The elegance of ballet art always touches the soul of both adults and children. Girls are ready to spend hours looking at the most beautiful outfits with cute tutu skirts and tops embroidered with beads or rhinestones. And if the child does not do ballet, but wants to try on such an outfit, why not please the little daughter and turn her into a ballerina at the New Year's party? Moreover, creating such an image is not at all difficult and not expensive.
The ballerina costume is suitable not only for the New Year's celebration. You can easily wear it for a birthday or just for playing. Therefore, you should not put off its creation and think that now is not the right time. The description below will make it easy to understand the sequence of work, as a result of which a delightful ballerina costume will definitely come out.
Image details
In order not to forget a single detail, it is worth immediately determining which elements of the image must be present in the costume. It is best to take a photo as an example or sketch a sketch of the desired outfit yourself. A ballerina costume must also have a beautiful top or a tight-fitting long-sleeved T-shirt. You can take ready-made golf with a throat. You will also need socks. Pointe shoes can easily replace Czechs or shoes, on which you can attach pieces of satin ribbons that will need to be wrapped around your shins. If a T-shirt with thin straps is used for the top, white gloves will perfectly complement the suit. Artificial flowers can be woven into long hair, and hairpins or a headband with a beautiful decoration are suitable for a short haircut.
suit color
Children's ballerina costume can be made in absolutely any color. A key detail such as a tutu skirt will make the look instantly recognizable, whether it's in white or black or any other shade of the rainbow. Here it is better to consult with a little fashionista and give her the opportunity to participate in creating her image.
Creating a skirt
The main question when creating is how to sew a pack. It is this piece of clothing that in most cases causes difficulties. However, the process of creating a tutu skirt is complicated only at first glance. There are several options for creating this thing, one of them does not require sewing skills at all. For work, you will need a dense elastic band according to the volume of the child's waist and three meters of tulle, cut into strips 10-15 cm wide and 60 or 80 cm long, depending on what kind of skirt is needed. The whole process consists in the fact that the strips of fabric need to be tied with an elastic band close to each other. It is very important that the tulle is well ironed, because the finished product is quite difficult to put in order if the fabric is wrinkled.
It is also worth considering the option of how to sew a pack using a sewing machine. Here, too, everything is quite simple. Three strips of tulle with a width equal to the length of the skirt + 3 cm and a length of 4.5-6 meters are folded along the cuts, a line is laid, departing from the edge of 1 cm, then the back seam of the skirt is sewn up and a drawstring is made along the top for an elastic band, tucking the stitched edge of the fabric inside. After that, it remains to put a strong elastic band into the drawstring. Everything, the pack is ready!
Top creation
If a suitable T-shirt was not found in the child’s wardrobe, it can be sewn from knitted fabric. To do this, you need a strip of fabric with a width equal to the measurement from the shoulder and just below the waist, and the length of the child's waist. The fabric is folded in half, the neck and armholes are drawn, the excess is cut off, and then the shoulder and side seams are processed. If you take a supplex for work, then the slices can be left simply open. They will not crumble or go arrows. In the case of cotton canvas, you can process them with an elastic band. As you can see from the description, sewing a top on a ballerina costume with your own hands is not very difficult, the whole process will take no more than 20 minutes.
Making gloves
Gloves are best sewn either from supplex or from oil. Cotton is not suitable for this purpose. Of course, a ballerina costume will look more harmonious, in which the top and gloves are sewn from the same material. However, it is not necessary to use an identical canvas. In addition, gloves can be sewn from knitted guipure, which will look very gentle and romantic.
So, to sew gloves, you need to cut a strip of fabric equal to the desired length and a width of the child’s wrist + 1 cm. An elastic band should be sewn along one edge of the strip (top of the glove). After the workpiece is folded along long sections and a small corner is cut off along the bottom of the glove to make an overlap on the hand. A loop of satin ribbon for a finger is sewn onto the lap. And lastly close the seam of the glove.
decorative elements
A ballerina costume for a girl must be decorated with various flowers, stones, rhinestones or sequins. It is these elements that will add chic and brilliance to the created image. The ballerina costume can be embroidered with rain. At the same time, the outfit itself should be done in green, as if the ballerina plays the role of a Christmas tree, or leave the image snow-white, associating it with soft fluffy snowflakes.
The ideal option for creating a pack is tulle. But it has many varieties. There are canvases with a brilliant coating, with small looped polka dots and even with a pattern. It is also distinguished by hardness. Too dense tulle holds its shape well and can be used as one of the layers of a sewn tutu for a more curvaceous shape.
It is also impossible to ignore such material as organza lace. Quite often it is embroidered with sequins and looks very unusual. It can be combined with hard and soft tulle and make an original skirt. However, with such a rich decor of the pack, the top should be left matte and plain. A ballerina costume for the New Year can be made of tulle in a small snowflake, combined with a calm top. Or make a pack of strips of material, and glue pieces of tinsel on top.
A ballerina costume for a girl can be themed. What prevents, for example, to make a character from "Swan Lake"? A beautiful tutu with glued swan down and a matching headband - and the outfit of a charming swan is ready.
Pack creation options
Of course, tulle is very easy to work with, but there are other worthy materials that you should pay attention to. Carnival costume "Ballerina" will look great with a tutu of chiffon or the organza already mentioned above. The cut and sewing technique of such a skirt are somewhat different and require some skills.
To create such a product, you will need a template for a sun skirt, thin regelin, for processing the hem and an elastic band at the waist. The amount of fabric is calculated based on the number of layers of the skirt. To make the product look beautiful, there should be at least three layers.
The creation process consists in cutting out three or more circles from the main fabric according to the pattern, making a waist cutout with an elastic band, connecting all the layers together, and then processing them along the outer edge with regelin and an oblique trim, stretching the canvas to form waves. Such an original skirt is good for combination with a satin top, organza flowers, stones and rhinestones.
Additional accessories
Quite often, for a ballerina costume, small skirts are sewn on the hands, which are put on the forearm. And I must say, such elements look quite interesting. To sew such an accessory, you will need a strip of the main fabric from which the pack is made, about 50 cm long and no more than 7 cm wide. It is sewn along a smaller cut, one edge is processed into a collar or an oblique trim, and on the second drawstring for elastic.
To make the image more realistic, one cannot do without pointe shoes or their imitation. Shoes or Czech shoes and satin ribbons have already been mentioned, but the whole problem is that if the child moves a lot, the entire harness around the leg will simply fall down. Therefore, you can use a little trick: take stockings, put on a child’s leg, wrap linen around and tie with a beautiful bow, and then carefully tack the ribbon to the golf with small stitches. With such a secure fit, you can dance for hours on end.
Another interesting accessory that is customary for ballerinas to wear is a flower on the wrist. You can pick up a suitable size of a rose or a lily in a bridal salon, even with swan's down and beaded pendants, and sew it onto an ordinary white hair band. You can decorate your hair with a similar flower.
History of the ballet tutu. Photo – thevintagenews.com
A ballerina in the mind of any person is certainly represented in a tutu.
This stage costume has become an integral part of classical ballet.
However, this was not always the case. The modern image of a ballerina, before being finally formed, has undergone a lot of changes and has come a long way.
Many may be surprised, but until the second half of the 19th century, ballerinas performed on stage simply in elegant dresses, which differed little from those in which the spectators came.
It was a dress with a corset, a little shorter than usual, rather bulky. Ballerinas always performed in heels. The share of ballerinas was a little facilitated by the new fashion for antiquity. By the way, mythological plots began to be used in ballet, for example, Cupid and Psyche.
Maria Tiglioni in the ballet Zephyr and Flora. This is what the first pack looked like, now it is called “shopenka” Ladies began to wear airy, translucent dresses with a high waist. They were even slightly wetted so that the fabric fits the body better. Tights were worn under the dresses, and sandals were worn on the feet.
But over time, the technique of ballerinas became more complicated and lighter clothes were required for the stage. First, the prima abandoned corsets, then shortened the skirts, and the dress itself began to fit like a second skin.
Who invented the pack
For the first time in a ballet tutu, Maria Taglione appeared before the audience on March 12, 1839. On this day, there was the premiere of "La Sylphide", in which the ballerina performed the main part of the fairy fairy.
For such a role, an appropriate outfit was required. It was invented for the daughter of Filippo Taglioni.
According to one version, the clumsy figure of Mary became the impetus for the creation of the later classical ballet clothes. To hide the flaws, Taglioni came up with a dress that gave the whole appearance of the heroine airiness and grace.
The dress was created according to the sketches of Eugene Lamy. Then the skirt was sewn from tulle. True, in those days the tutu was not at all as short as it is now.
The next "transformation" of the pack happened a little later. But at first the ballet world took even such a modest attire with hostility.
The tutu was especially not to the taste of ballerinas with not very beautiful legs. But the delight of the audience and art critics, who admired the airiness of the dancers, knew no bounds. Not the last role in this was played by a pack. So this costume took root, and then became a classic.
By the way, there is a legend about Maria Taglioni. When she passed the border with Russia, the customs officers asked if she was carrying jewelry. Then the ballerina lifted her skirt and showed her legs. Maria was the first to take pointe shoes.
How the tutu got accustomed in Russia
Tsarist Russia was conservative and did not immediately accept the novelty. This happened only half a century later. But it was in our country that the pack changed again.
The innovator was the prima of the Bolshoi Theater Adeline Dzhuri in the early 1900s. The capricious lady did not like the long skirt in which she was to pose for photographers. The ballerina just took the scissors and cut off a decent piece of the hem. Since then, the fashion for short packs has gone.
How else has the pack changed
Although since the beginning of the 20th century the tutu has acquired the shape and form that we know to this day, people have always experimented with it. In productions, such as Marius Petipa, the ballerina could dress up in costumes of different styles.
In some scenes, she appeared in the usual "civilian" dress, and for solo parts she put on a tutu to demonstrate all her skills and talent. Anna Pavlova performed in a long and wide skirt.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the ballet tutu from the 19th century returned to the stage. Only now she was called differently - "shopenka". And all because Mikhail Fokin dressed the dancers in his Chopiniana. Other directors at the same time used a short and lush tutu.
And since the 60s, it has turned into just a flat circle. Whatever they decorate the pack with: rhinestones, glass beads, feathers, precious stones.
What are packs made of?
Ballet tutus are sewn from a light translucent fabric - tulle. First, designers create a sketch. Of course, the features of the figure of each ballerina are taken into account, and therefore the sketch of the dress for each dancer is different.
The width of the tutu depends on the height of the ballerina. On average, its radius is 48 cm.
One pack takes more than 11 meters of tulle. It takes about two weeks to make one pack. With all the variety of models, there are strict rules for tailoring.
For example, neither zippers nor buttons are ever sewn onto packs, which can come off during a performance. Only hooks are used as fasteners, but in strict sequence, or rather, in a checkerboard pattern. And sometimes, if the production is particularly difficult, the tutus are sewn up by hand on the dancer before going on stage.
What are the packs
The pack has many names. So, if you hear the words “tunic” or “tutu” somewhere, know that they mean the same pack. Now let's figure out what types of packs are.
Alexander Radunsky and Maya Plisetskaya in R. Shchedrin's ballet The Little Humpbacked Horse The classic tutu is a pancake-shaped skirt. By the way, the soloists are directly involved in the creation of their costume. They can opt for a tutu shape that can be parallel to the floor or with a slightly dropped skirt.
"Shopenka", a long skirt, I also sew from tulle. This form of skirt is very good for creating mythical characters or inanimate creatures.
The advantage of such an outfit is that it hides insufficiently tightened knees and other shortcomings, but it draws attention to the feet.
Another type of dress that does not go out of ballet use is a tunic. His skirt is single-layer, sewn more often from chiffon. In this dress, the role of Juliet is played.
Why do we need tutus during rehearsals
For rehearsals of ballet performances, tutus are sewn separately. They are easier to put on and take off than those in which ballerinas go on stage.
So, all parts of a stage costume can be sewn together, while for rehearsals a bodice is not needed, but only a skirt with panties is used. Also, rehearsal packs don't have that many layers.
A rehearsal tutu is a must. After all, dancers should immediately see where the tutu will interfere, where it can ride up or be hurt by a partner. And the director will be able to form a dance pattern.
The tutu is so firmly entrenched that it is used not only on the ballet stage. True, outside of her pack serves for comic numbers of variety artists and even in the circus.
In God we trust. All others must bring data.
Battle for the body or Men's ballet costume: from camisole and pantaloons to full nudity
Today it seems that the body in dance has always been open to the viewer: the less it is worn, the better. In fact, the ballet was born swaddled from head to toe. Everything was hiding and hiding, but the dance could not come to terms with such injustice. And so began the great battle for the body, free from costume shackles.
For men in a ballet costume, it all started with such a bells and whistles that today it is impossible to even imagine how in such outfits one could not only dance, but simply move around the stage. But the dancers showed themselves to be real fighters for the complete liberation of the body from the rag shackles. True, the path that they had to travel to appear in front of the audience almost naked, only covering the "shame" with a fig leaf called a bandage, or even naked, turned out to be long, thorny and scandalous.
Skirt on the frame
What was a dancer in the early days of ballet? The artist's face was hidden by a mask, his head was decorated with a high wig with fluffy fluffy hair, the ends of which fell on his back. Over the wig was put on another incredible headdress. Suit fabrics were heavy, dense, generously whipped. The dancer appeared on stage in a skirt on a frame, reaching almost to the knee, and in high-heeled shoes. Mantles of gold and silver brocade were also used in men's attire, reaching back to the heels. Well, just a Christmas tree, just not glowing with multi-colored electric bulbs.
By the end of the 18th century, the ballet costume gradually began to change, becoming lighter and more elegant. The reason is the more complicated dance technique, which requires the release of the male body from heavy outfits. Costume innovations, as always, are dictated by the trendsetter - Paris. The lead performer now wears a Greek tunic and sandals, the straps of which wrap around the ankle and base of the calf of the bare legs. The dancer of the demi-character genre performs in a short camisole, knickers and long stockings, the dancer of the characteristic role - in a theatrical shirt with an open collar, jacket and pants. In the second half of the 18th century, such an important attribute of men's attire appears, which, by the way, has survived to this day, as a flesh-colored tights. This amazing invention is attributed to the costume designer of the Paris Opera Mallo. But this talented monsieur hardly imagined that in the 20th century his tightly knit product would turn into something elastic, seductively fitting not only the legs, but also the bulges between them. Why is a man's dignity, if it is, of course, a dignity tightly covered with a translucent fabric, will look extremely erotic, attracting the eager attention of some spectators who are especially fond of ballet. But before that it was still far away.
Albert without pants
Everything went according to tradition and decency, until the great reformer of the ballet theater and a passionate admirer of the hot male body, Sergei Diaghilev, showed the world his entreprise - Diaghilev's Russian Seasons. This is where it all started - scandals, noise, hysteria and all sorts of stories associated with both Diaghilev himself and his lovers. After all, if earlier a ballerina reigned on the stage, and the dancer played the role of an obedient gentleman with her - he helped with rotation so that he would not fall, lifted him higher to show the balletomanes what was under her skirts, then Diaghilev makes the dancer the main character of his performances. And, as a rule, a dancer with whom he lives an active sex life.
To work on his ballets, Diaghilev attracts outstanding artists of our time. Some of them are also partial to the male body.
A loud scandal, connected not with Diaghilev's special sexual orientation, but only with a stage costume, erupted in 1911 at the play "Giselle", in which Vaslav Nijinsky - Diaghilev's official lover - danced Count Albert. The dancer was wearing everything that was required for the role - a leotard, a shirt, a short tunic, but there were no panties, which were mandatory for a dancer at that time. And therefore, Nijinsky's expressive thighs appeared to the audience in their frank appetizing, which outraged Empress Maria Feodorovna, who was present at the performance.
The scandalous story ended with the dismissal of Nijinsky "for disobedience and disrespect" to the imperial stage. But the dance search for the artist did not stop, he continued his struggle for the freedom of the body in dance. In the same year, Nijinsky appeared in the ballet "The Phantom of the Rose" in a costume designed by Lev Bakst, fitting the figure like a glove. A little later, in The Afternoon of a Faun, the dancer Nijinsky appears on stage in such a bold leotard that still looks modern and sexy today. True, all these revelations are already taking place outside the native, but stubborn Russia.
That sweet word is bandage
In the fifties, the magician of dance, idolizing the body, especially the male, Maurice Bejart came up with a universal outfit for the dancer and dancer: a girl in black tights, a young man in tights and bare-chested. Then the young man's outfit is improved, and the young man remains in only one bandage.
What is a bandage? It's such a spiciness! Something like swimming trunks, but the buttocks are completely open, and between them there is a thin ribbon, which is not visible at all, since it is buried between the buttocks, revealing to the audience all their seductive charm.
Buttocks, elastic as two melons
But in the Soviet Union, as you know, there was no sex. He was not on the ballet stage either. Yes, of course, love existed, but pure - "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray", "Romeo and Juliet", but no frankness. This also applies to men's clothing. The dancer put on tight underpants, over them tights, and on top of the tights also cotton-wool pants. Even though you look through the most powerful telescope, you will not see any charms. All this disfigured the figure, was contrary to the aesthetics of dance, but correlated with the laws of the country of victorious socialism, where there is neither sex nor a naked body.
The phrase of the Minister of Culture Ekaterina Furtseva, addressed to Maya Plisetskaya, who danced in the Carmen Suite with very open legs, sounds like an anecdote today: "Maya, cover your thighs, this is the Bolshoi Theater!" But it was the 70s. And is it not an anecdote that in the magazine "Soviet Ballet" the editor-in-chief personally looked at the photographs of the dancers. Since the bulges that are in the groin of men could be printed on the photo. And the Central Committee did not approve of such frankness. That's why the editor-in-chief was worried. And if she found a criminal photograph with a man's dignity clearly expressed on it, then the dignity was necessarily retouched.
Nevertheless, there were shameless daredevils in the Soviet fatherland who did not want to put up with such a uniform. They say that at one of the performances at the Kirov (Mariinsky) Theater, in 1957, the outstanding dancer Vakhtang Chabukiani appeared on stage in a very frank form: in white leggings worn directly on his naked body. Success has surpassed all conceivable limits. Sharp-tongued, the outstanding ballet teacher Agrippina Vaganova, at the sight of the dancer, turned to those sitting with her in the box and quipped: "I see such a bouquet even without eyepieces!"
In the footsteps of Chabukiani, another Kirovsky dancer followed, at that time not yet a ballet dissident and a world-famous gay, but just a theater soloist, Rudolf Nureyev. He danced the first two acts of Don Quixote in a traditional costume permitted by the Soviet authorities - in tights, over which short pants with puffs were worn. Before the third act, a real scandal erupted behind the scenes: the artist wanted to wear only a white tight-fitting leotard over a special ballet bandage and no pants: “I don’t need these lampshades,” he said. The theatrical authorities dragged out the intermission for an hour, trying to persuade Nureyev. When the curtain finally opened, the audience was shocked: it seemed to everyone that he forgot to put on his pants.
Rudolf generally strove for maximum nudity. In Corsair, he went out with a bare chest, and in Don Quixote, an incredibly thin leotard created the illusion of bare skin. But at full power, the artist turned around already outside the Soviet homeland. So, in the "Sleeping Beauty", staged by him for the National Ballet of Canada, Nureyev appears wrapped in a floor-length cloak. Then he turns his back to the audience and slowly, slowly lowers the cloak until it freezes just below the buttocks.
For the ballet "Lucifer" designer Holston designed Rudolph a gold bandage with precious stones, which he decided to sew directly on the dancer. One can only imagine what feelings overwhelmed the designer, who buried his nose in Nureyev's crotch and felt the sweetest parts of his body! But Nureyev had no time for feelings - a few days ago he twisted his ankle and therefore yelled angrily at Holston: "Take my bandage and do whatever you want with it, but let me rest for at least an hour!" Holston was very offended, promising never to work with Nureyev again.
Nureyev was a pioneer in nudity in Leningrad, and in Moscow he was rivaled by Maris Liepa. Like Nureyev, he adored his body and just as resolutely exposed it. It was Liepa who was the first in the capital to take the stage in a bandage worn under a tights. His son, Andris Liepa, in the years when there were no taboos regarding the costume, appeared with a naked torso and in tights, which, it seemed, would burst in the most seductive places from overexertion.
Between the legs - coat shoulder
Theater artist Alla Kozhenkova says:
We did one ballet performance. During the fitting of the costume, the soloist tells me that he does not like the costume. I can’t understand what’s the matter: everything fits well, he looks great in this suit ... And suddenly it dawns on me - he doesn’t like the codpiece, it seems that it is too small. The next day I say to the dressmaker: "Please take the shoulder from the coat and insert it into the bandage." She told me: "Why? Why?" I told her: "Listen, I know what I'm saying, he will like it." At the next fitting, the dancer puts on the same costume and happily tells me: "You see, it has become much better." And after a second he adds: "Only it seems to me that you inserted a female shoulder, but it is small ... you need to insert a male one." I couldn't help laughing, but I did as he asked. The dressmaker sewed a shoulder from the raglan sleeve of a man's coat into the bandage. The artist was in seventh heaven with happiness.
Once a hare's foot was inserted, but now it is no longer in fashion - not the format, but the coat shoulder is what you need.
Everything is filmed
In fact, today you can’t surprise the audience with anything: neither a man in a tutu, nor the tightest leotards, or even a bandage. If only with a naked body... Today, more and more often, a naked body appears in groups that practice modern dance. This is a kind of bait and seductive toy. A naked body can be sad, pathetic or playful.
Such a joke was played in Moscow a few years ago by the American troupe Ted Shawn's Dancing Men. Young people appeared on the stage, modestly dressed in short women's dresses, reminiscent of combinations. No sooner had the dance begun than the auditorium went into ecstasy. The fact is that under the skirts the men were wearing nothing. The audience, in a mad desire to get a better look at the rich men's economy, which suddenly opened up to them, almost flew off their seats. The heads of the enthusiastic spectators twisted after the dance pirouettes, and the eyes seemed to be going out of the eyepieces of the binoculars, which in an instant stuck to the stage where the dancers frolicked heartily in their mischievous dance. It was both funny and exciting, stronger than any of the coolest striptease.
At the end of the 20th century, the body won over the costume in the struggle for its freedom. And it's natural. After all, what is a ballet performance? It is a dance of bodies awakening the bodies of the spectators. And it is best to watch such a performance with the body, not with the eyes. It is for this bodily awakening of the audience that the dance body needs complete freedom. So long live freedom!
The Tretyakov Gallery hosted a large-scale international exhibition "Vision of Dance", dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the famous "Russian Ballets" by S.P. Diaghilev in Paris.
One hundred years ago, on May 19, 1909, the stage of the Chatelet theater in Paris first showed the world a new Russian ballet, which made a real revolution in this genre. For the first time, Russia triumphantly demonstrated the achievements of its culture, having a strong influence on European art at the beginning of the 20th century. Not only European theatrics, but also Parisian fashion for several decades were under the spell of the scenery and costumes of Diaghilev's seasons.
Lev Bakst. Costume design for Ida Rubinstein for the ballet "Salome"
The appearance of Russian ballets on the European stage was preceded by a brief but bright period, which can be called the Renaissance of Russian art. The artistic life of Russia at the turn of the century had a heterogeneous character, here the desire to revive national artistic traditions intertwined with the development of Western European innovative trends. In this creative struggle of a whole constellation of artists, poets, musicians, the culture of the Silver Age was born, that synthetic character of the Art Nouveau style was forged, which resulted in the triumphant arrival of Russian art on the world stage, and where ballet was destined to play an important role.
In 1910, Sergei Diaghilev noted: “The revolution that we have made in ballet concerns, perhaps, the least special area of dance, but most of all the scenery and costumes.” In fact, the Russian Seasons demonstrated an unprecedented synthesis of the three arts, where painting became the dominant, and dance was seen as "a living manifestation of theatrical scenery."
Diaghilev's performances radically changed the world of dance. It seems incredible that for two decades he managed to bring together such famous figures as I. Stravinsky, L. Bakst, P. Picasso, N. Goncharova, M. Fokin, L. Myasin, A. Benois, V. Nijinsky , K. Chanel, M. Larionov, J. Cocteau, A. Pavlova, F. Chaliapin, S. Lifar, J. Balanchine, V. Serov. T. Karsavina, N. Roerich ... How incredibly difficult it was to organize the joint creative work of artists who belonged to such different fields of art.
Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky in the ballet "Pavilion of Armida" 1909
Armida costume design for Anna Pavlova Alexandre Benois
Tamara Karsavina as Armida 1912
Costume and costume sketch for Lev Bakst for the ballet "Cleopatra" 1908
Tamara Karsavina as Colombina. Ballet "Carnival", 1910
Mikhail and Vera Fokina in the ballet "Carnival"
What was presented on the stage of the Chatelet Theater during the first Parisian seasons was striking in its exoticism - Diaghilev staged Russian classics with Boris Godunov and Ivan the Terrible (The Maid of Pskov), medieval Russian history, the powerful figure of Chaliapin - and the East of "Polovtsian Dances" (1909) to music by Alexander Borodin and Scheherazade (1910) to music by Rimsky-Korsakov. The Orientalism of the last ballet designed by Lev Bakst blew up Paris. It was an extravaganza that struck with a riot of colors, looseness of choreography (Mikhail Fokin) and a storm of emotions. The fashion for oriental motifs has embraced everyone, including famous couturiers such as Poiret or jewelers such as Louis Cartier.
Mikhail and Vera Fokina in the ballet "Scheherazade", 1914
Costume designs based on the ballet "Scheherazade", Lev Bakst
Lev Bakst created the Zobeida headdress for Lyubov Chernyshova, which emphasized Chernyshova's refined profile and gave her extra stateliness and splendor, allowing her to dominate the stage.
Tamara Karsavina as Zobeida
Scenery model based on a sketch by Lev Bakst
Ballet "Firebird", 1910
"Kashcheevo kingdom". scenery sketch
"Sadko", scenery sketch by Boris Anisfeld, 1911.
Mermaid costume sketch
Vaslav Nijinsky as Petrushka, Petrushka, 1911
Ballerina costume designed by Alexandre Benois
Character from the ballet The Rite of Spring, 1913
Sketches of scenery and costumes by Nicholas Roerich for the ballet "The Rite of Spring"
The Arab East is replaced by ancient Greece - Narcissus (1911), Daphnis and Chloe (1912), both performances designed by Bakst, culminating in The Afternoon of a Faun (1913) with pastoral scenery by Bakst and incredibly innovative choreography by Nijinsky - Diaghilev . The premiere in Paris of "Afternoon of a Faun" to the music of Debussy ended in a complete scandal, part of the audience left the hall, offended by the conventionality of the choreography, built on sharp profile gestures, and the "obscenity" of the last movements of Faun-Nijinsky.
Costume design for Lev Bakst for the production of "Narcissus"
Set design by Lev Bakst for the ballet "The Blue God", 1912
Vaslav Nijinsky as the Blue God
Sketches of costumes by Lev Bakst
It is amazing how far-sighted and sensitive to impending changes Diaghilev was. He keenly feels that the time has come for change and invites Natalya Goncharova for his play The Golden Cockerel (1914). It's still the same "Russian" theme, but what a different approach, both in design and choreography. From this moment begins the "avant-garde" period of Diaghilev's ballets, when he actively works with Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov, and as choreographers with Bronislava Nijinska and Leonid Myasin.
Golden Cockerel Costume
Costume design for the bird Sirin for the ballet The Golden Cockerel, Natalia Goncharova, 1914
Costumes for the retinue of Tsar Dodon, Natalia Goncharova
Tamara Karsavina as Queen of Shemakhan
Set and costume design by Alexandre Benois for the opera The Nightingale, 1914
Servants of the Swan Princess in the ballet "Russian Tales", 1916
Mikhail Larionov, sketch of the scenery "Fairy Lake"
Lyubov Chernyshova as Cleopatra, 1918
Monte Carlo occupied a special place in the heart of Diaghilev. It was here that in 1911 the Russian Ballet was transformed by him into a permanent theater troupe, here he first showed a number of his most significant productions, and here, starting from 1922, he invariably spent his winters. Thanks to the generosity of the ruling house of Grimaldi and the fame of the Casino, which made such generosity possible, Mote Carlo became the creative laboratory of Diaghilev in the 1920s. Former ballerinas of the Imperial Theaters, who had already left Russia forever, shared the secrets of mastery with the rising stars of emigration invited by Diaghilev. In Monte Carlo, he gave in for the last time to the temptation of the dream of his life - to live, giving his all to art.
Group rehearsal of the ballet "Song of the Nightingale" on the streets of Monte Carlo, 1920
In 1917, Diaghilev invited Pablo Picasso to design the ballet "Parade", a few years later the same Picasso made scenery and costumes for the ballet "Cocked Hat". A new, last period of the Russian ballet seasons begins, when French artists and composers begin to prevail in Diaghilev's team.
The 1917 revolution split Russian ballet culture in two. In the period that followed this collapse, many perceived Diaghilev precisely as the owner of an exceptional hypostasis of the founder and director of the Ballets Russes, called upon to fulfill, as Levinson wrote about The Sleeping Princess, "the mission of bringing such brilliant echoes of the glory of the past to the stages of Europe."
But no matter how nostalgia acted on Diaghilev's soul, it was not reflected in his repertoire. The past, like the present, provided food for Diaghilev's indefatigable spirit, but never became a surrogate refuge for him.
Set and costume design for the ballet The Three-Cornered Hat by Pablo Picasso, 1919
Tamara Karsavina in the ballet Women's Whims, 1920
Costume design by José-Maria Sert
In the spring of 1923, Bronislava Nijinska choreographed one of Diaghilev's most outstanding productions, Les Noces.
In his memoirs, Sergei Lifar vividly recalls how Stravinsky illustrated his complex score during rehearsals: in a frenzy in a terrible voice, but so convincingly that there was nothing comical in it, and he played to exhaustion. Under his frenzied game, everyone no longer rehearsed, but really danced.
Composition with factory pipes. Sketch of the scenery by Natalia Goncharova for the ballet "The Wedding", 1917
Rehearsal of the ballet "Les Noces" on the roof of the Monte Carlo Opera, 1923
Fragments of the production "Ball", 1929
The most famous exhibit of the exhibition is the curtain by Picasso for the production of The Blue Express, 1924
In short, in one word to define the essence of the changes that have taken place over twenty years, we can say this: the character of the heroes has changed.
And Fokine, and Pavlova, and Karsavina, and Nijinsky excluded from their dance any kind of effort, any kind of visible muscular work. Only a flight of fantasy, only a pure flame of inspiration, only a glimpse of happy and fabulously beautiful insights. If we reduce these metaphorical characteristics to a single art criticism concept, then we should say about mythology, about myth. All their main characters are mythological: the archers in Polovtsian Dances, the Firebird in The Firebird, the Sylph in Chopinean, Petrushka in Petrushka. And Nijinsky himself, the artist, entered the legend as a dancer-myth, or, in other words, as a dancer of myth. The same can be said about Anna Pavlova - Lebed, Anna Pavlova - a classical ballerina.
The ballet "Parade", staged in 1917 by Leonid Myasin to the sarcastic music of Eric Satie and in the cubist design of Picasso, marked a new trend of the Diaghilev troupe - the desire to demythologize all ballet components: plot, scene, actor's masks ("Parade" depicted the life of a traveling circus ) and put another phenomenon in place of the myth - fashion. Parisian everyday fashion, pan-European stylistic fashion (in particular, cubism), global fashion for free (to a greater or lesser extent) dance.
But the main thing was different: the worldview of the 20s, the worldview of the survivors, those who were spared by the war, who fell to the lucky lot, came to Diaghilev's entreprise. In his productions of 1917 (Women in a Good Mood) and 1919 (Magic Shop and Tricorne) and in his solo performances in these ballets, Myasin most vividly expressed a new sense of life, not at all tragic, a new sense of reality , greedy taste for reality, not fantastic, and, moreover, not phantom. And the main characteristic for almost everyone was emotional restraint, even emotional coldness or, in other words, emotional closeness.
Portrait of Anna Pavlova, 1924
The Prodigal Son to music by Prokofiev, staged by the same Balanchine in the 1929 season. The ballet, inspired by Diaghilev himself, became the epilogue of Diaghilev's twenty-year epic.
What was Diaghilev thinking about when he offered Prokofiev and Balanchine to create a ballet performance based on the gospel parable. Was it an act of repentance or an act of sacrilege? Did Diaghilev think about the abandoned homeland or about the companions abandoned halfway? And did he think about the fate of classical and his own ballet. This is no longer known. It is only known that he ended the 1929 season seriously ill and that recently he had noticeably lost interest in ballet art.
And most importantly, he was tired. Deadly tired of fighting forever - for money, for repertoire, for recognition, for luck. Tired of trying everything. His sudden death on August 19, 1929 is mysterious and dark. After all, he knew that he had severe diabetes, but did not follow the advice of doctors, and, who knows, maybe he was secretly waiting for deliverance.
Portrait of S.P. Diaghilev
The post was compiled based on materials from the exhibition "Treasury of Diaghilev's Russian Seasons" at the Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts, the exhibition "Vision of Dance" at the Tretyakov Gallery and the book "Vision of Dance. Sergei Diaghilev and Russian Ballet Seasons".
The history of ballet costumes began several centuries ago. The first prima ballerinas were forced to wear, although luxurious in appearance, but extremely heavy dresses: puffy long skirts and corsets were decorated with scatterings of stones, pearls, flounces, which made the movements constrained. Ballet clothing for women has changed completely thanks to the choreographer Filippo Taglioni, who in the 19th century first developed a completely new costume and came up with pointe shoes for his daughter. Other connoisseurs of history claim that Maria Taglioni became the discoverer, but the clothing design itself was created by the artist Eugene Lamy. And for the first time in March 1839, the world saw Maria Taglioni on pointe, gracefully performing complex ballet steps.
Since then, ballet clothing began to change rapidly, becoming shorter and lighter. After all, it was really difficult to dance on pointe shoes in bulky skirts with heavy corsets. Skirts began to be sewn from airy fabrics, their length was up to the knees, slightly changing either up or down. The volume also gradually decreased.
A whole epoch in the development of ballet in the USSR was the period of the "Iron Curtain". Then the classic tutu became the most common. And due to the fact that the trends of Western fashionistas were closed to Soviet ballerinas, over time, the world community recognized that the Russian school has no equal in technique and beauty of performance. Graceful lines of the body, honed to the ideal of movement - Russian ballerinas have been admired by everyone from the moment the "curtain" fell to the present day.
In modern dance, there are no such strict requirements for clothing. For example, a ballet costume for a girl may consist of a training skirt and tights, a leotard and white socks. Of course, for performances, the costume will be completely different. But, nevertheless, ballerinas today perform in tight-fitting dresses, in tights, in free-cut skirts and, of course, they cannot do without a classic sun skirt.
The pack always deserves special attention. After all, it is with her that the ballerina costume gets the complete completion of the image. The most common types of packs are:
1. Classical tutu - a round, standing skirt of 10-12 layers, which can be seen on ballerinas in such productions as, for example, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Paquita, etc. Most often, a steel hoop is inserted into it for rigid fixation. An exception may be packs for the smallest. In order for the skirt to always be in shape, it is preferable to store it in a standing position in a special case.
2. Tutu-bell or chopinka - an elongated, airy skirt. It does not have rigid rings, and the number of layers of fabric is much less than in the classic one. Thanks to this, ballerinas look especially reverent and tender. Chopinka is ideal for playing romantic roles. For example, for the production of "Sylphilia", "Vision of the Rose".
3. Chiton - a single-layer guipure skirt that adds fragility to an already slender female body on stage. Most often worn for the production of "Romeo and Juliet".
Any ballet clothing that you can buy from us reflects individuality, emphasizes sophistication and femininity. Although it seems that, for example, a classic skirt cannot be sewn differently, slightly lowering the edges or lifting them up will turn out a completely new look! Decorate with beads, rhinestones, pearls, stripes, feathers - and now you get a completely new costume that no one else has. Contact us - and we will make your image perfect!
