The first pointe ballerina - Maria Taglioni, portrait doll

The first pointe ballerina is the legendary Maria Taglioni

Maria was born in the family of ballet master and choreographer Philippe Taglioni. The girl was stooped, she was teased with a hunchback.

Her father began to study with her personally. He demanded to overcome the Earth's gravity. Long classes sometimes ended in fainting. The toes rubbed in blood did not heal.

Maria learned to stand on the tip of her toe for a long time and soar in a jump, as if hanging in the air. Taglioni's arabesque stretching into the distance, its soaring silhouette has become the emblem of romantic ballet.

Taglioni refused ballet costumes of that time. No heavy brocade and satin dresses, bulky wigs, flies, blush.

On March 12, 1832, the premiere of the ballet "Sylphide" took place on the stage of the Grand Opera in Paris". Maria, with a pale face barely touched by makeup, came out in an airy costume: a bodice that opens shoulders and arms, a tunic made of gas, illuminated in blue, transparent wings and a crown on her head. This "cloud of gas" was invented by the artist and fashion designer Eugene Lamy.

Taglioni danced on pointe shoes, invented specifically for the Sylph party. These new ballet shoes created the illusion of a casual foot touching the stage, which had a grand effect.

The end-to-end dance action, the juxtaposition of two worlds: real and unreal spiritual beauty, the perfection of classical dance has changed the aesthetics, poetics and dramaturgy of the ballet theater. The Sylph was the beginning of the era of ballet romanticism. Later he received the name "classic".

For Taglioni's sake, the whole theatrical etiquette changed: with the light hand of the architect Duponchel, who threw a bouquet at Maria's feet at the ballet "Psyche", fans could now fill up their idols with flowers.
It has become customary to call actors to bow to the public repeatedly. And the ladies got the right to express their emotions with applause, which was previously considered a violation of decency.

Portrait doll dedicated to the great ballerina. When buying a pair (Aivazovsky Taglioni), a 10% discount on each doll%