The Armchair Traveller

For as long as I can remember I have loved to dance. I started ballet when I was three and I continued until I was in my 20s and only stopped because I couldn’t juggle ballet and university any more.  However just because I stopped taking classes didn’t change my love for ballet. I still put on my pointe shoes every so often and dance around the house and I still have all my favourite costumes sitting in my wardrobe (most importantly my first proper tutu!)

My mother was never a big ballet fan and I think it always amused her just how passionate I was about it when she hated ballet herself as a child. She was always an amazing support though and over the years she grew to love watching ballet as much as I enjoyed performing. Mum’s favourite part of any ballet performance is the costumes, in all the years I danced my mother sewed all my costumes for every performance (and occasionally the costumes for other girls in the shows) she even designed a few costumes for a few recitals over the years; I think my ballet teacher really loved my mother’s help.

Anyhow, mum’s passion for the costumes extended to me and as much as I loved them before I have become much more appreciative of them when I see a ballet show.  Since moving to London I have taken any opportunity to attend performances by the Royal Ballet company which was once the company of my dancing hero Margot Fonteyn (as well as other great artists like Rudolf Nureyev, Ninette de Velois, Sir Frederick Ashton, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Lynn Seymour, and Robert Helpmann). The performances are held at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and I have enjoyed every single one I have attended. they are magnificent.

The costumes in the many shows I have attended are always beautiful and often there is an exhibition in the foyer of the Opera House displaying various costumes from past performances. Last week when I went to see a performance of Mayerling I came across a cabinet which held five miniature replicas of tutus seen in Royal Ballet performances. Each mini tutu was available for purchase for an average of £1,400 but I was more interested in the intricacy and delicacy of each miniature piece and thinking about how much mum would love them. The five costumes from left to right in the picture above are: The Snowflake from The Nutcracker, Carmen from Carmen, the Lilac fairy from Sleeping Beauty, Odile from Swan Lake, and the Spring Fairy from Cinderella.

Ballet is about so much more than just the dance, it is the music and it is the costumes. When mixed together correctly ballet is magic!

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