Hello lovelies! It's Emma here, back for another #TutuTuesday. My fellow ballet-loving time-travelers! I'm so excited to take you back to July 27th, 1993 for our tutu history journey today, it's such a fantastic day for a spot of time-travelling.
For today's voyage I've chosen Paris! Ah, Paris! The city of love! And ballet! Who doesn’t love Paris and ballet? It’s absolutely my favourite place to be when travelling back in time. Not only is the food absolutely divine – croissants the size of my head – but Paris also boasts such incredible architecture it’s almost too much to take in. And oh my! The fashion - just look at the beautiful skirts and shoes, the silk, the colour.
Today, as you know, we are exploring the wonderful world of tutus so I am, of course, wearing my very special pink tutu, and with this fabulous French inspiration I have a pretty silk top and a pair of perfectly matched pastel pink high heeled shoes, my go-to look for travelling through time, it always goes down well.
Speaking of Paris, 1993 saw the premiere of “Le Parc,” the last ballet choreographed by the legendary Roland Petit, an incredible ballet choreographer who really brought drama and glamour to the art form, such a star, and what fabulous costumes and dancing - I do love a beautiful tutu, especially a romantic one.
Right, let's hop in our little time machine. whoosh
And look! The date’s July 27th, 1993 and we’re at the Palais Garnier, the Parisian home of the Opéra de Paris. Such an impressive and beautiful building! So beautiful and grand. The sheer size of it all. This grand opera house is a true Parisian institution, one of the most celebrated opera houses in the world, you can even hear whispers of its presence in the most famous Phantom of the Opera stories. I bet you’ve heard that famous music – the best.
I'm always struck by how beautifully everyone is dressed at these performances - so elegant, all of those ladies and gentlemen looking fantastic in their formal wear and the amazing hairstyles and the stunning ladies in the box wearing beautiful opera gloves - and speaking of fashion! Let’s take a closer look at the ballerinas on stage! What a wonderful array of tutus and ballet costumes to enjoy!
In 1993 we're at the start of a big shift in the ballet world with so many of the stars now wearing new style tutus - and not just the traditional classic white ones! There is more variety than ever - we've got all shades and sizes of pink tutus, a lot more pastel colours, and even more metallic colours.
For our tutu history journey we need to remember that the history of tutus isn’t a simple one - tutus as we know them today didn't really appear until the 19th Century, even though the inspiration for their design goes way back to the very first ballet shows in Italy, during the 15th Century!
You see before tutus became part of ballet shows the women would wear large, flowing dresses, it was actually rather uncomfortable, to be honest, and often quite hot on stage.
What changed? Well, the design for the tutu came about to enable the dancers to move and dance more easily with their legs and feet free to move with the new styles of ballet choreography and the new styles of dance, like ballet de pointe or the famous pointe work with pointe shoes which would become so popular all over the world a couple of decades later.
For those of you who are new to this fabulous art form (how is it possible!), a tutu is the name for the very short and often very fluttering skirt worn by ballerinas. I simply adore tutus – the fluffier the better! For many people when they think ballet, they think tutus – they really are such a symbol of the art form and what’s so interesting about them is how the design has evolved over time. In fact, a lot of the development in ballet design and costuming comes down to the material the tutu is made from and the way that it is made.
What is important is that the tutus must allow ballerinas to move effortlessly - just look at their graceful leaps and pirouettes, they just soar! So as the style of dancing changes, so too must the tutu to suit the style and the shape.
So that was our little trip through time, and look we are back in my very own Derbyshire home already, the journey was so fast, my favourite type of trip!
The best bit about a journey into the past is it always makes you think about the future - where do you think tutus are going to go, and what wonderful styles are we going to see? I’m off to practice my moves!
Remember, everyone, we are a pink-tutu army. We want everyone wearing a pink tutu at every occasion. Go out and dance like it’s 1993 and we can do this! I have to run now – it’s a busy week, a trip to the theatre, more time travel and, of course, I must pop to the shops for a few new tutus because there is always a new one to be found!
Don’t forget to pop over to my favourite place www.pink-tutu.com for your favourite pink tutus and some wonderful ballet fashion. See you all next Tuesday! Have a wonderful week everyone!
