Last month I signed on as wardrobe assistant for December production of the W11 School of Dance. I saw it as a way to keep me busy once classes ended, and a great step back into Theatre. It was brilliant! Plus a great way to get my early Christmas fix, and what better way than the Nutcracker?
And bonus: they asked me to customize the top worn by the Nutcracker himself! It was great, knowing my work would be seen by a live audience at the Bloomsbury theatre. They gave me a basic aqua blue top to work from. At first, going with the theme of the ballet being set in the 1920’s, I originally planned something more avant garde. It was a race against time to finish the final piece before the dress rehearsal (like I said, the past two weeks I’ve had no life).
The trick with ballet costumes is that they’re so grounded with traditional, but then again they have to be functional. Because the Prince and Clara did a lot of lifts during the second Act, I had to consider any trimmings could be pulled off. We wanted something regal, noble, and complimenting Clara’s white costume. So we went with a brilliant trim, and some white gems I found to give it that extra glitz. I was really flattered that the dancer, who’d brought the top he’d worn at the National Ballet when playing the role, chose my jacket over his own to wear for the performance! And though the costumer inside me would have gone to town on this project, sometimes it’s better to stick to the basics. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it, right?
Another interesting task of my duties-sewing the prima dancers into their tutus. For every performance, I had to hand stitch these girls into their tutus to hide the clasps, then cut them out and sew them back in again during the interval. And oddest thing-I used dental floss! Yep, dental floss actually made the stiff bodices of the tutus hold together with a simple herring bone stitch than thread. Plus it made my fingers a lovely minty smell!
The whole week backstage was lovely-the children were sooooo adorable! By the end, I was already offering for any upcoming productions.
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