dickens

I took my mother to see a performance by the State Ballet of Georgia last night. (Oddly, there seemed to be a smaller the usual number of Russian women in miniskirts and black high-heeled boots in attendance.)

My non-costume comment about the night is: Do you have any idea how hard it is to cock your hip en pointe!?

I started thinking about how dance costumes vary, particularly in pieces with many dancers. There are the costumes for the corps de ballet, the costumes for the corps who get to do slightly more flashy things, and perhaps 1 or 2 levels of principals. Usually each set of costumes differ slightly by cut, color or both so you don't lose track of who is who when there are dozens of dancers on stage.

This isn't always the case sometimes (more often in modern dance) all the dancers have the identical costumes, or each dancer has an individual color/cut so you can distinguish them.

Anyway, one of the dances last night was three couples, 2 couples in blue, 1 in purple.

The plot goes like this: (performed to variations by Bizet by a live pianist)

All three couples appear briefly and exuent stage left so we know who they are. The first couple in blue dance together briefly, and then are joined by the second couple in blue. The male dancer in purple appears and is apparently fascinating to the blue ladies. Then the female dancer in purple appears. All three men approach her and she seems uninterested.

At this point I was thinking the libretto (if it existed) would say: "Hey baby, we're meant for each other! See? Our costumes match!"

All three ladies dance around for a bit and hint that the pianist might actually be the best catch of the lot, but he's busy. Eventually everyone pairs up and run off stage together. But the ballerina in purple pauses just before she reaches the curtains. She thinks for a bit, then walks back to the middle of the stage and sits down. The music slows and everyone runs back onstage to make a lovely pose at the end.

Okay - now the costume stuff. Choreographers often use costume color/cut to show heirarchy (corps vs principals etc.)or other-ness. In this case, there is something fascinating about the dancers in purple. The story told would be very different if all three couples were in blue. It would put them all on the same 'level' and make the action a bit more ambiguous.

Practically speaking, it would also make it tougher to see whether each dancer end up with their original partner, simply because at the back of the auditorium, it can be hard to tell dancers apart if their costumes and hair are similar. (Particularly with women, a well-gelled ballet bun can make women look nearly identical.)

I was reading the purple as a signifier of other-ness, but then I checked the program again. The dancer in purple was the artistic director of the group. She's pretty famous, several awards, currently the prima ballerina of the Bolshoi.

She was not the choreographer, but the piece may very well have been tailor-made for her. That makes it hard not to read the costumes, and her role, as more of a hierarchical statement. At least until she retires and someone else takes the role, and then what does the purple mean?