What Ballet Is That Purple Tutu Variation From? (Medora's Variation)
If you've seen a ballerina in a saturated purple tutu, opening with a balance in sous-sus followed by a series of leaps that enveloppé the first leg and développé the second leg, you've probably seen Medora's Act 3 variation from Le Corsaire — specifically, the one from Le Jardin Animé, "The Animated Garden."
Note: in full-length productions the tutu is often a lighter shade of lilac or pink but if you're seeing this as a competition solo it tends to be a bright color. There's nothing inherently "purple" about the variation, I think it's just tradition at this point.
Where the Medora Variation Lives in Le Corsaire
Le Corsaire premiered in Paris in 1856, loosely based on Lord Byron's poem "The Corsair," and has been revised and expanded by numerous choreographers ever since, most significantly by Marius Petipa. Le Jardin Animé is one of his additions, and it's become one of the most famous passages in the whole ballet, excerpted constantly on its own in galas and competitions.
Le Corsaire, nicknamed "the pirate ballet" by my daughter, is the story of a pirate captain named Conrad and his quest to save a Greek slave girl named Medora. The story begins in a Turkish bazaar where slave girls are being sold. Conrad kidnaps/saves Medora and takes her back to his grotto with the other pirates. Medora begs Conrad to free the other girls, he agrees, but the other pirates do not (they have purchased girls and want to keep them). Conrad pulls the "I'm the captain" card and orders the girls freed.
One of the pirates, Birbanto, schemes to drug Conrad. He and Lankendem (the guy who was selling the girls, and Conrad kidnapped him for good measure) poison a rose with a sleeping potion and tell Medora to give the rose to Conrad. She does, and he falls into a deep sleep which gives the other pirates the chance to recapture Medora, free Lankendem, and give Medora to Seyd Pasha (who had purchased another slave girl at the bazaar).
Act 3 is where the (usually) purple tutu variation comes in. The Act begins with a dream sequence, Le Jardin Animé, although whose dream it is depends on the staging. In some versions, it's Conrad who falls asleep and dreams of a magical garden where he and Medora are together and happy. In others, it's Seyd Pasha who drifts into an opium-fueled fantasy where his entire harem transforms into dancing flowers. Either way, what you're watching on stage is someone's dream, not the "real" world of the ballet, and Medora's variation is only one part of a much larger garden sequence filled with corps dancers, garlands, and a wash of soft, Romantic-era imagery.
Three Artistry Tips from Medora's Act 3 Variation
Musicality. I'll be honest: I don't love doing the opening leaps in this variation. They just don't fit on my body comfortably. But I've learned that no matter how awkward they feel for me, if my landing in arabesque is musical the jumps are perceived as more graceful. There's a very clear chord in the music where the arabesque should reach its final extension. (I write more about musicality in Artistry Inside Ballet Technique, Volume 1, if the chord-landing idea above is interesting to you.) Some dancers are able to control their landing so well that the entire reaching of the arabesque is smooth and unaccented, finishing at just the right time. Others control the landing and have a slight pause before a final deeper fondu/higher arabesque/complete the eye-line on the music. Whichever you prefer, it's finishing the movement exactly with the music that makes the whole leap look polished. And then you do it two more times. (You can always count on Petipa to do things in sets of three!)
Acting. Watch a full-length recording of this scene, not just a competition solo, and you'll notice that Medora rarely (if ever) interacts with anyone else on stage, even though there are other dancers right there with her. My read is that this makes sense given the dream framing: she's performing for one specific person or one specific fantasy, not for the crowd of fellow flowers around her. In practice, this gets interpreted by most dancers as making direct eye contact with the audience, which is a genuinely coherent artistic choice here. The classical repertoire rarely breaks the "fourth wall" but in this scene it works. Unlike the dream scene in La Bayadère where Solor is often lounging on stage watching the shades, whoever is dreaming this garden isn't shown so it works well to imagine them as an audience member.
Eye-line. The dancer's gaze shifts noticeably throughout this variation. It's part of the choreography and if you haven't practiced looking "anywhere but straight forward" it will be really tricky at first. Sometimes the dancer follows her fingers with her eyelashes (especially when she complete those arabesques in the beginning). During her développés, she looks down towards the ground and then immediately looks up and finds her spot for the piqué turn. During the long sequence of ballonnés she moves her gaze from left to right. Watching for exactly where the eye-line goes, and when it shifts, is a great way to study this variation even if you never dance it yourself.
Preparing a variation of your own?
Before You Compete: 9 Exercises to Ask as You Prepare to Perform walks through questions to ask about the variation you're working on, so your artistry develops alongside your technique — free.
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