#TutuTuesday Ballet Tutu History on 1992-03-31

Hello my darlings, and welcome to #TutuTuesday, the weekly pink tutu extravaganza where we explore the wondrous world of the ballet tutu! Today, we’re waltzing our way back in time, to the delightful 31st of March 1992, a date filled with balletic wonder!

As always, I'm your pink tutu-clad guide, Emma, whisked here to you from the vibrant heart of Derbyshire, England! Today's #TutuTuesday will transport us straight into a ballet-filled past, packed with dazzling tutus and beautiful ballet performances! It’s time to strap on those tap shoes, darling, and get ready to step back into a tutu-filled wonderland.

So, what’s a glamorous gal like myself doing hopping back through the mists of time to the late eighties and early nineties? Well, it's all thanks to a generous offer I received to perform at a glorious charity ballet event - what could be better? That’s my secret to hopping around the eras, darlings! You see, I fund my delightful journeys through a series of captivating performances, which takes me to magical places - Paris, New York, you name it! It’s a tough job, but someone's got to do it, don't you think?

So, now I’m here in 1992. Time travel, darling, takes time! Time travel takes me time, darling, to make the most of these places, that’s why I arrive earlier, with just enough time to do a spot of sightseeing and indulge in the glorious vintage fashions of the time! This week I had the opportunity to pick up a vintage Jean Paul Gaultier skirt – absolutely fabulous!

And on the 31st March, 1992, you won't believe what happened! Well, I'm guessing it happened every single year in fact. What? Why the Royal Opera House Ballet of course! This is my sort of event! I’ve managed to wangle a ticket to a spectacular production - the wonderful Giselle - a timeless masterpiece full of romantic yearning, breathtaking dancing, and breathtaking tutus! It’s an evening I’m truly looking forward to, and I can’t wait to share my ballet insights, along with those gorgeous, shimmering tutu photos with you, darling. Just imagine - that romantic stage, the perfect pink lighting – absolutely divine. It’s truly the kind of ballet you dream about!

Oh! The tutus in Giselle, darling, you won’t believe! Well, actually you will because we talked about them last week, on #TutuTuesday – those Romantic Era tutus – short, puffed, beautiful, but, sadly a bit uncomfortable to wear because, it’s all silk. This isn't my favourite kind of tutu. But! There are amazing opportunities for fashion here - and the Romantic era had beautiful fashions as well, just like our Romantic era tutus.

But, that is just the start of our #TutuTuesday adventure! I just LOVE this period in time, so we'll be discussing lots more about the Romantic Era tutu - a style I can only really enjoy from the safety of a few decades ahead! Let’s chat tutus!

So, in the world of the ballet tutu, the Romantic Era holds a special place - the world of beautiful tutus which we associate with ballerina beauty. It’s a world of light, airy tulle, flowing silk, graceful lines - simply glorious. But darling, how did we get here, to the iconic tutu design that we are all familiar with today, the one that conjures images of ballerinas on pointe, spinning across the stage in graceful splendor? Let’s take a spin down the path of history!

You’ll never believe it but, originally, there were no tutus - ballerinas would wear floor-length dresses! But, I know this won't come as any surprise - a ballerina can't dance well in a long gown, right? Well, things changed at the end of the 18th Century when ballet dancers moved towards shorter skirts - skirts designed for dancing – shorter, yet more luxurious with satin, layers of tulle and lavishly decorated. They would even use fabric of lace – imagine dancing with layers of silk lace - fabulous, right? Oh how I long to see those ballerinas dance! I am sure they would be absolutely fabulous.

Imagine - you're the audience, at this glamorous and exclusive ballet. The room, lit with candles, is abuzz with anticipation. All the ladies are in ball gowns. Imagine the thrill, seeing those fabulous, layered, lace skirts swirling around the ballerina.

Let’s go back to our glamorous tutus for a minute, shall we? We talked about them, didn't we, just a minute ago? This glamorous design came around about 1830. It came about, darling, as a result of one extremely popular and iconic ballet called La Sylphide.

This was a new ballet, featuring a heroine – a “sylphide” - a beautiful, ethereal creature who represents purity, joy, and even the very breath of life, if you will, (or, more likely, you won’t! That's poetry for you!), She would only appear for a brief moment before vanishing as quickly, so how was she to show this amazing etherealness?

Now we are talking! They did this by adding a tutu – it became a design that showed "purity, fragility, and airy freedom.” Now this is exactly what we love to see! That “fairy-like” silhouette with this shorter skirt, barely reaching the knee! All the layers and puffing created this wonderful movement, but it would have also required amazing balance and grace! Imagine wearing a skirt that needed to move around so fluidly - amazing.

You can see La Sylphide again if you come back in time! (The whole tutu history thing gets much more exciting - not just because we get to talk tutus - but you could watch the performances as well!) The premiere of La Sylphide on March 12th 1832 is considered a turning point in ballet history, a beautiful step forward from the previous era of heavier, “serious” (read “boring”, darling) ballets to the lovely , lightness of romanticism! La Sylphide, inspired a change in the way tutus looked and helped change what we see today. Imagine this is the point in our little journey in ballet history when the story really starts - 1832 is the year of the iconic Romantic era ballet!

La Sylphide was one of the earliest ballet works in what we now know as the “Romantic Period" (1830-1870ish, I always add an ish so I have some room for some creative dancing), It’s romantic dancing, but also, ballet's Golden Age of Ballet! (In case you can’t read, this is an extremely significant time, my dear!) Think airy, flowing movement and gorgeous, light tutus - this era is what makes the world of tutus truly bloom.

The ballerinas, however, had some difficulty keeping it all up because, you see, ballet shoes didn't have pointe shoes just yet. They didn't actually start dancing on pointe until later in this era - the pointe shoes in La Sylphide were pretty unstable and prone to collapsing (much more stable and fun nowadays!). The pointe shoe invention was another big leap, an important invention, and was a good 15 years after the invention of the romantic tutu. But, if you were to have gone back, darlings, in time you could see the most amazing change happening: the rise of pointe work, with the graceful tutus swirling in every perfect twirl! Oh my! I would love to be dancing back there.

Let’s step forward in time to this change, now – and the iconic tutu design from the end of the 19th century that we all know today is called the Classical tutu. You could be tempted, darling, to just rush to the 1890s for this glorious perfect style! The Classical tutu. I can imagine you, there! I can see your wonderful pink tutu, swaying gracefully. Oh yes, darling - you just know the Classical tutu. It's the one which makes us all feel that ballet is graceful, delicate, and very feminine - and you can wear that feeling and look, even now! There is this beautiful flowing style with so many layers and so much depth and height - which would just be amazing in pink!

If you love the style of the Romantic tutu (my darling, you should - those early Romantic Era styles were a little different because of those lovely long and flowing lines) then you might also be a big fan of the classical tutu too because it brings back some of those aspects with it. So, to bring things full circle (don't get your dance skirt twisted), this style was very well loved and a lot of its inspiration actually comes from the tutus of Giselle and La Sylphide . So if you were in the late 1800s or on stage dancing at a grand ballet, and in a show that wasn’t set during the Romantic era – like a production of Swan Lake, for example - the dancers would be wearing this gorgeous Classical tutu. I imagine the beautiful ballerinas performing, twirling their long tutus to an audience. It is very much how they dance now. So I don’t need a time machine to see those twirling movements and long-line tutu designs - it’s the ballet tradition that’s carried through right up to this day!

That gorgeous design! The Classical tutu! It’s full and airy and it shows every graceful twirl - imagine all those beautiful dancers wearing those exquisite and long layers of tulle with its shorter skirt length. I simply adore the layers – just imagine how amazing these layers must look - in an exciting stage show under lots of bright lighting, on the stage. That’s a must-have for my ballet to do list – but the Romantic tutu was beautiful as well. That graceful beauty and how that would look in an outfit! It's truly timeless – but what’s not timeless, is when to put a Classical tutu on because the design kept on changing all the time! So you need your tutu diary out!

The great ballerina, Maria Tallchief – the amazing American prima ballerina - a real dance superstar, was performing a short season with The Royal Ballet in London and, it seems from my investigations into tutu design history, that the Royal Opera Ballet at the Royal Opera House are a big part of Classical tutu style from this time. (They are today!) From all accounts (ballet lovers and dancers have given me this info - trust me), their classical tutu’s of 1992, they were beautifully crafted. I am off on a day out at Covent Garden and then a glorious Giselle ballet performance - it’s my excuse to go to London today but don’t be too jealous, darling. You're always here with me, in spirit!

In fact, their (and every other Royal Opera House’s) style for that period (we will call it late 20th century , so we have room for more style discussions! ), is the most popular - and that means it has some pretty special rules!

#TutuTuesday - The Rules for 1992's Classical Tutues. You can buy them online, in fact if you find one for a reasonable price you should snap it up. They often go in and out of fashion, darling. If you can afford it, then have fun collecting all these wonderful classical tutu variations for a perfect “tutu closet”, it's such fun (it is for me!). Anyway, the style rule for this period is pretty straight forward - it has a *long *design. I've been looking all over the online ballet shops and I love what I see so far - I've even made a note about a wonderful tutu from a ballet dancer named Monique. And yes darlings, it has a stunning shade of pink, a pretty pink.

Now, my darlings! That’s all from me this #TutuTuesday! Have you worn a tutu, darlings, today? Are you on your way to see a ballet performance - if so, have a glorious time, but don’t forget to wear something beautiful. The ideal thing, of course is a beautiful pink tutu. Remember, I’m hoping, with your help, to encourage everyone to put on a tutu - let’s bring some amazing ballet fun to every day, so I look forward to hearing your suggestions and ideas – how can we all make tutus, even more, a part of everyone's daily lives? Until next time, darling! See you on #TutuTuesday!