Costume Designer Role In Modern Dance

The Role of the Costume Designer in Modern Dance One of the most crucial but often looked over people involved in a performance are the costume designers. Costume Designers have a specific job with goals they must achieve by manipulating the use of certain tools, fabrics, colors, and texture. A costume designer’s goals can be easily broken down into five different categories. These categories include establishing the tone, time and place, character information, aiding the performer, and coordinating with the director. The tone and style of the performance should represent to the audience the approach of the performance and what image they are trying to achieve. The costume should also accurately portray the time and place of the performance.

This will include the deadline, the number of performers, and the pieces of costume that will be needed. Once these elements are decided, a budget must be decided as well as a schedule of fittings and meetings with the designer, choreographer, and performers (Lam). A costume designer must manipulate the tools of visual design and practical materials needed to create the costumes. In order to do this, the silhouette of a costume must first be produced. This identifies what parts of the body will be emphasized by the costume and the overall design of the costume. The composition of a costume might also express the character’s evolution throughout the dance. If the character changes then the costume designer needs to decide if they want the costume to represent how the dancer is portrayed at the beginning or the end of the dance. The costume could also be made to change and represent the evolution of the dancer. Other tools that must be used are the texture and movement. The first element of texture is the fabric. The type of fabric must be chosen based on what other fabrics it might be combined with and what the visual texture should be. This should all be decided while keeping in mind that the fabric should still be practical for movement. Costumes must move with the dancer and reflect the action of the dance.

It should neither make the dance harder for the dancer nor be difficult for the designer to work with. Talking to the choreographer about the fabric first is always a good idea. As a designer, being able to offer fabric swatches for the choreographer to choose from is imperative. The fabric will be chosen based on movement, weight, and budget. Once the fabric is decided, it can then be used to make sample costumes for the dancer to try on. The costume should work well with the movements and if it does not, modifications can be made (Lam). Traditionally, dance costumes consisted of a corset and full body costumes. However, now exposed arms and legs and costumes that emphasize the torso are a more normal costume for modern dance. Material, color, texture and pattern, and construction are all aspects of the modern dance costume that must be taken into account. The material is important because it must allow the dance to move their body freely without restraint. A common dance material such as silk helps the dancer to move faster and easier and flows with their body. Another common dance material such as spandex is fitted to the dancer’s skin and allows them to move easily while the spandex costume is stilled tailored to them. The fabric should not restrict the movement. Another important factor of the dance costume is the color. The color of a dance should work in unison with the lighting, props, and accessories that are also used in the