Bodice construction

Creating my bodice has not gone well due to all the mistakes I have made. I am really unhappy with the quality of my bodice and feel like I could have done so much better if it wasn’t for my silly mistakes. On the positive note I have defiantly learnt from them and won’t be making them again.

                                          Bodice whilst still being constructed

Things I have learnt whilst making my ballet bodice

·    The lines from the carbon paper were too thick so need to be more delicate with the tracing wheel

·    Was tricky to line some of the design lines up seem to have got lost when transferring the pattern so need to check that all the lines are transferred in the future

·    The fabric was quite slippery and a bit difficult to work with so need to use more pins to keep it in place and take this into consideration for time management

·    Bodice took longer than expected so need to take that into consideration when creating a ballet bodice again.

·    Some seams need to be left longer than others when over locking for alteration

·    When piping cut seams behind design line so back of piping lays flat

·    Leave extra piping for alterations.

petal painting

Creating the decoration for my ballet costume is rather time consuming but rather relaxing. I have to paint 64 petals with 5 layers with each layer getting more near the edge. My first attempt at this didn’t go so well with the net soaking up more paint in some areas rather than others. I think this was due to paining them on weird plastic.

                                      not a very clear picture but can slightly see the darker areas
 I wasn’t happy with them so decided to redo the whole 64 petals slightly mad but hopefully it will be worth it.  So I have learnt the hard was new paper is better than plastic.

tutu levelling

Tutu levelling is another thing that is very time consuming and that is with only 5 layers. I found levelling the tutu quite easy apart from when the pins used as a guide line fall out.

First layer of tutu being levelled                                   Me levelling the second layer

What I have learnt:

.Take into consideration how long it takes and allocate a couple of days

.The front of the tutu has to higher at the front and lower at the back so it looks correct on stage

. Try to cut smoothly so the net isn’t jagged

tutu construction

Creating the Basque for the skirt was harder than I thought the pattern drafting was pretty simple but when it came to creating the Basque everything seemed to go wrong.  I accidently cut off too much of the seam allowance on one side for the placket so was unable to turn the fabric in on its self to create it. At least I will know not to do it next time!

Gathering the net on the skirt was slow at first but once I got into the swing of things it seemed to be quite easy the only thing slowing me down was sometimes catching some of the skirt whilst sewing my net onto my Basque.

Before                                                                                 After

This is a before and after shot of my romantic tutu now it just needs to be levelled.

decoration work shop

During our decoration workshop I got to experiment with different braids, beads, laces and fabrics to try and portray different characters. I found that creating ballet decoration quite time consuming and at the beginning hard to put materials together to portray my chosen character.  Some materials I found were easier to work with than others such as the white braiding on the Aurora bodice was rather hard as it didn’t go into the shape I wanted easily.

This ballet bodice front could be used for the character Aurora from the ballet The Sleeping Beauty. Even though the braid was hard to work with I think it works well to create a very pretty design. The ribbon on the other hand was really easy to work with and the ruching gives the piece a bit more texture adds to the pretty girly theme.

This bodice design has a Spanish feel to it so could be used in the flamenco section in Swan Lake. After creating our designs we were shown how to attach different materials with different stitching. The main thing when creating ballet decoration is that the stitch has to be nearly invisible meaning tiny stitch which is why applying decoration is so time consuming.

Draping on the stand

 Getting the panels in the right place was rather easy but getting the panels equal and  the right shape was a lot harder.The panels had to go in at the waist and flare slightly out at the bottom to make the ballerina's look smaller. Through this draping session I feel I have become more confident in using draping as a way to mapping out a garment.

Moscow Ballet- swan lake

On Monday the 12th of March as part of this project I got to see Moscow Ballet version of Swan Lake. Act 1 starts with prince Siegfried arriving to his 21st birthday party. The prince had a black bodice and his friend had white I thought this was an odd choice because the white looked more prince royal and black is normally associated with evil. The court were all in a horrible peach colour but two of the female dancers trying to catch the princes attention were in a more subtle shade which I thought looked much better and more delicate. The dancing of the court and the prince was very technically good but the jester stole the show with his enthusiasm.

Act 2 when the prince meets the swan Odette for the first time I didn't get the sense that he was falling in love with her or that the swan was scared of him. The mime that explains how she became a swan was also missed out which was disappointing seeing as the Moscow ballet is suppose to be one of the best ballet companies in the world. When Von Rothbart appears to take the swan away once again he was technically very good but he didn't portray being powerful and evil very well. His purple velvet cape looked quite vibrant to the rest of his costume which I felt didn't work well.

Act 3 is when we first see Von Rothbert's daughter Odile. I thought this part was done better by the prima ballerina than the swan I felt the she danced the role more convincingly. Even though she was suppose to seducing the prince with her dance the male ballet dancer didn't give the impression that he was totally entranced by her. Also in the dance when Odette is suppose to be seducing the prince the choreography normally has 32 fouettes but sadly the ballet dancer didn't manage to do the full 32.

Act 4 when Odette and prince are finally together and die I felt that the whole scene was very messy and confusing because the core of dancers were covering Odette and the price at the back of the stage making it difficult to see what was going on. From seeing this performance I can now see the difference between a well performed and costumed ballet to one that isn't so well executed.

First week of ballet

During this first week I have gained a lot more knowledge of ballet and have started to understand what makes ballet so unique from other styles of dance. Having a lecture on Swan Lake before seeing the performance of it by the Moscow ballet helped me understand what makes a good ballet and sadly the Moscow ballet didn’t live up my expectations. On Thursday we had a lecture into the history of ballet and I was surprised to find out how far ballet dates back and also how young English ballet and ballet schools are. The screening of Mathew Bourne’s swan lake put into context how ballet is still evolving and how classical ballet stories can be re- interpreted.