Hello, darling tutufans! It’s your favourite time-travelling tutu enthusiast, Emma, back again for another edition of #TutuTuesday. This week, we're going to shimmy back to a particularly glamorous era in dance history: November 8th, 1927.
Fancy a trip to Paris? This is a fabulous date to choose! I’m just back from the most magnificent time! It was a total whirlwind. This Parisian scene, you see, is quite literally on fire right now - the whole city is absolutely buzzing about the Ballets Russes, and everyone, it seems, is simply smitten with these fabulous Russians!
Oh, what a fabulous week I've had in Paris! You simply must imagine: chic cafes bursting with lively chatter, the most dazzling displays of fashion in the boutiques - everyone from humble shop girls to socialites, are obsessed with everything art deco, with dresses that swirl and skim and whisper of mystery, with long, trailing lines like smoke and colours that sing with passion. You simply have to picture this - you can feel it just hanging in the air, the very air itself seems to crackle with energy and artistic ambition.
Serge Diaghilev, the maestro himself, with his Ballets Russes, have swept through like a delicious storm - everyone here is smitten with them. It's such a glamorous, flamboyant show - they use every inch of the stage - there's not a moment of dullness or rest - every scene is an explosion of drama, beauty and dance - all with the most wonderful costumes, that sparkle and flow, and they simply dazzle with the sheer drama and excitement of the choreography.
And of course, their designs are positively revolutionary. Just imagine, the** revolutionary Diaghilev commissioned not just choreographers but artists, composers and designers. They even work with a team of dressmakers! That's a real treat! Leon Bakst, for instance - he just invented colour - the vibrant fabrics, the gold, the jewels, that is absolutely thrilling! The Russian imagination and these amazing costumes are truly redefining what ballet is and what it can be, right before our eyes!
As always, darling tutufans, the very essence of their look is what inspires my Tutu Tuesday blog - the costumes in the Ballets Russes, and all their fabulous ballets, have made me see the tutu in a completely new way. Here’s my interpretation of the way these costumes are affecting tutus, darling tutufans:
The Tutu Gets Colour: We’re moving way beyond the simple pink or white tutus. The Ballets Russes are wearing bright shades, like scarlet and emerald, that absolutely pop against the stage and make their movements so very much more powerful!
The Tutu Gets an Upgrade: They're using more elaborate fabrics - they're even incorporating metal! The Ballets Russes want us to see, and to experience the dancers, as truly moving, sculptural forms, as well as graceful bodies! That is fabulous, don’t you think?
The Tutu is About Movement: These fabulous costumes flow so beautifully and move in so many ways - from elegant long drapes to the dramatic shapes of a "tutu" that is really more a* cloak* than a traditional ballerina’s garment. All these ways of dressing the dancers are adding so much to the choreographic vocabulary, giving it more excitement, more dynamic possibilities, more storytelling to inspire audiences, in all ways more impact.
In conclusion, dear tutufans, today was a really thrilling day for me! Today was about the glorious way costumes and movement really bring ballet to life, don't you think? As I head home by train, I’m already fantasizing about which designer I could possibly learn to sew for on my next adventure – what kind of tutu would you like to see me design for you, dear tutu enthusiast? Let me know, leave me a comment below.
Yours in tutu-love,
Emma
www.pink-tutu.com
