The Ballerina’s Nightmare
These gauzy, ethereal puffs of tutu fabric were beautiful, but fatal for ballerinas who danced too close to open-flame stage lights. An 1859 Imperial Decree required tutus to use flame resistant materials to protect the dancers, but ballerinas often rejected these fabrics because they stiffened the skirt and yellowed the fabric. In 1861 six ballerinas, including the four Gale sisters, died when one dancer’s skirt caught fire and the others tried to help, igniting their own costumes.
Some died of burns, others from leaping from a window to escape the flames. In 1862, an outspoken critic of the decree, prima ballerina Emma Livry, would suffer the consequences. Her tutu caught fire at a rehearsal after sitting down near a wing light and her skirt caught the flame. She ran onstage for help. The fire was extinguished, but Livry suffered burns to 40% of her body. She died eight months later.
