Infra GCSE Resource

PHYSICAL SETTING
90
COSTUME DESIGN
Moritz Junge designed the costumes for Infra and has collaborated with
Wayne McGregor many times before. The costumes are clean and minimal
with a pedestrian feel in order to represent ‘normal people’ rather than
Royal Ballet dancers performing a more traditional ballet, which can involve
very elaborate tutus and tunics.
The dancers wear a combination of fitted shorts, vests and t-shirts in block
colours of flesh, black, white and grey. One female dancer wears a short black
wrap-around skirt. One male dancer wears long black trousers and is bare
chested. The six female dancers wear pointe shoes for the majority of the
piece and rather than asking the dancers to perform the more traditional
set ballet steps on pointe, Wayne McGregor uses the pointe shoe to further
elongate or distort the line of the leg and add sharper, fast dynamics to the
dancers’ footwork.
Towards the end of the dance some extra dancers enter the stage as a crowd
of pedestrians: they wear normal street clothes in the same colour palette of
black, white and grey.
As well as emphasizing the choreographic intent of the dance being about
everyday people going about their everyday lives, the costumes must also
show off the dancers’ extraordinary technical ability. Wayne McGregor’s
choreography utilizes the dancers’ extreme flexibility and agility but also
requires them to have the performance presence of ‘normal people’.
Therefore, it is important the costumes are not uncomfortable or restrictive
in any way and the dancers feel confident in what they are wearing.
‘My work for the Infra principal costumes was
very much a translation of Julian’s icon-type figures
into a ballet costume. This sounds straightforward
but actually never is, because all dancers and
human bodies pretty much have their own rules
of proportion in costume terms… plus I must
consider the materials The Royal Ballet has to use
for durability and so on. By developing prototypes
we fitted and tested lots of different shapes on the
dancers. I then narrowed these down and designed
the costumes that proved right for Wayne’s
choreography and the overall look of the show.
It’s a step-by-step processes working alongside
all collaborators and the dancers, developing
and designing from sometimes an individual and
ambiguous starting point but always ending with
a strong costume idea and product that you see
on stage.’
Moritz Junge
Johannes Stepanek in Infra
©ROH/Bill Cooper, 2010
Wayne McGregor states ‘you can’t ask a dancer to wear something they feel
uncomfortable wearing as it affects their whole performance.’ He believes it
is his job to release the best possible performance of a dancer and what they
wear can either enable or hinder this. It is the job of the costume designer to
consider this for each individual dancer.