Dance Magazine: Building a full-length ballet from scratch is an intense process. For the world premiere of Anna Karenina, a collaboration between The Joffrey Ballet and The Australian Ballet, that meant original choreography by Yuri Possokhov, a brand-new score by Ilya Demutsky, costume and set designs by Tom Pye and lighting designs by David Finn.
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The biggest takeaway I got from this article is how important it is to have knowledge of all areas, because needs and limitations will change dependent on this information. The costume designer cannot design super heavy period pieces, and the costume shop manager cannot make the pieces stiff because the dancers have to be using their bodies in ways that are not allowed in very tight corsets and about 20 pounds of heavy fabric. They also have to take into consideration the types of material, and if they make it traditional dance wear (or vice versa) how possible quick changes will become. Her background in ballet is very valuable to this process, because she can advocate for certain things to make the costumes wearable and livable for dancers. Ballets (and other dance shows) are high maintenance in the way that they demand effective use of imagery, as they are not rely on words to tell the story. Costumes are a huge part of this, and so it's necessary that the costume shop is able to work in this specific environment, and with its specific needs.
The ability to communicate clearly and directly in this job is critical. Running lines of communication between so many people is a job in and of itself. Being able to accommodate the needs of dancers and clothing that are experiencing such extreme wear and tear each night is a great challenge, and handling that with skill and a calm energy is certainly difficult. I think a really admirable skill that is needed in the wardrobe department is adaptability. They are able to handle so many unpredicted mishaps and minute changes in such a short amount of time, with really minimal time to ponder a solution is quite incredible. Something that was brushed over in the article was the complexity of making period costumes for dance. The beauty of dance lies in being able to see all of a dancer’s movements, and that is really difficult to do, as period clothing is often layered and covering. Also, period clothing tends to be cumbersome, which cannot happen in the world of dance.
I thought this article was illuminating in terms of what needs to be done on the final day of rehearsal which, in this case, was also the day of opening night. I was really impressed by the levelheadedness of the Wardrobe Head throughout the entire day. Even though the show was opening that night, she remained calm through each alteration and rehearsal. When it comes to opening night, most people I know would be very high energy and on edge. Cotey, however, was the opposite; she was completely calm and knew that her work would hold up and, even when one of the men’s pants ripped, she simply fixed it quickly and made a note. I think the quality of calmness and authoritativeness is incredibly important in any theater leadership role; it is impossible for and department head to succeed completely if they do not command respect while also making sure everyone feels comfortable and at ease.
That was a comprehensive and manageably terse look at the Head of Wardrobe job. But wow is that a long day. My favorite part was the little quip near the beginning about making the period clothes look accurate but not be restrictive to the dance itself. This has always fascinated me about ballet costumes. I got a book from the library once and it was all about classic ballets and in the margins there were production photos and little paragraphs about the design and production of ballets and there were a few on how they make the period costumes come to life but not seem like they are very light. Also it talks about quick changes and the art of the quick change is so stunning to watch not only as an audience member but even more so from the backstage view the way the choreography works it is just as amazing as the ballet onstage.
The job of the Head of Wardrobe at any theatre is definitely a demanding one, but for a ballet with near 800 individual costume pieces? That’s insane. The schedule of the Head of Wardrobe’s day reminded me of my life in high school before we opened any show. I can’t even count the number of times the boys in our cast would come up to me fifteen minutes before curtain with ripped crotches because they had been running around backstage doing cartwheels and splits. High schoolers are immature but it a situation where the performers need to be doing those things, it makes sense that their pants may rip during the show. I have a lot of respect for wardrobe heads because I know it’s a very tiresome, chaotic job, especially on opening night where a lot of the last-minute responsibilities land on them. It’s a very admirable job and I hope it’s one I will get to experience one day.
I love ballet and especially costumes for ballet. I watched this video series on Youtube by the Royal Ballet about their production of "Balenchine's Jewels". There was a lot on refurbishing the old costumes and trying to keep them as similar as possible and I was fascinated by how much work goes into a dance costume. When I was younger and did ballet, there was this one company that we ordered everything from and everyone got the same costume - unless it was a competition. There was no real design involved - it was whatever worked for our character that that website had. Reading this article made me really happy because I would love to work on a ballet because it was my first experience with the performing arts and I still love it to this day. One of my biggest regrets is quitting dance and I hope that even in the future it will be a part of my life.
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