Scene design

Ballet is a complex art not fully savoured unless allied to its sister arts of music and painting, and the success of the complete work depends a great deal on the value of their co-operation, for inartistic scenery or costumes can mar a ballet just as much as poor choreography or bad dancing.

In general, the ideal scene is a painted back-cloth used in conjunction with suitable wings or cut-cloths, for this permits the attainment of the highest degree of poetic illusion, an essential quality, for the world of ballet is the domain of the unreal, and this type of setting frees the greatest area of the stage, an important consideration where dancing is concerned.

The scene can also take part in the ballet, for instance, the lines of the design can be repeated in the movements of the dancers. In the same way the scene can be used to reduce the dancers in size or, alternatively, accord them added height. The setting can concentrate attention on the dancer by throwing her into relief, or, failing sufficient contrast between costume and setting, reduce her to semi-obscurity.

Design for the ballet by Cyril W. Beaumont. 1937. Page 14.