The Revolution of Pointe and the Myth of the Ballerina

The body lifted from the ground, the ethereal dream, and absolute technique

With Romanticism, ballet ceased to be merely one theatrical discipline among others. The myth of the ballerina was born, and the body detached itself from the ground more radically than ever before. In the first half of the nineteenth century, European taste shifted profoundly. Order was no longer the central value; sentiment and inquietude took its place. Ballet fully absorbed this transformation. On Italian stages — with La Scala in Milan and the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples at the forefront — the body no longer represented classical harmony but suggested escape, dream, and supernatural space.

The Revolution of Pointe Technique

The iconic figure of the Romantic ballerina emerged. The technical gesture that changed everything in Italy and beyond was the systematic use of pointe technique. It was not an improvised invention, but in Romanticism it became the central expressive device. The dancer appeared to rise above gravity, transforming into an ethereal creature. An Italian dynasty accomplished this historic transformation. The Milanese choreographer Filippo Taglioni created for his daughter Maria Taglioni the ballet that would become emblematic of the era. Maria Taglioni became the Italian and universal symbol of this change. With her, Romantic ballet assumed its definitive form: supernatural setting, central female protagonist, contrast between real and ideal worlds, and an aesthetic of weightlessness. The ballerina was no longer part of a collective design but the absolute center of the stage.

The Triumph of the Feminine and the Italian Étoiles

In Romantic ballet, the male role diminished, and the female body became the dramaturgical fulcrum, as lightness became the supreme aesthetic value. Nocturnal atmospheres, enchanted forests, and unreal beings dominated the stage. Ballet no longer told courtly stories or allegorical myths but gave form to the invisible: love, death, redemption, and the world of spirits. Embodied on European stages by a formidable “trident” of Italian ballerinas idolized as divinities — alongside Maria Taglioni triumphed the Lombard Carlotta Grisi and the Neapolitan Fanny Cerrito. Their evolutions were often accompanied by the scores of Italian composers specialized in the genre, foremost among them the Genoese Cesare Pugni, the most prolific ballet composer of the nineteenth century.

Technique and Virtuosity: The Canon of Carlo Blasis

Technical virtuosity grew in parallel: broader jumps, increased rotation, extreme control of balance pushing the body beyond previous limits. Technique served to create illusion. None of this would have been possible without the greatest theorist in the history of dance: the Neapolitan Carlo Blasis. In his monumental treatises (such as the Trattato elementare, teorico e pratico dell’arte della danza), Blasis definitively codified classical ballet technique. He defined perfect geometric poses — refining and systematizing positions such as the arabesque, inspired by sculptural models like those of Giambologna — and established rules for turnout (en dehors) and the study of bodily axis.

Italy and European Centrality

During Romanticism, the pedagogical center of Italian ballet was Milan. There, the Regia Accademia of La Scala, directed by Carlo Blasis from 1837, became an aesthetic laboratory and international model. Repertoire stabilized and spread throughout Europe. Italy maintained an imperial role in the training of dancers as well as in the symbolic production of the dominant style. From Milan emerged generations of performers with steel technique who would conquer the courts of the entire continent.

Toward the Late-Nineteenth-Century Transformation

In the second half of the century, the center of gravity gradually shifted toward Russia — yet once again under Italian guidance. Italian-born choreographers, masters, and prima ballerinas — such as Virginia Zucchi, Pierina Legnani, and the eminent teacher Enrico Cecchetti — restructured ballet on an even more monumental scale at the court of the Tsars, often accompanied by the music of the Paduan composer Riccardo Drigo.

Conclusion

Romanticism created the myth of the ballerina, the centrality of pointe technique, and the fantastic repertoire. The later nineteenth century would bring the grand orchestral spectacle and the expansion of the corps de ballet. Ballet would become a synthesis of virtuosity and monumentality — a great spectacular and imperial machine.