The image of the ballerina is a familiar one that evokes romance, elegance, whimsy and grace and is most ingrained in our memory as a figure in a fanciful tutu. The ballet tutu is a skirt usually made of tulle or some other light and diaphanous fabric that retains a bell-like shape, wrapping the dancer’s waist in a mist of cloth and revealing enough of her legs to showcase the intricate steps she is capable of.

The tutu’s early incarnation was in the romantic mold, a skirt that draped to a little below the knee and flowed easily with the dancer’s movements. This tutu was popular in the 1800’s, during which time dancers also began to evolve their en pointe (upon their toes) method of dancing and when dance became a more elaborate performance.

As ballet changed and performances altered to accommodate a more expectant viewing audience, the tutu also transformed to highlight still more of the dancer’s leg work. The classic tutu that eventually surfaced is known to us in the form of the stiffened tulle fabric cut very short to reveal almost all of the dancer’s legs. It is a fashion that lends itself to the appreciation of the ballerina’s aesthetic footwork and maybe also contributes to one’s sense that the dancer lives on a different plane, with her gauzy, cloud-like skirt lifting her along with her legs to other levels.

image: Edgar Degas, painting, Ballerina
image: Edgar Degas, sculpture, Dancer

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Tags: Ballerina, Ballet history, Dancer, Edgar Degas, Fashion History, History DVDs, history of dancer's tutu, origins of ballerina tutu, origins of ballet tutu, painting, replica guns, Replica Swords, scale model kits, sculpture, tulle