Fun ballet facts

We might think that we know a lot about ballet, but here are some fun facts that might surprise you!

1. A ballerina can carry three times her body weight on the tip of her big toe.

2. Ballerinas are just as strong as football players.

3. Pointe shoes are made by hand.

4. Male ballet dancers lift about one and a half tons in the duration of one performance.

5. The most famous and most widely recognised ballet is the Nutcracker.

6. Ballet originated in Italy.

7. A male dancer is called a ‘danseur’ in French but in Italy is called a ‘ballerino’.

8. In Italian, ballet means ‘to dance, to jump about.’

9. A ballerina can go through three pairs of pointe shoes in just one performance.

10. The first ballet dancers were men as women were not allowed to dance in public until 1681.

11. The most famous style of ballet is Romantic where the ballerinas wear long tutus.

12. One tutu can take up to 90 hours to make.

13. Swedish dancer, Marie Taglioni was the first ballerina to appear on stage in a romantic tutu.

14. A ballerina will wear 50 to 150 tutus on stage in her lifetime.

15. A male dancer can wear out 4000 pairs of tights over his lifetime.

16. A ballet performance can take up to 5000 hours of practice.

17. In a performance, ballet dancers use the same amount of energy that it would take to run 28 kms.

18. During World War II, Russian soldiers used ballet to help them develop strength, agility and discipline.