The History of the Ballet Tutu

Say the word "ballerina" and most persons will image her in a tutu. Tutus have extended been the most revered kind of ballet costume; their angelic frothiness adds at magic excellent to the appear of a ballerina. Even though she wears one particular, she appears like a sugary confection that belongs on the grandest of cakes. When quite a few are familiar with the word "tutu", most have no notion why is a tutu named a tutu, or something about its history.

It is mentioned that the initially tutu was worn in Paris, by Marie Taglioni, through her 1832 functionality of La Sylphide. Taglioni's tutu was quick adequate to reveal her infamous footwork. This time period was named the Romantic period in ballet costume history, and this tutu was known as the Romantic tutu. This lengthy, floating, ethereal style is created with 3-five layers of tulle.

More than time, the tutu grew shorter and shorter in length to reveal a lot more of the intricate footwork that dancers performed. More than the subsequent fifty years, the hemline crept larger and greater up the leg, till it looked much more like today's bell tutu, a softer, longer style very first worn by the Italian ballerina Virginia Zucci in the 1880s. This initial Classical tutu style ended just above the ballerina's knees. Later, the tutu shrank even additional to grow to be the Classical tutu, or Pancake tutu, the final item of the tutu evolution. This kind of tutu has a stiff skirt that juts out horizontally from the hips, with hooping (encased petticoat wire tacked inside its layers) to aid it retain its shape and stiffness.

George Balanchine created 1 final category of tutu designs, called the powderpuff tutu. It is comparable to the Classic tutu, but does not have hooping, and consists of fewer layers of tulle, creating it softer and additional flowing than the standard Pancake tutu.

The name, nonetheless, came from the ballet viewers in the "low-cost seats". As previously discussed, the length of the tutu was dictated by the ballet patrons, who wished to see the spectacular feats that the dancers had been performing. Lengthy ago, the folks in the audience who purchased less expensive tickets sat in the reduce part of the theater, and usually had a peek below ballerinas' skirts...at their bottoms! Clearly this brought on very a bit of speak...infant speak, that is. The French child speak word for this part of the anatomy is "cucu", which ultimately became "tutu".

Certainly, the name stuck. Even so, it is a bit amusing to contemplate origin of the name of 1 of the most revered costumes of 1 of the most revered types of dance. Tutus are and ever shall be tutus; beautiful to appear at and fun to speak about.

Grier Cooper is a California-primarily based writer/photographer and dancer who has performed worldwide with San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet and other people. She draws on More than twenty years of expertise as a dancer, teacher and performer to create fiction and non-fiction that inspires kids and adults. For a lot more details about ballet and other types of dance, sign up for a weekly free of charge newsletter @ http://www.griercooper.com and obtain a cost-free E-book, "How to Turn into a Ballerina".