Wednesday 26th September 2018 â Blog Post #1221
Hello darlings! This is Emma from Derbyshire, England, and this is my weekly blog from Vienna!
Vienna - oh Vienna! You truly are a city that stole my heart, as Iâm sure you did so many othersâ. This city is dripping with history, architecture, art and above all â music. I adore that the iconic waltz was born right here in Vienna. Even just walking through the city with its magnificent grand squares and wide boulevards filled with beautiful, well-dressed people it feels as though Iâm transported to a different era â one of elegance and high society â and I donât mean to sound old-fashioned when I say this, but in a good way!
Of course, a city of this importance must be a hub for ballet. And wouldnât you know it? â Vienna does indeed host an illustrious state opera house which is truly magical. This cityâs love for all things dance is intoxicating and the sheer passion in each dance move at every ballet performance is utterly compelling. Itâs almost impossible to stop myself from clapping my hands and joining in â even if I am sitting in the first row in my gorgeous pink tutu!
The Magic of Vienna:
I took a train journey to get here, and oh my gosh, did I travel in style. It wasnât the kind of rickety carriage youâd find in some period drama with a noisy group of people crowded into a dingy carriage. Nope, I got the luxurious type â with large plush seats to sink into â like being cocooned in comfort. You could almost forget you were on a train. The scenery flitted past in a blur as I travelled. Thereâs something quite wonderful about looking out at fields, forests and rivers go by, but it wasnât just any train, it was a high-speed train that was whipping around the country and delivering me directly to the heart of the city.
It felt incredibly grand. It was a trip back in time in a stylishly futuristic manner â what could be better than that? I just canât wait to see what Vienna holds in store for me! I just have to take some time to stop and smell the roses - and soak up the culture and elegance this city has to offer. I think a visit to the Museum of Art History might be on the agenda for tomorrow, so I better go and pick out my best pink tutu for the occasion.
What I Did On The 26th September
When I finally arrived in Vienna, my breath was taken away! The city centre is simply gorgeous â I took some snaps for Instagram and added lots of cute filters so that everything looked picture perfect. Iâm absolutely loving how this fabulous, historical city is looking fantastic for a twenty-first-century selfie! Youâll have to look me up online â youâll recognise me immediately, itâs just the same glamorous style with my cute pink tutu on full display.
And then⌠the ballet, I just had to go. Iâve been a ballerina ever since I was a little girl. I just love everything to do with ballet. All the fancy dress, the costumes, the history â but most importantly, it is all about dance! My heart flutters whenever I see dancers on stage!
So what ballet did I pick for the day? You might be asking, Emma, what did you choose this week? Why oh why is the ballet you chose so very⌠special? Because⌠drumroll intensifies because I had chosen to go to The Magic Flute â a most amazing production at the Vienna State Opera House. It was such a treat!
I have to mentionâŚI always pick out my perfect tutu to suit the show, you see. For this production, it had to be a gorgeous tutu with the same sparkle and whimsy of this classic production, but a tutu that had some gorgeous detail, and lots of shimmering sequins too. After the performance I spent hours exploring the beautiful city â finding more cafes and amazing, inspiring bakeries that all seemed to offer more cakes than you could possibly eat, though believe me I did try to, I tried! The Viennese coffee houses are delightful and quite heavenly. A cup of strong coffee, and a sweet slice of something scrumptious is a treat not to be missed - a little bit of indulgence!
I had to explore some fashion shops and pick up a new tutu, as I realised, the more ballet shows I go to the more I discover that you really need a different tutu for every single show. It's like picking out shoes for an occasion - each ballet performance just needs a different type of tutu. It has become an artform! So there I was browsing around, my eyes wide, checking out tutu patterns, materials and looking at all the gorgeous textures, thinking this is the best job in the world â who knew ballet could bring a girl to such amazing fashion finds! It was a pink kind of day! And what day wouldnât be with a new pink tutu in your bag?
Tutu Talk: Pink Tutu history and ballet history
And then I had this idea that would be so cute â a little something for the Pink-Tutu.com blog, which of course, you just have to go and take a look at! This is the absolute perfect pink tutu blog. Itâs chock-full of tutu talk. You might find it rather surprising, but did you know that tutus werenât always pink and there's actually quite a history to their style evolution? Theyâve been around in various styles for quite some time.
A Quick Peek Behind the Veil: Tutus through the Years
- In the 15th Century there were very early tutus, which resembled a medieval form of clothing called a âbell skirtâ but I donât know what the colour wouldâve been! Imagine how much fun it would be if we could go back and give those ballerinas a gorgeous pink tutu to wear. Just the thought is absolutely wonderful.
- Then a few centuries later the romantics got involved and things became a lot more fluffy â those ballerina skirts looked much more airy and light, which they still look like to this day. Of course, by this point, in the nineteenth century, I just can't imagine them being anything but gorgeous, beautiful and oh-so-feminine pink. The color of a ballet rose!
- A couple of decades after that tutus continued to evolve and became even more short â the design just got more and more delicate and lovely â all that fabric and ruffles became like a soft, graceful swirling mist around each beautiful ballerina's form. Whatâs better than that? - Iâll tell you what, I don't think itâs ever been as fabulous. Thatâs just an observation of a true ballet connoisseur, like me!
A Waltz to End The Day
As I drifted away to sleep that night in my hotel room, all those dancing tutus from The Magic Flute spun in my dreams - the lovely white tutus worn by Queen of the Night, and the very romantic pink ones for the other beautiful dancers who moved so perfectly across the stage!
Then I got my feet back on the ground the next morning! Iâm taking the time to explore some of the city's lovely little cafes, but also taking the time to enjoy some fantastic sights around the city â those breathtaking churches with the tall, towering steeples reaching skywards! What a delightful mix! The magic is still here - all around - even if I have to put my ballerina shoes back on and be on the move for just another hour or so ⌠this is the place that can truly get you up and dancing, I can already feel the rhythm coming to life in Vienna⌠a beautiful place to see and be seen in my pink tutu - a truly glamorous affair - I will post my next Vienna update on next week! And oh how I look forward to that!
