They came to sit and dangle their feet off the edge of the world. And after awhile they forgot everything but the good and true things they would do someday. -Brian Andreas

Saturday, May 24, 2008

You Should Be Dancing (Yeah). . . But Not in That

Thursday night, Dan and I attended Dance St. Louis' first Spring to Dance Festival, which brings together professional companies from all over the Midwest for three nights of performances. Tickets were only $10 a night (TEN dollars!!) and Dan and I had the pleasure of seeing everything from flamenco dancing to Indian dancing to the Joffrey Ballet to an incredible jazz/modern piece.

We also had the pleasure of seeing some amazing costume choices, as well as some interesting ones. For instance, please picture the costume below in blue, without the jewelry and the headband.

Now picture it on a man.

Completely inexplicably, there was a fantastic male dancer forced to wear this for a ballet duet he performed. The track was not at all 70s, and there was nothing at all disco or hippie about it. I later learned that the dance was an excerpt from a larger piece, so perhaps that explains the costume selection, but they really should have gone with something else, particularly if the piece was being performed in isolation. (Keep in mind that this was a professional dance company with a paid costume designer.) I was so distracted by the horror of this costuming choice that I couldn't even pay attention to the dancing.

Days later, I am still thinking about it. And it still makes me shudder in terror. That poor, poor man.

3 comments:

ashley said...

Sounds fantastic! I would've loved to see the jazz/modern piece. This makes me want to go watch some dance!

Elizabeth said...

That poor man - I am too often horrified by dance costumes. As someone who has designed many many dance pieces - I have to say it may not be the costume designers fault. Usually the choreographer has a VERY set idea in their head of what they want. I hate to say most of what I consider my design "failures" were when the choreographer wouldn't budge an inch from what they wanted.

It sounds like a great evening though despite the awful 70s costume tribute!

jenn said...

Good point, Elizabeth. . . I shall blame it on the choreographer then! Whoever it was, someone needs to be blamed. :)