Marie Taglioni, The First Ballerina To Wear A Tutu

Ballet experts single out several types of ballet: modern, classic and romantic. The latter is often connected with the name of Marie Taglioni who is considered to be the first ballerina to wear a ballet tutu.

Marie was born in the family of the choreographer Filippo Taglioni and his wife Sophia. She began to take dancing classes from a Parisian choreographer; however, he rejected her when she was six. He was absolutely sure that the girl could never make a good ballet dancer so Felippo decided to make Marie a ballerina himself. It is known that the girl had do train for hours each day until she was completely exhausted. Lots of people considered that Marie could hardly be called a beauty so she had to win the public acclaim by her dancing skills. And it’s not without reason that Marie, dancing in a white romantic ballet tutu, is now considered by many to be the symbol of romantic ballet.

Marie’s first appearance on the stage was in her father’s ballet set in Vienna when she was 18. The audience liked the ballet and the young ballerina, and soon Marie was dancing in other European cities. Nevertheless, critics call the ballet La Sylphide her real big success. It was set in 1832 and told a story of forest fairies. The ballet appealed to people; it is believed to be the beginning of the romantic ballet era and Filippo Taglioni is often referred to as the founder of this ballet style. Marie Taglioni in a romantic ballet tutu and fairy’s wings on the back became the icon of romantic ballet. Women adored her so much that started to wear the same hairstyle and each little girl wanted to have La Sylphide dolls. Besides that, Marie started the fashion for ballet tutus which replaced long ballet dresses restricting dancers’ movements.

The same year when balletomanes saw the premiere of La Sylphide, its leading ballerina got married. Unfortunately, her marriage didn’t last long as three years later her husband left her with two children. Till 1837 she continued to dance in the Paris Opera where she met her main rival Fanny Ellsler. Then, she took her ballet tutu and moved to Russia to dance in the Mariisnky ballet. It is believed that Marie wanted to prolong her contract in Russia but wasn’t offered the agreeable terms so she left for Europe again where she danced in La Scala and Her Majesty’s Theatre in London. In 1847 Marie retired as a ballerina and became a teacher. On 1860 she choreographed her only ballet La Papillon (The Butterfly) for her best student Emma Livry. It was the story of a butterfly which perished in the flame, and a few years later the story repeated in real life when Emma’s ballet tutu was set alight because of a gas lamp which was placed near the stage.

It was quite difficult for Marie Taglioni to make money those days and she had to teach for a living till her last days. Fans of romantic ballet still remember Marie as one of the first ballerinas dancing in this style and as the ballerina who introduced a tutu.