Seattle Magazine: It’s no secret that the pandemic has devastated arts organizations.
A recent study by Seattle-based ArtsFund found that 73% of arts organizations throughout the region had laid off or furloughed employees because of Covid-19. Arts groups pivoted quickly, with 100% of respondents transitioning to digital programming.
Pacific Northwest Ballet quickly shifted to a six-performance digital season. That created a host of challenges, especially for costume designers charged with bringing life to the movements of dancers.
2 comments:
Much like everything else nowadays, it’s extremely hard and inconvenient to work as a costume maker with the restrictions in place, but not impossible. It is all about solving problems that did not exist before it seems, but that does not undermine the effort and care that is still being channeled in. Getting back to work on your craft under any conditions is still much better than not working at all, so there is also that to consider. I am going through a similar turmoil right now. As hard work as being crew on a show looks, I am beyond excited to be working for a theater production away regardless of my role, time commitment, or limitations that have been put in place. I thought the spraying in between the layers and fittings was a really good idea. I admire the resilience they have demonstrated, building a whole set of anything by one person is a lot, especially since it is usually the work of an entire team.
I was a bit disappointed by how the content of the article was a bit generalized. With its title, I was expecting this to contain more about how the costume works were done within this period especially with ballet or other forms of dancing, because I think producing the online performance of dancing could be extra difficult than the other types of theatrical performances as it has more focus on the visual elements (of course including the costuming). Regardless, I think the article did a great job of showing very realistic problems that costume crews are going through at the moment. I also realized how costumes need to be more sensitive than handling other parts of the preparation as it requires the direct contact within the people (costumer and the performer), and sometimes even have to go to the local shopping malls like H&M if they are lacking the resources.
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