Although masks, bulky costumes & large headdresses continued to keep ballet a majorly flamboyant dance form, the eighteenth century saw dancers who attempted to bring changes into both the dressing style and dancing style in ballet.

Two among such dancers are the french ballerinas are Marie Camargo and Marie Salle. Marie Salle was the first woman to dance in self-choreographed ballets. She discarded the 18th Century typical ballet costumes for a Grecian-style muslin dress to perform in her own ballet, Pygmalion (London, 1734). Marie Camargo, another pioneer, is remebered for her speed and agility. It was for displaying her perfection at jumps that she shortened her ballet-skirt and adopted ballet slippers instead of heels. Marie Camargo is thus credited with three innovations in ballet, that is, ballet slippers, short calf-length ballet skirt and ballet tights.

Marie Salle proved to be a precursor to the 18th Century ballet revolutionist, Jean Georges Noverre, as her ballets focused on integrating the music, costumes, and dance styles with the theme. Jean Georges Noverre brought the style, ballet d’action (conveying a story through movement) to ballet. His book Lettres sur la danse et les ballets (Letters on Dancing and Ballets) made vast impact on the ballet style and motivated other choreographers to emphasise on expressing emotions in ballet.

The year 1795 saw the first ballerinas to rise on their pointe toes. There existed no blocked toe shoes during this period. Invisible wires were therefore used in Charles Didelot’s ‘flying machine’ to hold the dancers to stand on their toes. Other performances showed dancers who balanced on their toes for a moment or two only, on strengthened/darned slippers.

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