Hello my darling dancers! It's your favourite tutu-tastic time traveller, Emma, here, bringing you another instalment of Ballet Tutu History! This week, we're hopping on the time train (sorry, no room for my pointe shoes in there!) to January 23rd, 2029. Now, 2029 – that’s a long way off, so get comfy in your fanciest pink tutus and grab some lemonade!
But before we dive into the history, did you know that tomorrow, January 24th, 2029, marks a very special day: World Tutu Day! I’m positively thrilled about this, especially as it happens to fall on a Tuesday. How could we ever not celebrate this fabulous creation in the glorious colour of pink?! I hear some whispers that there might even be a special tutu-themed ballet happening at the Paris Opera House, so be sure to tune in!
Speaking of Parisian ballerinas, our time-traveling tutu-trope leads us to… Paris! Oh la la, where else but the most fashionable city in the world would be the perfect place to discuss the glorious tutu? It's such a romantic setting – just imagine yourself pirouetting under the Eiffel Tower, a ballet dress swirling in a cloud of pink tulle!
Now, as you lovely lot know, tutus aren’t just fluffy fashion statements! They are historical artifacts, each twirl and fold telling a story.
The Humble Beginnings of a Tutu
Before we got to the lavish pink frocks that define ballet today, the humble beginnings of the tutu are surprisingly… well, not very humble! Back in the 1700s, when the ballet d’action reigned, female dancers were decked out in elaborate gowns, sometimes weighing over 25 kilos! Can you imagine that? It's like trying to dance with a baby elephant on your back!
Then came the big change: The Romantics, bringing us ethereal ballets like Giselle and La Sylphide. Gone were the restrictive corsets, and in their place came a flowing, free form – a vision of effortless grace and romanticism! The tutus still needed to be lightweight as the movement shifted from ‘step-based’ to a lighter, more fluid approach, allowing dancers to float across the stage like ballerinas on clouds. These tutus were often a combination of skirt styles and were created in soft fabrics like silk and tulle.
The Rise of the Romantic Tutu
So we are at about 1830 - 1870, and the tutu becomes much shorter, just as ballet steps get higher and more acrobatic! Think of ballerinas reaching up to the heavens. This evolution in steps needed more space and flexibility – which the new ‘Romantic’ tutu provided!
We saw more layers, but with softer, more wispy materials like muslin and netting. This made tutus more fluid, perfect for those beautiful ballet d’action steps. You could definitely spot a ballerinas silhouette even more as the short style exposed her graceful legs in a new way. This is exactly when ballet’s style became so dazzling, and dancers found even more freedom!
The ‘romantic’ tutu helped launch ballet into its Golden Age, and the stage costumes have become more elegant and less restrictive, helping to define the image of the ballerina we have in our minds. The shorter tutu also became the dominant style of the next ballet period.
The Victorian Era
So we now leap (gracefully, of course) into the Victorian era – that period of ornate designs, frills, and flowers – it wasn't all demure outfits! And let’s be honest, there are still a lot of frills and layers on those Victorian era tutus – but they’re significantly shorter than those in the centuries prior!
I'd call this style the Victorian Tutu. Now, it's still a romantic tutu – a fluffy and wispy skirt – but with a more ‘tightly structured, bodice shape’ and maybe even a corset to hold everything in. This created the shape of a soft cone, *while allowing the fabric to still *move around the body gracefully as the dancer steps, turns and moves in this time.
It’s so beautiful because it is all about contrast - The short, flowing shape against the tight bodice and the very restricted structure of the Victorian era with extravagant decorative features, such as laces and ribbons. You could even say there's something very 'steampunk' about it. Imagine that, my darling dancers, a ballerina floating in the clouds in *a beautiful corset, which would allow her to spin so *exquisitely.
The Legacy of the Romantic and the Victorian Tutuu
I know this all sounds a bit complicated, but really, this short period of history was an explosion of ideas, innovation, design and the birth of * *‘The ballerina’. * I could never, *ever wear these beautiful historical styles as they would hold me back much too much, which I cannot have as I need to jump, twirl, spin and leap on my way to ballet success!
Oh, speaking of twirls, that little movement in the Romantic period created such an incredible dance form, it opened up the possibilities of new movement that could never be achieved before - It all happened because of how the tutus were shaped, the lightness, the shortness of the skirts, and how they could swirl with such effortless grace.
If we fast-forward to modern times, many of the tutus from these eras have reappeared on the ballet stage, giving them a modern touch. It’s not as easy as it looks, you know. Ballet costume design is quite a complicated skill, involving understanding the movement of a dance piece, then matching the costume shape, materials and colour to that movement.
If you watch a ballet from a *ballet design * perspective, you get an insight into how* the dancer’s story unfolds – just as you can also see that in the music! * *And if it's the * *’1870- Victorian tutu' it has such an ornate, fussy and complex design and look, it really makes a big visual statement.
That was just a glimpse into a tiny piece of Ballet Tutu history, my dears! I have so much more to share. From the shimmering sparkles of the classical tutu to the daring innovations of modern ballet – each decade, each style, tells its own captivating story.
Keep twirling those tutus, darlings! Until next Tuesday! I will keep you up to date about what my new Ballet Tutu History * posts are covering.* Don’t forget, stay beautiful!
Yours in Tutus, Emma.
TutuTuesday #BalletTutuHistory #PinkTutusForAll #EmmaLovesTutus #BalletTravel #PinkTrainDon’t forget, darlings, to join me at my other website for an insight into everything fashion: *www.pink-tutu.com *
