cavycapers Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 (edited) Watching ballet clips on YouTube, as you do in the holidays, reminds me again of my horror of Russian tutus. I mean, I adore tutus (in fact I even make them!), but those horrible ultra wide and flat pancakes tacked to within an inch of their lives that flap about and reveal ruffled behinds (not becoming to any ballet dancer over 16, in my opinion, and certainly not to women in their thirties) are ghastly. How much lovelier is the gentler English tutu.... Thiswas the clip that prompted me to post... Edited December 27, 2017 by cavycapers 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridiem Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Gosh, yes, cavycapers! I've never paid great attention to the different types of tutu, but this one is truly awful. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_emeralds Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Totally agree. And they often have bodices that look unboned, made from stretch fabric, they look almost like leotard tops...which I'm sure is much more comfortable for the dancer but it doesn't give the right deportment for classical ballet 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Haha I've not really thought about the tutus either but your right cavycapers. This clip made me think of the video of Viviana Durante dancing the 3rd Shade that used to be on YouTube. But it's since disappeared. Any idea why? I loved Viviana dancing that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninamargaret Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 my memory is quite possibly wrong but weren't tutus once described as 'tea trays'? Don't ask me where this came from, although it could be from someone who had seen some of the earliest Soviet companies visiting here. i remember seeing the Kirov, as it was, at Covent Garden many years ago and being amused by the baggy tights worn by the men - sort of lisle looking confections! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivy Lin Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 Hmm these tutus seem to be unique to the Bolshoi. The Mariinsky Bayadere tutus look very different: 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assoluta Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 This is what I wanted to say, and not even "unique to Bolshoi", but "unique" to a particular production at Bolshoi. Always remember that every production has a set and a costume designer, who often wants to be "creative" and makes changes to an established custom, more often wrong than right. We are witnessing it all the time. Earlier this year I saw a "Swan Lake" with Swans looking like Snow Flakes (?!) There is no such thing as "Russian tutu". 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two Pigeons Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 The 'dinner plate' look really cuts the dancer in half. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavycapers Posted December 28, 2017 Author Share Posted December 28, 2017 (edited) I think, by calling some tutus 'Russian tutus' i am referring to the styles that are offered for simplicity by tutu makers. Obviously, not all tutus used by Russian companies conform to this style, but it is far more the norm there, as is the 'English style' here. Classical Tutu skirts are available in the softer English Tutu style or the Russian Pancake Tutu style. The Russian Tutu (Kirov) is more tightly tacked and flatter in appearance. The English Tutu slopes gently from the High Hip-line and the net is tacked slightly looser so giving it a much softer fluffier look. Edited December 28, 2017 by cavycapers 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nycitybird Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 I thought the tutus in ENB's Corsaire were unflattering. They're way too long and droopy and make the dancers' legs look short. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivy Lin Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 What do y'all think of the Karinska (NYCB) "powder puff" tutu? They're designed to fly up and down to give the illusion of skirts flying along with the allegro footwork Balanchine loved so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 I love the Stars & Stripes but don’t like the Nutcracker one at all. I don’t like the very unflattering Bolshoi Bayadere tutus but there are so many tutu variations I would have to judge on a production by production basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivy Lin Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 Hmm it seems as if the Russian pancake tutu has been around for a long time. Look at how flat Anna Pavlova's Dying Swan tutu is: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavycapers Posted December 29, 2017 Author Share Posted December 29, 2017 (edited) Like Janet I like some of the Balanchine/Karinska 'powder puff' tutus, but not all of them. I love Suzanne Farrell in one in this Diamonds clip, but then maybe I just love Suzanne Farrell full stop! Even if she had been in a bin bag! How much easier is it for the man to get really close in partnering when the girl has this kind of tutu on, by the way, shown to wonderful effect here. Edited December 29, 2017 by cavycapers 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavycapers Posted December 29, 2017 Author Share Posted December 29, 2017 Re the ENB Corsaire tutus, nycitybird, there is a third category of short tutu design, and this is the 'bell' tutu. It is not hooped and is softer than the pancake tutu so comes down to mid thigh. It is not often seen, but I am led to believe that it is traditional for certain ballets, Bayadere being one of them, although I don't know if it's the same for Corsaire. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivy Lin Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 Also how much the powder puff tutus fly up and down with allegro music is really shown here: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 Not so keen on the Diamonds tutu but I love the Tarantella one! I must admit that my general preference from this thread is heading towards the powder puff though. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 I'm loving this thread, thanks Cavycapers for starting it. I've amended the title slightly. Please keep the clips with examples coming! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmie Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 A fun thread Cavycapers . It's got to be the classic of the classic Tutus for me! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mummykool Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 I don't like the long droopy tutus either. I think if I had to choose and all time favourite it would be this one from Baryshnikov's Nutcracker at ABT in the late 70's. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 1 hour ago, Timmie said: A fun thread Cavycapers . It's got to be the classic of the classic Tutus for me! Love these tutus, however not keen on Nureyev's transparent tights! 🙄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivy Lin Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 Interesting that in 1957 Maya Plisetskaya's black swan tutu was more powder puff than anything: 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 I really like this one. Off topic but I loved her variation instead of the fouettés. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 She was quite something, wasn't she? Not sure about that headdress, mind! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivy Lin Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 I really dislike the Romantic length, over-feathery concoctions for the Royal Ballet's Swan Lake: This is much better (from the Mariinsky): 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Ivy Lin said: I really dislike the Romantic length, over-feathery concoctions for the Royal Ballet's Swan Lake: If anyone does like them, they keep it pretty quiet! Edited to add: I saw this production when it was new in the late 80s as a know-nothing schoolgirl and thought they looked pretty good, though I understand now that they were never the best for displaying dancers to advantage. Tastes change! Edited December 29, 2017 by Lizbie1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 I like the Bell tutu shape myself. .....sort of in between pancake and romantic I hate the VERY flat pancake ones ....some are slightly softer or marginally longer than others. But if you can see the knickers when someone is just standing in the tutu not even moving around not that nice....and not nice to wear either in my view. Last summer in an amateur production we had these lovely bell type tutus for Paquita and it felt really nice on as well as to dance in and is the most flattering tutu I've ever worn ...as a somewhat larger lady of course. However this tutu looked good on everyone in the group even the slim twenty year olds! Funnily enough the romantic tutu can make you look fatter than the more classic pancake one! But as long as kept simple as in Giselle looks lovely on the right dancers!! Im not surprised though that the Russians love the more pancake ones as they usually have such lovely long legs to show off!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 I don't think Pavlova's is one of those ultra flat ones though. i don't like the tutus in the very first clip they are the worst!! but like the Bolshoi ones and Fonteyns one is okay as well Sorry Mummykool .....hate that tutu!! But probably served a purpose in the production just glad not had to wear anything like this myself!! In RB Alice I hated the card tutus ....though they served the production design well I suppose. I believe in Ratmansky's production of Sleeping Beauty for ABT the tutus are more bell shaped ....as they were in original productions I believe. I'm not going to post a clip because I don't know how long it will take me to get back into this thread once I leave it!! It took me over half an hour this time! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivy Lin Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 Yes here's a sampling of the Ratmansky SB tutus: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivy Lin Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 And his reconstruction of Swan Lake: 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmie Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 1 hour ago, Ivy Lin said: I really dislike the Romantic length, over-feathery concoctions for the Royal Ballet's Swan Lake: I love those (not so good if they were on Odette, but I think they work well on the corps). 5 minutes ago, Ivy Lin said: And his reconstruction of Swan Lake: Now that is a nice Tutu. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 I like Lopatkinas tutu ...just the whole design of it ...and hers does seem just a tad longer than the corps ones. somehow just a slightly longer version of her tutu but not quite as long as the Ratmansky Swan Lake ones....though these are not bad ...but hers is a less fussy design .....and I think would have the perfect tutu for Odette for me!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivy Lin Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 (edited) Hmm well I found this picture of Margot Fonteyn in La Bayadere where the tutu seems a mix of Russian pancake with Karinska powder-puff: Edited December 29, 2017 by Ivy Lin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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