Pointe: In March 2020, American Ballet Theatre principal dancers James Whiteside and Isabella Boylston taught a class on Instagram Live with the theme "Vintage Ballet." Boylston dressed as Scottish-born ballerina Moira Shearer (star of the 1948 classic film The Red Shoes) and Whiteside as Rudolf Nureyev, and they encouraged viewers to join in. Dancers around the world followed suit, posting their vintage-inspired looks online.
5 comments:
It’s interesting to learn the history of clothes and what they wore before we had ready made clothes. When I was in dance, my instructors really wanted us to look exactly alike—even while practicing. I think that aspect of dance practice has changed a lot. back then you could wear whatever you had that you could move in. Spandex also revolutionized dance/exercise clothes because the cotton garments that they used to stretch out and become baggy. It become common for dancers to wear spandex leotards In the 80s because they were just patented. That’s probably how they became a staple of 80s fashion— because they were revolutionary!!
I really don’t know anything about dance or dancewear so I found this article really interesting even though I was clearly not the target audience. I really appreciated the images the article included that showed what dancewear looked like throughout the years. I thought it was really interesting how drastic the switch was form the 1920s to the 1930s. It seems like they went from long baggy dresses to tight leggings and tight tank tops in just one decade. I’m sure it was a more nuanced change that, but I still found it interesting. I would not have thought that dance pulled a lot of its wardrobe and clothing from other industries such as gymnastics and circus. If I had to guess I would have thought that the other industries took inspiration from what the dancers were wearing because to me it seems like dance has always been bigger and more popular than circus and gymnastics. So that was fascinating for me to read about.
I thought this article gave a small but interesting look into costume history. I had always thought the ballerina’s uniform had been the tutu like in the scene in the paintings of Degas, I never knew about the Chiton being used as dancewear near the turn of the century. That made me think of the music man and how the women of river city put on the Grecian dance before Shipoopi, I can now see how the costumes have a double meaning in showing the greek sense but also the fashionable dancewear of the time. I also found the quote from Sokolova about the beginning of wearing black for dance fascinating. But it makes perfect sense!
I thought this article gave a small but interesting look into costume history. I had always thought the ballerina’s uniform had been the tutu like in the scene in the paintings of Degas, I never knew about the Chiton being used as dancewear near the turn of the century. That made me think of the music man and how the women of river city put on the Grecian dance before Shipoopi, I can now see how the costumes have a double meaning in showing the greek sense but also the fashionable dancewear of the time. I also found the quote from Sokolova about the beginning of wearing black for dance fascinating. But it makes perfect sense!
I thought this article gave a small but interesting look into costume history. I had always thought the ballerina’s uniform had been the tutu like in the scene in the paintings of Degas, I never knew about the Chiton being used as dancewear near the turn of the century. That made me think of the music man and how the women of river city put on the Grecian dance before Shipoopi, I can now see how the costumes have a double meaning in showing the greek sense but also the fashionable dancewear of the time. I also found the quote from Sokolova about the beginning of wearing black for dance fascinating. But it makes perfect sense! (im sorry i keep posting the same comment I cant figure out how to make it show my name)
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