FROM CONCEPTION TO CREATION: THE COSTUMES FOR MURMURATION AND THE RITE OF SPRING

Houston Ballet’s veteran wardrobe manager Laura Lynch collaborated closely with two of three choreographers featured on Houston Ballet’s The Rite of Spring mixed repertory program March 7 – 17 to help them realize their visions for the costumes for their works.

Dancers: Karina Gonzalez and Simon Ballet; Photo: Amitava Sarkar

For Edwaard Liang’s ballet Murmuration, Ms. Lynch served as costume designer, along with Mr. Liang. For Stanton Welch’s world premiere of The Rite of Spring, Ms. Lynch realized the costume designs conceived by Mr. Welch.

Here is her journal of how she worked with the choreographers to realize their different visions.

CHOREOGRAPHER EDWAARD LIANG’S MURMURATION

Guest Writer:  Laura Lynch, Houston Ballet Wardrobe Manager

Edwaard Liang and I met via email. We then had a couple of phone conversations. He sent me a video of “murmuration.” (a phenomenon in Europe where starling birds flock together and make beautiful shapes and patterns in the sky), filmed in the wild. We discussed the simplicity he wanted in the design.

Edwaard was concrete in his decision that all women would have one look and that all men would have one look. The shop then took direction and created mock-ups for Liang to look at his first day here. Edwaard is a true collaborator. He thrives on hearing others’ opinions as well as seeking guidance when he is stuck.

Although he knew he wanted the ladies in a leotard, he wasn’t sure about the drape he wanted to soften the look with. After looking at the first round of mock-ups, we determined that a flat tab of fabric would better serve the simplicity he was looking for.

Dancers: Christopher Coomer and Karina Gonzalez; Photo: Amitava Sarkar

The leotard color also changed as we discussed the color of the birds.  Black leotards became gray leotardss and the chiffon tabs were shortened and the hem angled. We also decided to hombre (gradation of color) the chiffon tabs to better show the body. For the men, a simple pair of pants.  The decision together came in the discussion of using different fabrics to achieve the gray color for the women’s leotards. The decision was made to layer black mesh over white lycra.

The next decision was to determine the best width for the legs. A mock-up went into rehearsal so Liang could see the garment move. Changes were communicated and we were ready to purchase show fabrics and begin the build.

CHOREOGRAPHER STANTON WELCH’S THE RITE OF SPRING

Stanton created a design book with research pictures and information sketches of members of indigenous tribes charting what each character track would wear.

Dancers: Artists of Houston Ballet; Photo: Amitava Sarkar

Stanton presents his ideas, and then I ask questions to clarify.

We shopped fabrics and trims together early in the process because we had an upcoming season brochure photo shoot. I have the shop go straight to fashion fabrics when we have a definitive decision about the costume. We knew we’d use circle skirts and loin cloths – so those go right into production.

I draped all the North and South tribal women’s bras using the discussions with Stanton as my guide. Costume shop supervisor Sara Seavey draped the tribal men’s loin cloths, and incorporated the shop to assist. The tattoo mesh work was done by Monica Guerra using the research and discussion from Stanton.

Dancers: Nozomi Iijima and Artists of Houston Ballet; Photo: Amitava Sarkar

The shop follows direction from both Stanton and me as we construct all the other costumes and details. Amanda Mitchell and crew created all the wigs. All North and South tribal women have wigs, the “religious” have wigs, and everyone has some type of make-up. The tattoos are mostly created by painted mesh costumes.

Stanton Welch’s The Rite of Spring and Edwaard Liang’s Murmuration continue in performance with the company premiere of Mark Morris’s Pacific through Sunday, March 17 at Wortham Theater Center.  www.houstonballet.org.

Costumes Take Center Stage with Rock, Roll & Tutus

Nozomi Iijima and Jim Nowakowski in Stanton Welch's Divergence. Photo: Amitava Sarkar

Rock, Roll & Tutus is Houston Ballet’s exciting contemporary program. Opening this Thursday, the show promises music from The Rolling Stones, fast-paced choreography and incredible costumes. In particular, the dramatic black tutus in Divergence and the new, kaleidoscopic costumes of Tapestry catch the viewer’s eye.

We went behind the scenes with Wardrobe Manager Laura Lynch to get a glimpse of how the new Tapestry costumes were created and a look at the famous Divergence tutus.

Artistic Director Stanton Welch collaborated with costume designer Holly Hynes on the new costumes for Tapestry. First, Holly provided a sketch of the costumes. Then, the Wardrobe team created a mock-up made of like fabrics to see how it moves.

Costume sketch of Tapestry and mockup photos

For Tapestry, the men’s costumes are very simple. Mesh pants with a belt are all that they will wear. Lynch commented that the belt was the hardest part to create since all of the decoration had to be stretch.

Closeup of belt detailing

Men's Tapestry costumes

The ladies will wear long, colorful skirts with flesh panels inserted to give a flash of leg and a bodice with painted stripes. Originally, the skirt was a solid color, but during the mockup the Wardrobe team substituted flesh panels and Stanton Welch liked it so much they changed the design. A matching headscarf completes the look.

Work-in-progress costume from Tapestry

The black tutus from Divergence are iconic, but what casual audience members may not know is that there can be as many as 16 costume changes for a dancer. The change may be as dramatic as the dancer switching from a tutu to pants to simply taking off their headpiece.

Those headpieces are made from shellac and a made to look like hair sculptures. The secret to gettingthem to stay on the dancer’s head? Not so secret, really. “We use lots of pinning,” Lynch confirms.

The tutus most closely resemble an Elizabethan collar. They are made from nylon plastic screening and are pleated by hand before being sewn. Nylon plastic screening is so tough that costume shop workers could only cut the material with a hot knife. They also faced multiple cuts from the rough edges of the material.  A silk edge was sewn onto every tutu to protect the skin from being torn. Another challenge they faced was that the material only came in white so the Wardrobe Department hired an auto paint shop to spray them black!

Silk edge of Divergence tutu

Traditional tutus can be carried in a soft, round fabric bag that dancers can easily carry. For Divergence, the tutus are too heavy and must be stored in a special box. The box and shelves are made of wood and are organized according to size. They can range from 12-14”. A dancer will be assigned a tutu based on her height so it doesn’t appear to overwhelm her.

Special Divergence tutu box

Audiences will be able to see all these dramatic costumes when Houston Ballet prepares to rock the stage March 8-18!

Return of the Masters: A Wardrobe Perspective

Guest Writer: Laura Lynch, wardrobe manager

Photo by Leonel Nerio of Art Institute of Houston North

As we open our 2011-2012 season, Wardrobe is just wrapping up a whirlwind Academy Summer Intensive and a partial build of costumes for Cincinnati Ballet’s new Nutcracker.

The new season begins with Wardrobe requesting fittings on the dancers’ first day back. Fittings determine the fit and function of the costume.  Return of the Masters consists of 3 ballets, all rentals from other ballet companies. Once Houston Ballet determines that we will use rented costumes for a particular production, Brian Walker, production manager, gets the ball rolling and secures the rental contract. Together we look at timelines and determine when we’ll need the costumes here to begin our process.

When the rental arrives the work begins for Wardrobe Assistant Barbara Joyce Evans. She opens up the boxes and inventories everything. Also included in most cases is a costume ‘bible’ (paperwork or book that has all the information needed to set up the show). The next step is to size the costumes for assignment to our dancers cast.

Communication is key in each phase of the process. Requesting fittings is the next step in the process and this is done through the Artistic Coordinator Daniel Morin. The dancers come to Wardrobe at the scheduled fitting date/time and are fit in all the costume pieces being worn for whatever role they are dancing. The number of costume pieces and/or roles each dancer has determines how long or how many fittings are necessary.

For all productions we like to include the choreographer/choreologist/designer in the process as early as possible to check details. We have a design meeting to discuss the costume head to toe, as well as hair and make-up needs. We never want surprises once we get on stage.

Wardrobe Shop Supervisor Sara Seavey - Photo by Leonel Nerio of Art Institute of Houston North

Once the costumes are fit they are then turned over to Sara Seavey, wardrobe shop supervisor, who organizes the work to go into the workroom. The shop technicians are instructed  on the costume notes needed to get the costumes ready for stage. The physical work can be restoration, alteration, repairs and/or new construction. If ballet slippers or shoes need to be painted this happens during this part of the process.

Deadlines are the name of the game in all that Wardrobe does. Once the costume notes are completed the show is organized for the move to the theater for the tech rehearsals, dress rehearsals and performances. At the theater an entire new process begins in the journey, but that’s another story.

Return of the Masters runs until September 18, so there’s still time to see the beautiful dancing and costumes at Wortham Theater Center!

Photo by Mary Stephens of Art Institute of Houston North

 

 

Developing a Dancer’s Toolbox: The World of Wardrobe

Guest Writer: Jaclyn Youngblood, Academy Intern

Many dancers look stunning and move flawlessly in costumes, but not all of them understand the decisions that go into costuming a full ballet. Thanks to one of two career studies courses offered at the Houston Ballet Academy Summer Intensive Program, Wardrobe and Costume Design, some of the Level 8 (the highest level at the Summer Intensive) students will be able to explore the world of Wardobe. [The other career studies course is Set Design and Production; look for an update on that class July 20.]

Barb Dolney, a member of Houston Ballet’s wardrobe team for over 16 years, has been teaching the course since 2006. This year, there are 21 Level 8 students enrolled in the course, which takes students from initial concept to final design.

Students in the wardrobe class sharpen their sketching skills, focusing on body proportionality and silhouettes.

 

The students are paired up (with one team of three) for the final project: a minimum of six, complete color designs, three of costumes and three of hair, make-up and accessories. Dolney assigns each team to a ballet—this year’s selections are Giselle or A Midsummer Night’s Dream—and the teams decide for which period they’d like to design, such as Baroque (1715-1740), Art Nouveau (1910-1920), or Empire (1790-1815). Each team will present their designs on the final day of class, and some of the top teams will be selected to present their designs during the lower school’s final performance on July 29.
A typical class consists of going over the assigned reading, a brief lecture on the day’s topic, and an opportunity to practice drawing and work on their sketches.

Eado (Israel) works on one of his costume sketches for Giselle in the Depression era. His sketch emphasizes clean lines, structured beauty, and simplicity.

 

Eado (Israel) is designing for Giselle in the Depression era. He said learning about color, texture, fabric, and lighting decisions is helpful to him as a dancer because it adds to how he understands characters and plot. Dolney said she reminds students to make reasoned decisions, understanding why they are designing in a certain color or with a certain fabric, because it affects the audience’s perception.
To encourage students to engage the period they’ve selected, Dolney organizes a research day. Typically, the students meet at one of the branches of the Houston Public Library, scouring the stacks for art history books on sculpture, painting, and fashion. Due to scheduling conflicts, research day went paperless this year. Students used their laptops to research online articles and search for images to gain inspiration for their projects. Eado said he enjoyed studying about the Depression era because it gave him context in which to understand his contemporary perspective on the period.

It’s not only about the period, though. This summer, there is an extra element for students to keep in mind while they design: they’ll be designing in the style of renowned American choreographer (and Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet) John Neumeier. Dolney said Neumeier designs are typically sleek and restrained, with clean lines, regardless of the time period in which he is designing. Why is there an essence of John Neumeier in the Career Studies courses this year? Neumeier will be visiting the Houston Ballet in the fall; Associate Director of the Academy Shelly Power, Dolney, and Director of Production Tom Boyd (who is teaching the Set Design and Production class) thought it would be a relevant tie-in for students to focus their studies on Neumeier’s style.

Dolney said the students take away more than an artistic portfolio from the class. They learn what goes into creating a ballet. “It’s not just the dancers, but hundreds of others that contribute to get the production on stage,” she said.