Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov were important to classical ballet in the late 1800s as they developed a new philosophy and aesthetic for the art form. Their ballets featured characteristics like elaborate scenery, costumes, and pointe shoes for female dancers on a proscenium stage to depict characters and tell narrative, fairytale stories through dance. The ballets related choreography closely to music and had a hierarchy of dancer roles from principal soloists to corps de ballet members.