The origin of tutu ballet

Sat Mar 26 10:01:35 CST 2022

Early TUTU dresses

In 1713, the French Royal Academy of Dance developed into the Theatre of Paris, and ballet began to take over the city.The French elite used to meet and chat on spacious balconies while watching ballet dancers from afar. In order to make the dancers clearly visible to the distant audience, the costumes on the dancers are gorgeous and heavily decorated. The girls wear floor-length dresses, which are beautiful but heavy, making it very difficult to move and seriously affecting the performance.

Marie Camargo is the one who improved the tutu.When she realized that the heavy skirt made the dance unchanging, she began to raise the hem of the dress to just above the ankle, so that the audience could see the dancers' footwork clearly.

Marie Taglioni took the look a step further: based on Marie Camargo, she adapted the dress to the bell TUTU we know today. The length has also been further reduced to slightly below the calf, allowing the dancer's steps to be more clearly appreciated by the audience.

The birth of the TUTU dress

In 1832, M. Taroni began using an off-the-shoulder dress designed for her by E. Lamy, calling it the Romantic tutu. The skirt has a tight bodice and a bell-shaped pleated skirt with the knee under it. The skirt is cut with several layers of white gauze and matched with light red pantyhose, which is convenient for the actors to show their dancing movements such as dancing and beating feet. In 1880 the shortened, bare-legged tutu, known as the tutu, became the standard ballet dress. The skirt consists of 4 to 5 layers of silk crepe, which is attached to the waistcoat of the corresponding size.