Ballet Style Over the Ages: 1800s

Hello everyone!

Welcome back to our second post this month! 🎃 October’s in full swing, and with it come festivals from all around the world like Día de los Muertos, Samhain, and Japan’s Kawasaki Halloween Parade, all bursting with wild, creative costumes.

And what do they all have in common (besides being perfectly timed with one of our author’s birthdays, but that’s not important right now 😜)?

Costumes! Spooky, stylish, sometimes themed, but always statement-making.

And honestly… is it really balletcore without the iconic ballet style and costumes?

So this October, as an ode to all things festive and costumed, we’re continuing our new series that dives deep into how ballet style and costumes have evolved over the centuries.

Last week, we twirled through the early days of ballet and the courtly drama of the 1500s to 1700s. Now, we’re gliding into one of the most enchanting (and honestly, most dramatic) periods in ballet history: The Romantic Era.

If you’ve ever watched Giselle, La Sylphide, or Coppélia, you’ll know that the Romantic Era wasn’t all love and roses. It was more haunting ghosts, meddling spirits, doomed love stories, and tragic endings… basically the 1800s dance-y version of a K-drama. 👻💔

Alright, let's begin! Power-up that Time Machine and let's go alllllll the way back to the 1800s where the drama began.

But, wait!!

Refresh your memory with this short ballet history lesson: https://theballerinaprojectindia.blogspot.com/2024/05/exploring-ballet-its-meaning-and-history.html

Ok, NOW we really can go back in time to: The Romantic Era.

Fairies abound... and so does tulle

While tulle existed long before this era, it became much more widespread in this century. It literally took center stage as the Industrial Revolution allowed tulle production to become much easier and quicker, allowing more and more people to access the otherwise extremely expensive fabric. 🎀

The 1800s brought a major shift in ballet themes and aesthetics. Supernatural love stories were the rage and so dancers and choreographers became obsessed with making the whole dance look magical. Ballets were now set in small villages or dark moonlit forests filled with floating spirits, sylphs and willis gliding across the stage while stealing the literal souls of hapless mortal men. 

Oooh... creepy!👻

To achieve that ethereal energy, ballet costumes got a full makeover. Out with the poofy, floor-length gowns of the past and in with the mid-calf bell tutus made with layers and layers of gorgeous tulle that floated with the dancers. And for the first time in history, ballet dancers looked weightless.

This new costume became the era's defining look, paired with delicate white bodices, soft wings, and floral wreaths. To the audience, it actually felt like fairies and spirits were drifting across the stage... not ballerinas. 🧚‍♀️

And the next part made it look even cooler.

Tippy toes, tippy toes...

To further achieve that beautiful fairytale look, ballerinas began replacing the old heeled shoes with pointe shoes. 

It all began with Marie Camargo back in the late 1700s. She was the first dancer to snip off the heels from her ballet shoes creating... the ballet slipper! 

This tiny change completely reshaped ballet. Dancers suddenly had more freedom, more control, and could move faster and lighter on their feet.

By the Romantic Era, ballerinas began rising on the very tip of their toes for just a split second as if trying to fly. And audiences were dazzled. It was delicate and utterly enchanting. ✨

Of course, this took insane foot strength (we're talking feet of steel 👣). But at the time, pointe work was still just a flashy stunt to wow the crowd. 

True pointe technique was developed later on in the 1800s when Marie Taglioni became the first ballerina to actually dance en pointe for some parts of La Sylphide. And just like that, the ethereal ballet pointe shoes we know today were born. 🩰

Her shoes were pretty similar to the ones other ballerinas of the time were wearing but it was a teensy bit more tough. The front of the shoe was made harder so that it supported her feet while she went up on pointe.

Fun Fact: La Sylphide was such a massive hit because of how magical Taglioni looked en pointe that it sparked a whole craze known as “balletomania.” 💃

Yucky Fact (brace yourself): Taglioni’s dancing gave her such a huge fan base that people across Europe were obsessed with her pointe shoes, literally. After her final performance in Russia, fans reportedly bought her used pointe shoes for 200 rubles, cooked them, and ate them with gravy. 😳

The Rise of the Ballerina

Up until now, ballet was dominated by men as we saw in the previous post. They choreographed, performed and led almost every production while women weren't allowed to perform at all. Female characters were often played by young men (talk about embarrassing). 🎭

But the Romantic Era flipped the script.

Because ballets were now predominantly tragically doomed love stories with enchanting spirits and charming village girls and as men in dance were sidelined, women began to take over the stage. 🩰

Audiences were mesmerized by the ethereal, otherworldly grace of ballerinas and were inspired by the daring behaviour of the male heroes. 

While this may seem great for women in ballet, it was not. Ballets were still choreographed by men and women were still severely exploited. 

They were praised as angels onstage but treated as ornaments off it.

Ballerinas were often expected to embody this idea of delicate, pure perfection, graceful, soft, and submissive. Many dancers faced long hours, little pay, and constant scrutiny over their looks, weight, and behavior.

Still, despite the inequality, women owned the spotlight like never before. Their artistry became the emotional heartbeat of ballet and their performances made audiences cry, dream, and believe in the impossible. 

Moonlight? No, gaslight.

The 1800s weren’t just the rise of the Romantic Era. They were also the dawn of the Industrial Age, when new technology began reshaping the arts.

And when the two collided? Pure magic. ✨

This was when gaslight made its grand entrance into theatres. For the first time, stages could be dimmed or dramatically lit, creating that soft, ghostly glow Romantic ballets became famous for.

Audiences were no longer just watching a performance... they were being transported into it. With the flicker of a flame, the stage could transform into a moonlit forest, a misty village, or a supernatural dreamscape right before their eyes. 👀

Incredible, indeed.

This mix of doomed love stories, flowy tulle, ballerinas, and literal gaslight created the perfect stage for the dramatic masterpieces we now call Romantic ballets.

Ballet had shifted from a show of power to a show of feeling.

And at the center of it all stood the ballerina.

And that's our cue to twirl back to the present! 💃🏻

What you just read is barely a glimpse of the style and fashion of Romantic Era ballet. If this fascinated you, go down a search rabbit hole and see just how beautifully dramatic ballet was back then. 🕳️ 🐇

If you want to see the drama yourself, complete with gorgeous tutus and all sorts of stage props, head over to YouTube and watch these ballets:

• La Sylphide
• Coppelia
• Giselle

Next week we'll be sautéing back to slightly more recent time: the ironically named Classical Era, which isn't that old after all.

Stay tuned... things are about to get way more elegant but, don't worry, it's just as tragic. 🏛️

PS: Still hunting for the perfect pre- and post-class stretches? We’ve got you.

Our Café Stretchy menu is quick, easy, and guaranteed to make your body feel like a well-oiled (and very elegant) machine — think of it as a muscle-torture restaurant where your muscles thank you after. 💪

✨ Secret code to unlock: CAFESTRETCHY

Drop it in the comments, DM us on Instagram, or email our Google Group, and we’ll serve it to you on a silver platter.

Oh, and shhh... don’t share this code. Seriously. 🤫

Any questions about the Romantic Era of ballet? Maybe some points you'd like us to cover next week? 

Let us know in the comments below. We'll be happy to respond!