But Louis XIV himself is genuinely interested in dancing, and in 1661 he decides that his colleagues are not up to scratch. He brings together the best Parisian dancing masters to form the Académie Royale de Danse, where his friends ' skills may be honed. It is so successful that he follows it in 1669 with a similar Académie Royale de Musique.
Costumes during this time were far from liberating to the dancer. Although a more expressive use of the body was encouraged, dancers ' movements were still restricted due to heavy materials, panniers, and tonnelets. Costume fabrics were heavy and covered a dancer ' s physique. It wasn ' t until choreographer Jean Georges Noverre called for dance reforms in 1760 with his Letters on Dancing and Ballets that costumes became more conducive to the art form. Noverre urged that costumes be crafted using lightweight fabrics that move fluidly with the body, complimenting a dancer ' s figure. At the end of the century, dancers wore soft slippers fitting snuggly along the foot. This shoe design instilled confidence within the ballerina, daring her to dance on her toes. This opened the door to pointework, for this acceptance of more naturalistic costuming allowed the development of the heel-less shoe, which led to the dancer being able to make more use of the rise onto demi-pointe.
The era of Romanticism produced ballets inspired by fantasy, mystique, and the unfamiliar cultures of exotic places. Ballets that focused more on the emotions, the fantasy and the spiritual worlds, heralded the beginning of true pointe-work.
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