Vortex
Two pieces making up the 2016 May season of dance at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, performed in the Geoff Gibbs Theatre
Piece 1
Choreographer: Gareth Belling
Piece 2
Choreographers: James O’Hara and Balázs Busa
Light and connection
The costume brief was to look at the function of dance wear with a “work-wear” silhouette.
This work was an exploration of humans going about their work, and also about ballet works in general. The idea of using light bars to represent humans making connection with each other also influenced the costumes, as I chose to keep the costumes all white so the lights would reflect colour onto the dancers and it would grow in intensity as more dancers came together. The shape of the costumes hinted at traditional office wear - the shape of a jacket lapel, the structured quality of suit pants.
This work presented the dancers as they are “really people, really dancing.” They are not sylphs, poets, Swan Queens or Princes
“The art of instinct”
James and Balázs were drawn to the ideas of creating performance art through instinct and the idea of being energetically present was very important to them. The piece was created in the studio with the dancers and therefore the design process was fluid and experimental.
The colours of the costumes were inspired by Flourite - a semi precious stone with iridescent qualities, an element that was important to the choreographers. They wanted explore the idea of beauty of individuality within a group, within a city, on a stage.
Layers of energy.
I designed hooded jackets made from transparent PVC vinyl which were used to represent the dancers “energetic aura”, creating a sort of energetic shell that the dancers passed around to each other. The fabric choice for the jackets was very important to the choreographers and the PVC was eventually chosen after many tests as it held a structured shape and was transparent and able to be “looked through” by the dancers. However, during the construction of the garment, the costumiers discovered that the sewing needle holes made it very fragile, so each seem had to be reinforced in a way that didn’t disrupt the translucent look.