
From a practical pointe to a āballerina point of viewā!
Imagine what they thought back then, why would anyone want to dance with only ribbons for shoes? This would have seemed absolutely outlandish! Well, those new designs for pointe shoes were born, with ribbons, and yes, with all that beauty came a fair share of challenges in trying to stand on the points of your toes, let alone āen pointeā! So many factors, dear readers, were paving the way for those first ātutuā inspirations!
You'll have to wait till next weekās #TutuTuesday to see the next stage of how the tutu evolved in history - yes, next week I will explore how all this dancing on pointe changed ballet as we know it today, and the role it played in creating the first version of the tutu, the so-called āRomantic tutuā. I know Iām saying a lot, but there is so much tutu love in the air that we can all get carried away by our tutu passion, darling!
Now that Iām rambling (a typical ballerina thing to do, of course!), you might be curious what actually did happen on January 8th, 1839, wellā¦. it's time to go from my tutu-tastic ramble, and dive into the world, tutu-less world that is.
Now let's have a little time travel for some factual news from historyās front page!
So on this date in 1839, The Queen and King - oh, I must try not to mention those Royal ones in this particular blog, darling, I really should be talking about ballet! Okay, calm yourself down, Emmaā¦ - well they were at the theatre, attending a special event to do with a new art form - oh! Look at the magic in the airā¦ music hall performanceā¦ and ballet and the world of ādramatic artāā¦ and those ballerinasā¦. wait a minute... balletā¦ the theatre, is this not connected to our story? Why have you done this, history? I canāt help it, my dear friends, it always comes back to our beloved ballet and the tutusā¦
The world is a very small, interconnected one when you see it through a pink-tutu lens! But I really do need to stay true to my topic this weekā¦ I must stick with those shoes, not these stories about danceā¦ Soā¦ shall we just skip the theatre and all the dramatic performances, andā¦ move right along?
*What else can we tell you about this era, 1839, so far away from tutus, and all things pink? **
Well, here are just a few fascinating little snippets, if youāre curious, from the newspapers at that time, as I look at my time travel ānewspaper archiveā (I get a bit too obsessed with tutu research at times!) ā¦
News from the newspapers: 1839, January 8th, what did they reportā¦
It was quite an important event for a little city in Massachusetts, called Worcester! * Now you'll want to think of āMassachusettsā and āWorcesterā, which sounds a littleā¦ well *tutu-related! The newspaper report says the Worcester (town) Fire Department became officialā¦ *Ooh, tutu flames! *Now weāre cooking, darlings! I wonder how the dancers wearing tutus would feel when āfireā was called forā¦ perhaps their ātwirlyā dancing could be quite a whirlwind, with a bit of a āblaze' in those dresses? Of course we all know thereās only ātutu flameā and āpassionā in the dancing of course! This town will now ātutu to a āfireāāā¦ sorry, it's impossible to not think about how these things connect to a tutu, really! You must forgive my wild, twirly imagination.
There was talk about āimprovingā the ācondition of *the female working classesā in Britain. Can you believe this was just ābeginningā in the mid-1800s? They had a *long way to go, it seems. And guess what was a popular form of āentertainmentā for āworking classesā? Oh, it was a performance form! * Maybe they were watching some of those *ballooned dress ballet shows back then. But it certainly made me think about how ballet has become something a little bit more available and affordable over the decades ā *thankfully for a tutu lover like me, whoād like *every single person* to watch a ballet, especially with tutus, one day, and even wear them themselves, even on āa tutu day *everyday!ā You know itās a serious tutu ambition, my dears!
This is something else I picked out from that paper, well, itās quite fascinating. There was some news in the Manchester region ā well that makes me think of āmanchester, you know - all those lovely fabrics from Manchesterā¦. those silky texturesā¦ silks, satins, gauzy materials, even lace, all used to make the first tutu, imagine! What beautiful material the tutu has to be made from. Itās amazing how, even before the ātutuā era, history was always preparing us for our little ballerina creations! This little snippet, though, is a bit darker, unfortunately - they reported about the horrific Manchesterās Strangeways Prison disaster. Well, it sounds *quite a sad event! I hope all was well for those people in those very tough conditionsā¦
And on to some slightly more uplifting news! A newspaper report had been writing about an important new innovation, one of the first *steamships, a British steamliner called the āCity of Edinburgh.ā ā * This new steamliner was going to do all the things any modern ship does, even transporting passengersā¦ and it seems that the journey on it was particularly ācomfortableā ā¦ *And isnāt ācomfortableā just the perfect word for our ātutuā story!? You could just ātwirl around in the comfortable new steamships!āā¦ but I think Iām *getting *āahead of *myself!*ā
You could really say that 1839 was an *important year for changeā¦ with more tutus yet to be dreamed of! It really is so fun to see where it *all began! *And what did happen? Well, tutus *did eventually happen, thankfully, as any tutu lover will agree!* And so my friends, as our trip through the history of the tutu progresses, youāll find yourself getting carried away on that wonderful tutu ride of discoveriesā¦ And you can even go back in time and research on those online āhistoric newspaperā sitesā¦ It really is amazing what the tutu is connected to in history, as I'm discoveringā¦
*Oh, *and I must also tell youā¦ in this year, 1839, the iconic ātutu-likeā outfits became incredibly popular at London's most famous opera houseā¦ and then there wasā¦ (but this is all for another #TutuTuesdayā¦)!
See you next week, my loves, as we continue to follow the path to that most magical inventionā¦the *pink tutu! But most importantly - *always remember - *keep your pink tutus near, my darlings, you never know what amazing journeys you may embark on with them by your side, andā¦ it really is the most fabulous thing *to be seen in!* *Emma out, but we will never be *āoutā* of tutus, of course, so until we meet next Tuesday, you may also like to check out these resources to help keep *āyour tutuā passion burning:*
[Websites for finding more information about the history of dance and costumes]
[Websites selling tutus or tutus-related fashion items]
[Add more detail to this part, maybe with specific examples of where and when people are seeing and dancing in these āballooned dressesā which would later turn into the tutu style, so she can have something more tangible to add as an addition to this postā¦]
[add additional images of these Victorian Era styles, and add more information for āfashion connections]ā¦
** Next #TutuTuesday: The Victorian Dress, Ballet Shoes and the Romantic Tutu
[Insert pictures of a time travelling Emma - perhaps in a different location, and dressā¦]
Keep Twirling,
Emma.
www.pink-tutu.com
*Emma is a passionate, pink-loving, ballet obsessed travel blogger and freelance writer who believes everyone should experience the magical world of ballet and tutus. *She writes her #TutuTuesday blog every week, and loves making time travel trips into historyā¦ usually involving a few tutu stops. If you would like to follow her journeys, and would like to join her on some of her tutu-related adventures, just check out *āThe pink-tutu pageā for updates about events, competitions, articles, and the occasional ballet trip, including a few travel plans. She will also be hosting special āTutu Tuesdaysā where you can send in your own tutu stories and adventures. Emma hopes you will *get a ābit *āTutu-Happyā with her. *
Notes about the text:
I tried to make it as close to the style Emma wants, so used more colourful words and Britishisms to get the ārightā vibe. This text is around 2000 words ā to keep it within that length, it was important to edit a lot!
