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BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER’S WOMEN+ IN THEATRE: MODERN TECHNOLOGIES JACKIE TAYLOR UNIQUE CHALLENGES FOR MODERN STUDENTS 2019 TECH EXPO HIGHLIGHTS THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY SUMMER 2019 ELEVATING THE DANCE EXPLORING THE MARRIAGE OF COSTUME DESIGN AND CHOREOGRAPHY THROUGH TWO AMERICAN CLASSICS CONTENTS SUMMER 2019 | Volume 55, Issue 3 FEATURES 8COSTUME DESIGN Elevating the Dance By E. Shura Pollatsek with photography 22LEADERSHIP by Mitchell D. Wilson 18 In dance, the performer’s body is the LUMINARIES Building a Better Workplace medium of expression, and so the By Caitlyn Garrity costume is often the fulcrum of the 2019 USITT Keynote Address: A survey of female-identifying theatre overall design. This feature explores the Jackie Taylor design and production practitioners re-envisioning of two beloved American The founder and CEO of Chicago’s found two significant obstacles that classics by two dance companies as an Black Ensemble Theater shares her women+ face in theatrical design example of the essential collaboration story of founding the iconic theatre and production industry careers: lack required of costume designers and committed to eradicating racism of support for parents and negative choreographers. and enlightening audiences with its workplace environments. The theatre outstanding original productions and community has an opportunity to take exceptional educational outreach some successful steps towards creating programs. an inclusive environment for women+. DEPARTMENTS ON THE COVER The Cowardly Lion (Liang Fu) in The Wizard of Oz at Kansas City Ballet, a co-production with Colorado Ballet and the 4 From the editor Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Choreography by Septime Webre and Book reviews costume design by Liz Vandal. Photo by Mitchell D. Wilson. 54 2 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | SUMMER 2019 Elevating the Dance When the performer’s body is the medium of expression, the relationship between costume design and choreography requires careful collaboration BY E. SHURA POLLATSEK WITH PHOTOGRAPHY BY MITCHELL D. WILSON 8 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | SUMMER 2019 or designers trained in other performance genres, de- signing costumes for dance presents new challenges but also creates distinctive opportunities. Designers may be called upon to create giant skirts that fill the stage, gos- samer-thin tunics that withstand acrobatics, or nearly- Fnude unitards that highlight each dancer’s unique muscles and curves. Beyond the logistics of creating costumes that move and function well, another key feature of dance costume is the cen- trality of the body itself, and therefore, by extension, the garment that covers and reveals it. In other forms of stage design like op- era and theatre, directors tend to start either with the whole de- sign team or with scenery. However, in dance, the performer’s body is the medium of expression, and so the costume is often the fulcrum of the overall design. The Cowardly Lion, The Tin Man, Dorothy, and Scarecrow (Liang Fu, Lamin Pereira dos Santos, Amanda DeVenuta, and James Kirby Rogers). Photo by Mitchell D. Wilson. SUMMER 2019 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | 9 Dancers from Nashville Ballet performing Appalachian Spring. Note the Mother, played by Katie Vasilopoulos, is wearing her shawl look. Photo by Mitchell D. Wilson. The re-envisioning of beloved Amer- Prior to putting pencil to sketchpad or Appalachian Spring performed March 2017 ican classics by two dance companies toe to studio floor, the choreographers By Nashville Ballet and Nashville Symphony Choreography by Paul Vasterling provides an example of the essential and designers on each show met to talk Music Composition by Aaron Copland collaboration required of costume de- through images and ideas, and to distill Music Performance by Nashville Symphony signers and choreographers. The Kan- the foundational text to its essentials. Conducted by Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero Costume Design by Holly Hynes sas City Ballet (as a co-production with Both choreographers chose a costume Lighting Design by Scott Leathers Colorado Ballet and the Royal Win- designer with whom they had a well- nipeg Ballet) presented The Wizard established history, and their familiar of Oz, and Nashville Ballet produced mode of communication made the de- Aaron Copland originally com- Appalachian Spring with the Nashville sign process flow smoothly. Vasterling posed Appalachian Spring in 1944 for Symphony, and the author and pho- and Webre both like to have design choreographer Martha Graham. The tographer visited both companies. In ideas in place before finalizing choreog- evocative music written for a small en- detailed interviews, costume designers raphy. They wanted to create movement semble used quintessential American and choreographers shared their influ- already knowing the shapes the clothed styles like fiddle tunes and hymns, in- ences, inspirations, and challenges as body would form, the way the fabric cluding the famous Shaker hymn “Sim- they balanced paying tribute to what would flow, and which features would ple Gifts.” The setting was a pioneer came before with developing a unique, be revealed or concealed. settlement, which also symbolized the relevant work. Acclaimed photographer wider ideas of America. Graham’s bal- Mitchell D. Wilson documented both let followed a young couple about to be productions in his dynamic style and Appalachian Spring married, with additional characters of a has provided the images for this piece. In 2017, Nashville Symphony initiated preacher, an older pioneer woman, and Choreographers for both produc- a collaboration on Appalachian Spring an ensemble of fellow settlers. tions wanted support and inspiration between the Symphony and Nashville Vasterling’s first task was to find a from trusted colleagues to help steer Ballet. Artistic Director Paul Vasterling new take on the classic by developing the production toward the desired end. jumped at the chance to stage the beau- choreography that would pay tribute Choreographer Septime Webre did not tiful Copeland music with the danc- to Martha Graham, but in his own lan- begin his journey with The Wizard of ers at Nashville Ballet. He chose his guage. To create his own work, Vaster- Oz until costume designer Liz Vandal frequent collaborators Holly Hynes for ling, of course, started with the music. was on board. Choreographer Paul costumes and Scott Leathers for light- After studying the storyline from the Vasterling knew costume designer ing. The symphony itself would be the original, he chose to simplify the char- Holly Hynes would have the right ap- backdrop for the dancers, so no scenery acters to a mother figure and a group proach for his Appalachian Spring. was used. of young people. “I started thinking 10 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | SUMMER 2019 about the Graham version, and how Katie Vasilopoulos the central figures were a man and as The Mother a woman making their way through and dancers from the world, and decided to have a more Nashville Ballet. Photo by Mitchell D. Wilson. feminist view and make it just about a woman,” he says. As he continued to work through the themes of the piece, he went back to the essentials of the work itself and the original creators. Vasterling explained how, during a con- versation with a friend, they realized the irony that this quintessential American work “was written by a group of outsid- ers: a woman, a gay Jew, and a Japanese man in 1944. [Graham, Copland and Artist/Set Designer Isamu Noguchi] … That really set the theme of [my version of] the ballet—a central figure that rep- resents a mother [but also] the idea of America. There is opportunity and then there are outsiders and the outsiders are always trying to get in.” Although not a practitioner of Gra- ham’s technique, Vasterling wanted his expressionistic ballet choreography to pay homage to the modern dance icon. However, his personal connection to the material deepened as he developed previous work, Layla and the Majnun, She chose earthy textures and colors the work. His usual mode of working they visited the Islamic Art section of with an added touch of stronger hue on is to finish the concept before begin- the Metropolitan Museum in New York, each dancer, and also used pattern to ning choreography. He weaves together wandering the galleries, responding to create a “relaxed and simple” feeling— disparate influences—ideas from texts artifacts and images, and pointing out plaid skirt panels for the women and he reads, research, etc. For this work, details to each other. For Appalachian striped shirts for the men. The Mother while he developed it from what he Spring, they visited a Shaker village. character’s outfit is the most related to terms “a confluence of events,” he didn’t Hynes studied the colors and textures Shaker clothing, while she let more skin resolve everything until he had worked of Shaker artifacts, as well as the bal- show on the younger characters. for a while with the dancers in the stu- anced simplicity. The designer was To develop this alternate silhouette, dio. “I couldn’t figure out how to finish struck by the idea that they are “people Hynes looked to Graham and Copland’s this ballet and then suddenly realized it of the earth but also of the heavens.” era for inspiration, the 1930s and ’40s. was a tribute to my mother,” he says. Hynes begins any dance costume She kept the flavor of Graham’s full Vasterling works with a variety of de- design by connecting with the music. skirts, but only the mother figure has signers, but he likes Holly Hynes’ style for She strives to translate not only what the long, covering length. Hynes devel- his more minimalistic pieces. Her years of the music says to the choreographer, oped a skirt shape with inset panels that experience designing for top companies, but also what it says to her. “Shutting open and close like a fan as the dancer including New York City Ballet, Ameri- your eyes, and seeing what you imagine twirls; the touch of colorful plaid gives a can Ballet Theatre, and the Paris Opera as you listen—maybe that morphs or bit of a surprise for the audience.

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