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Wow...some gorgeous costumes

I've been meaning to post this for a bit, but hadn't had time to dig up some photos.

We were lucky last month to see the new production of the Royal Ballet's Sleeping Beauty. It was premiered in London in May, and in the US last month. One of my sons danced in the show and the other was an understudy, so even more luckily, I got to spend one show backstage chaperoning. I have to tell you, the costumes were drop dead amazing, with incredible amounts of handwork. You can see some photos here:

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I don't think you can really see the detail inthe costumes. I always thought that the costumeswere probably the sorts of things that looked fabulousfrom the audience, but didn't stand up to muchscrutiny when you saw them up close. At least inthis case, that *so* wasn't true. On top of amazingfabrics and construction, there was all sorts ofgorgeous handwork--jewels, embroidery, etc.--allover the place. One of the costume mistressessaid that each of the costumes my son wore were aboutfour or five thousand dollars to make. (And yes,I was an absolute basket case chaperoning eight ornine boys in Very Expensive Costumes.) And thesewere just costumes for the children! I can't evenimagine the amount of time that must have gone intocostuming the entire show. The King and Queen alonehad three different costumes, each more extravagantthan the last. So, lest any of you think that sort of work is vanishing, at the very least it is alive and well at the Royal Ballet's costuming department. I was totally blown away.

Best wishes, Ericka

Reply to
Ericka Kammerer
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Oh, my goodness, Ericka! What part did your son play? You must have been thrilled to death. What a wonderful experience!! Hugs! Dianne

Ericka Kammerer wrote:

Reply to
Dianne Lewandowski

Dianne Lewandowski wrote:

Oh, he was just a "super" (sort of like an extra in a movie). So, he was one of the pages to the fairies in the Prologue (the "Fairy of the Golden Vine ;-) ), one of the mandolin pages in Act I, and one of the monkey pages in Act III with Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. The don't do a lot of dancing, though they do have to dance to audition for the roles. I think they try to give the roles as a way to support aspiring dancers, which I think is very nice. And frankly, when you've got boys who dance, even auditions are welcome as a way to run into other boys who dance seriously! So yes, I'm terribly proud of him (and thrilled to get the opportunity to see such fabulous dancers up close myself!), but it isn't as if he's one of the RB company dancers or anything like that ;-) His role was mostly walking and kneeling and standing and behaving himself and staying out of the way of the company dancers! Wow, it's something to see such wonderful dancers from the wings, though. It's a lot of time and a lot of late nights (and the small stipend they pay doesn't really cover what you spend in gas and parking and food and tickets, though of course I let the boys keep the money they earn rather than deducting all that), but I think the experience is priceless for them, and very motivating. Every time they do one of these, they come back to class working a little harder, stretching a little further, jumping a little higher--not to mention they have their faith restored that there really are other boys and men who dance ;-) Never in the past has he done one of these with such amazing costumes, though. I've just never seen anything like them.

Best wishes, Ericka

Reply to
Ericka Kammerer

Ericka Kammerer said

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, it's nice to know that a travelling company supplemented its cast with locals. What a treat for your boys.

Reply to
anne

You should have him watch "So You Think You Can Dance" on Fox Wed & Thurs at 8 Central. Some of the guys have superb training (one in particular with this group), and boy do they look macho!

You must be so darned proud. Was it his idea to go into dance? Your post just oozed of excitement and love for your son.

Dianne

Ericka Kammerer wrote:

Reply to
Dianne Lewandowski

I love that show.

Reply to
LizardGumbo

IMO, it's the costumers who will keep the craft alive.

Congrats to your son! I can't wait until my kids are old enough to go see the Nutcracker at Christmas.

Reply to
LizardGumbo

It's kind of funny with that. I Tivo it so he can see it and just skip through the rest to see the dancing (he's not particularly keen on all the other stuff). I asked him if he liked the dancing, and he's not all that excited to see it. He can tell that some of them are very good, but I think it's just so different from what he likes to do that he doesn't get terribly excited about it.

He was pretty young, so it was a joint decision. He wanted to do something, I wanted him to do something physical that wasn't team oriented (he was already playing soccer), and we went through some possibilities and he liked this one.

Well, we are darned proud of him (and his brother). I'm just glad they enjoy the arts. I'm sure some of that comes because of our interest, but even so, he wouldn't necessarily enjoy dance and music as much as he does. I was a good soccer mom when they were doing soccer, but I do have to confess that I enjoy going to recitals and such a bit more ;-) At least the venues are climate controlled!

Best wishes, Ericka

Reply to
Ericka Kammerer

I like it too--seems odd to me that I like it more than the dancers in the family ;-)

Best wishes, Ericka

Reply to
Ericka Kammerer

I think many of them do that, if they're doing something that has something like that. Many companies have schools affiliated with them, so it's the kids in the school who have those roles when they're at home. When they go on tour, they don't usually bring those kids along, so they audition local ones. One time the NYC Ballet was in town, a couple of their students from New York actually came down on their own nickel to perform the super roles they had done in NYC, but that's the only time I've seen that. I wouldn't say a lot of the performances call for supers, but it seems like there are a few every year around here (we're lucky). It is a big treat for the boys. They love it.

Best wishes, Ericka

Reply to
Ericka Kammerer

Well, these sure are doing their part! I really don't think I've ever seen construction like that outside of a museum.

Oh, it's such fun! DS1 was the Nutcracker last year, and DS2 was Fritz (the brother). They had such a blast. The funny thing is, they've never been able to see a professional company Nutcracker so far, because it always seems to conflict with their rehearsals! I'm hoping that one of these years the dates will work out and we can take the kids to see someone else do it ;-) Of course, by the time they're done with their Nutcracker, I'm hearing Tchaikovsky in my sleep!

Best wishes, Ericka

Reply to
Ericka Kammerer

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