Designing for ballet

Design for ballet has changed in a way very like the accompanying music, although partly for different reasons. An economic factor affecting the issue is that music, generally speaking, is an essential, but ballet can be danced in the simplest costumes with no decor. Sometimes this is a positive advantage; Balanchine’s ballets, for instance, often look best in practice clothes (tights and leotard or singlet). At the other extreme has been what seemed a contest between designers to achieve the most grandiose naturalistic setting for a classic revival. In general, however, the tendency has been towards simplicity and solidity. Martha Graham pioneered the use of sculpture in the designing of ballets and this has proved remarkably successful. Screens, cut-outs, projections, scaffolding and other objects have become more common; realistic painted backcloths less so. Texture, colour and shape are the qualities that matter. The aim is to provide an environment for the dance rather than a moving picture. Sometimes they are imaginative to an almost outrageous degree, but in general the clothes dancers wear in modern works have tended to become more like those they wear off-stage. There are companies that use classical technique but do not have a single tutu in the wardrobe.

Also, as designs became simpler, lighting grew more ambitious. Jean Rosenthal in America first introduced effects with low side lighting picking out the individual dancers from surrounding darkness; others branching out from her discoveries have made stage lighting an art of its own. Revealingly, when Rauschenberg was artistic director for Cunningham one of the things he took great care of was the lighting, rather than more obvious aspects.

Modern Ballet by John Percival. 1970. Page 128-131