Triadic Ballet was probably my favorite project to design because there is so much space for creative manifestation. Das Triadisches Ballett (Triadic Ballet) was developed by Bauhaus artist Oskar Schlemmer during the 1920's. The ballet and its costume designs restricted the dancers movements and challenged the rigidity of classical ballet; costumes and its materials also did not adhere to traditional dancewear. The ballet consists of three acts, each distinguishable through color (pink, yellow, and black) and appearance with nine original costumes. Since there is no documentation of the ballet's original choreography, I put my imagination to the test.
My designs were inspired by porcelain dolls and their aesthetics (mood boards/inspriations below). This idea came to me when I read "And there was a point she <a dancer> was so tired because of the weight. She sat on the floor and everybody then, I thought, look at this, it looks like a toy (Karpashevich, Pavel et al 4).” I decided that I wanted the dancers to look like toys through their costumes, and went with porcelain dolls as their aesthetics resemble the fluidity and nature of ballerinas and dancers.
Mood Boards:
Preliminary Sketches:
With my ideas in place, I did some preliminary sketches to construct the overall silhouette and shape of my costumes (pictured above). I started with Act 1 (pink) and envisioned a duet of two female dancers where their movements mirrored each others. The silhouette of the costume focused on rounded lines that had no sharp or hard edges and emphasizes rotation and spirals. This rounded complexion is also portrayed through the dancers hair as it is shaped like a thin, tilted, ribbon. Note that these preliminary sketches were modified many times until they were finalized. Even as I was designing I made subtle changes here and there. For color palette, I went with the porcelain aesthetic of pastels in two warmer tones that compliment each other, like twins. Boning and channels are used to create the tutu whose edges wraps around from one arm to the next through the neck and forms the shape in place.
Act 2 on the other hand, was created based on the completely opposite laws of abstraction. Here, a female dancer is accompanied by two male dancers. The costumes focused on sharp and refined lines that dominates over the dancers movements and centers around the walking architecture that obeys the laws of cubic space. Each piece, complimented by one of the two (red and blue) contrasting colors, are made of plexiglass or reflective thick pieces of plastic that create sounds when they interact with each other. The pieces on the body are padded with foam and cloth so the skin is not irritated or rubbed up against. Due to this armor-like attire, dancers are not able to perform high-level movements such as jumps (jetés) and turns (pirouettes), and are instead compelled by the costumes to move according to their structure.
After designing Act 1 and 2, I was mentally exhausted. I had very little idea as to what I wanted the costume for Act 3 to appear as, so I decided to incorporate both laws of the cubic space and the human body. The act features another duo, this time a female and male; gender and grouping decision were made base on time, collaboration of costumes, and variety of combinations. Here, interestingly, the male performer is wearing a rubik's cube like structure, and a round head form, with club-shaped arms and legs. The female performer carries a windmill-like piece of architecture that spins 360 degrees- this is in consideration to how much her movements pick up speed and therefore, wind.
Because the color for this act is pitch black, I came across the idea of emphasizing how the color of the costume and lights interact. In such a dark atmosphere, I wanted to explore light in relation to these costumes, therefore they emit a bright, white light, similar to those glow-in-the dark sticks.
As someone who has had ballet experience, throughout the design process I caught myself in the shoes of my own designs, thinking how I would move and dance while wearing pieces like these. Overall, this was a very fun journey, and I very much enjoyed reading about Oskar Schlemmer, his ideas, and the Triadic Ballet.
In this design process, I explored the Procreate (V 5.3) function called Gaussian Blur. The Gaussian Blur is named after Carl Friedrich Gauss, and functions as its name: a blurring technique that softens colors. It "Smooth[s] out your active layer to give your image a soft, out-of-focus appearance. (Blur)"
Works Cited
“Blur.” Procreate Help, help.procreate.com/pocket/handbook/adjustments/adjustments-blur#zhps3a5vz6p. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023.
Hornecker et.al, "Reinterpreting Schlemmer's Triadic Ballet: Interactive Costume for Unthinkable Movements. CHI '18: Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems," April 2018, Paper No.: 61, Pages 1–13.
Futhur Resources:
Goldberg, Roselee. “Space as Praxis.” Studio International (London), vol. 190, no. 977, 1975, pp. 130–35. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ce3d1e94eeb4800018d761c/t/5f44772b6f7 84a6c15e20785/1598322480956/Rosalee+Goldberg+Space-as-Praxis.pdf
Getty: Create your own performance https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/bauhaus/new_artis t/body_spirit/interactive/
Hornecker et.al Reinterpreting Schlemmer's Triadic Ballet: Interactive Costume for Unthinkable Movements. CHI '18: Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems April 2018 Paper No.: 61 Pages 1–13 https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173635 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3173574.3173635
Jones, Josh. Watch an Avant-Garde Bauhaus Ballet in Brilliant Color, the Triadic Ballet, First Staged by Oskar Schlemmer in 1922. Open Culture. https://www.openculture.com/2016/10/avant-garde-bauhaus-ballet-in-brilliantcolor.html
The Getty Research Institute. Experimental Theatre. https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/bauhaus/new_artis t/body_spirit/theater/
Schlemmer, Oskar. Man and Art Figure. In: The Twentieth Century Performance Reader. Routledge 2013. pp. 1-20 https://www-taylorfranciscom.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203125236-53/manart-figure-oskar-schlemmer?context=ubx&refId=c18aaa73-0999-4faf-adcfe5c156828736
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