a new year ticks over.
What I am looking forward to in the first part of this year, is the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch performance at the New Zealand Festival 2016, Saturday 19th March,
so "dance" is my first 2016 blog theme,
beautifully expressive dance,
which has a wonderful way of working with fashion/clothing designers, including RK.
Pina Bausch "choreographed" this image, and Mario Testino "shot" it. It depicts many of her trade mark themes, relationships between men and women, the individual and the group.
Pina Bausch was an intense artist in the dance world, with an uncompromising vision.
Who else has that intense uncompromising vision?
Rei Kawakubo CdG, of course, and in 1997 she worked with the highly regarded American choreographer, Merce Cunningham.
It was the first time Merce Cunningham had collaborated with a clothes designer/maker. RK was given free reign in creating the costumes, and she chose to use the CdG S/S 1997 collection 'Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body' as the inspiration for her designs.
Like the clothes from the collection, the dance costumes featured down padding,
which created bulges on the bodies of the dancers. This had an definite effect on the dancer's movements, although the clean body lines created an interesting contrast with the bulges of the costumes.
Cunningham and Kawakubo worked independently of one another until the actual performance. This was seen as the essence of the collaboration, as it created a situation in which the dancers were left to chance. That concept strikes me as very Rei Kawakubo.
This is a video of some sections of Scenario, I think the actual performance lasted 30 minutes.
and here is a link to a lovely little booklet which graphically expresses the link between these 2 artists
Dance costumes offer quite a challenge for a clothing designer, Generally a fashion designer designs clothes for a runway experience where the models move relatively sedately, but dancers move frantically, roll on the floor, leap in the air, grab partners, pant and sweat. So, it is no easy matter coming up with costumes that are danceable.
Coco Chanel was one of the first fashion designers to work with a choreographer.
Sergei Diaghilev, the founder of the Ballet Russes, asked her to work with her "innovative" jersey knit designs for their 1924 production, Le Train Bleu.
So, she came up with something like this...
'Le Train Bleu' was a take on the night train which transported wealthy passengers from Calais to the Mediterranean for their "much entitled holiday". Sport was their leisure and leisure was their sport.
Apparently the actual dancers were not overly enthused with Coco's costumes. The rubber slippers worn with the wool jersey bathing costume, tended to stick to the stage, and the dancer wearing the golf pants, shirt, tie and striped long sleeve sweater found it heavy going. I think some of the Scenario dancers wearing CdG costumes had complaints to make as well, but it's all in the name of art isn't it.
Check this link for a lovely modern day ballet piece based on the the original Le Train Bleu. The set is also inspired by the original. Pablo Picasso contributed to the design of the original set.
Martha Graham, the great modern dance icon,
worked with fashion designer Calvin Klein in 1990.
Graham was 95(!) when she asked Calvin Klein to design the costumes for "Maple Leaf Rag", which was set to the music of Scott Joplin. It was the last dance she created before her death in 1991. The costumes Klein came up with were described as "sheer, yet highlighting the shapes of the body through fit and colour." I think that is very Calvin Klein...remember his infamous jeans ads...
1980s "nothing comes between me and my calvins"
1990s Calvin Klein underwear, Kate Moss way...tight clothing clinging to sleek bodies...
and sleek sheer costumes highlighting the shapes of the bodies dancing in 'Maple Leaf Rag'
Watch this video, it shows you snippets of the dance, which was approximately 15 minutes long, and you might even hear Martha herself, asking for the 'Maple Leaf Rag' to be played. There are also some delightful take-offs of the great icon!
Jean-Paul Gaultier has collaborated with choreographers, adding an interesting dimension to the performances. Perhaps his most famous collaboration with a dancer is Madonna's 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour...that wonderful corset with the cone shape bra!
Prior to that, he worked with the Algerian born choreographer, Regine Chopinot on 'Le defile' (The Fashion Parade), which was an ironic and irreverent tribute to the world of fashion...I imagine Jean-Paul would be highly qualified to deliver on that brief.
This link will show you snippets of the dance...great fun.
In 2008 Jean-Paul G. worked with Angelin Preljocaj, who is described as a buccaneer of French dance. The collaboration was 'Blanche Neige' (Snow White).
Gaultier presented the Wicked Stepmother in a very typical look, spike-heel thigh-high boots and high-cut bustier.
Snow White was quite different. Gaultier saw her as sensual, beautiful and pure, so used white draping jersey that is attached with an elastic that cannot be seen. He was wanting to create the idea the garment is clinging to the skin as if Snow White is wearing nothing. She is both sexy and chaste.
Take in this link, you should see the whole ballet..it's fabulous, and you can see the flesh coloured net which enables Snow White's costume to stay put! Wonderful creativity on all sorts of counts.
Issey Miyake was requested to create clothing for William Forsythe's Frankfurt Ballet production 'The Loss of Small Detail', first performed in 1991. Miyake worked with the technique that would become his 'Pleats Please' process, ovesized garments sewn up, then pleated and heat-set. The result allows for comfortable movement and easy care.
This link allows you to view a lovely duo from the ballet. The female dancer is wearing a very sheer leotard, but I think the male is dressed in one of Issey's pleated designs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4xH96Oikos
When Issey got into his 'Pleats Please' range, he often used dancers as a beautiful means to show his garments.
Dance and designers make an exciting mix.
'AnOther' magazine also thinks so. It commissioned a number of choreographers, designers and filmmakers to undertake a project called MOVEment. The designers are Prada, Gareth Pugh, Calvin Klein Collection, Iris Van Herpen, Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen and Stephen Jones Millinery. The choreographers are Dancers of Tanztheater Wuppertal, Wayne McGregor, Jonah Bokaer, Russell Maliphant, Ayo Sato, Marie-Agnes Gillot and Jasmin Vardimon. This project was in collaboration with Sadler's Wells.
The ones I liked.....
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| Dancers Yanztheater Wuppertal and Prada |
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| Jonah Bakaer and Calvin Klein |
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| Marie-Agnes Gillot and Alexander McQueen |
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| Jasmin Vardimon and Stephen Jones Millinery |
You can see some of the dance in this link. It enabled me to understand what was actually meant by "Pringle's "hygienic" wool underwear"...you'll see...
Hussein Chalayan, a highly conceptual clothes designer, who participated in AnOther Magazine's MOVEment project, also directed a separate dance project, 'Gravity Fatigue', at Sadler's Wells in 2015. Chalayan's constant themes of identity, perception and displacement were still evident and the choreographer Damien Jalet, was able to translate Chalayan's intellectual concepts into movement on stage.
Chalayan's starting point for the dance was the costumes, which is understandable. The clothes represent a combination of shape and movement. They constricted the dancers' moves and moulded the bodies into sculptural shapes, which affected balance and strength. Chalayan says he is very interested in the difference between the physical and the abstract. Dance is a nice way to explore that difference.
This link is quite cool, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmiX5U8BkCQ
Chalayan explains his conceptual craft and how it lead to the performance. I love the dancers moving in the jackets and skirts, but there are no moving scenes of the elasticated costumes.....I'm not 100% sure, but I don't know whether the performance went down all that well with the critics!
And, just for something a little different, what about the artist, Linder, who designed a surreal rug which becomes a moveable part in the ballet, 'Children of the Mantic Stain'. It's got that look of movement hasn't it...there's something about the eyes..
a rug dance, why not, I think I could handle that!
Those of you who know me, know I always want to connect with Comme des Garcons, and I can do that with this theme (as well as Scenario), via the fabulous 2005 Spring/Summer RTW collection
This was a wonderful collection which incorporated both the ballerina and the biker. I think RK's conceptual inspiration was "the power of the motorbike...and the strength of a ballet dancer's arms".
She really took dance/ballet on board, what with the tutus and ballet pumps style shoes...
These links can show you a lot of the actual runway collection. What I think is good about viewing them is the close view you get of the jackets...they are fabulous, what with all that wonderful lacing...and I know, some of them are worn backwards, but it does make you take in the full cut and construction of the jacket.
and my inspired take...not quite a leap however....just a bit of 3rd position!
This is my CdG S/S '01 inspired skirt, dancing away
Humberton Leon and Carol Lim operate the clothing label 'Opening Ceremony'.
Their latest collection is an interesting collaboration with the New York City Ballet choreographer Justin Peck, and 7 of the company dancers. Go on this link and scroll down to the piece re Justin Peck. You'll get to see the full show, and the wonderfully active role the dancers played.
Apparently the set was also in keeping with the concept of Dance. It was based on some never-realised plans for a living space designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. His daughter was a modern dancer and Wright designed sets and costumes for her.
The section in the link about costume being worth The Lincoln Centre is worth a peek, the leotard/unitards are great.
Well, I think I have covered quite enough regarding the ever exciting collaboration between Clothing Designers, Choreographers and Dancers, and I have only skimmed the surface!
I want to finish with Pina Bausch.
Last weekend The Weekend Herald presented an article on the company. Shona McCullagh made the comment "She (Pina Bausch) also pioneered a new integration of costume design, using skimpy slips and petticoats as costumes, intimately revealing the person underneath and commenting on the shallowness of so much human window dressing"
Sadly, Pina Bausch died June 2009, aged 69.
SLTSLTBsigning off
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