Maria Taglioni in La Sylphide
See Dancers fly
Adapting classicism to the purposes of Romanticism, Maria Taglioni, an Italian ballerina in Paris, helped change the course of Western art with her enormous popularity and captivating ethereal performances. Perhaps the first to dance on pointe, she made people think dancers could fly, and affect the soul.
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La Sylphide c. 1840
Lithograph by Richard James Lane after Alfred Edward Chalon
Victoria & Albert Museum, London