Artist Sian Taylor Watson's review of my practical work

Sian Taylor Watson is the lead artist of the "Get Involved 17", the Nottingham Contemporary youth programme. I've been working with her on planning and designing events for Get Involved since March this year. Currently, we are developing the idea of the "Creative Selfie" project for a bigger event comming up in September. I ask Sian to comment the idea and the final product (the ballerina costume) of my MA. Here is the review I got from her:

"Costumes, stage sets, lighting and performers are all and equally important when waving together the ethos and essence of a performance.
The use of materials as an extension of the set is wonderful, not just making of the costumes out of materials and fabric that match the idea of the performance but that wll react to the performance. The cellophane will reflect the lighting used plus the movement of the performers will allow the colours, shadows and lights dance alongside them.
When looking at Salina's costume, it is possible to see the delicate use of colour and how the small detail around the waist adds an extra dimension to the costume. It is great how Salina managed to show the beauty and delicate nature of snowflakes by adding a small amount of embellishments. That way the snow falls is an essential part of how Salina has interpreted the costumes, giving her costume even more of a connection with the performance."

You can find more information about Sian Taylor Watson's collaborated work with "Get Involved 17" here:
http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/blog/get-involved-17

Materials and prices for practical work

The materials for my practical work I went to Sneinton market recommended to me for their lower prices.

Fabrics:

• leotard which costs 6,00 pounds a metter but I found 1 spare roll pieces on an extreme discount  costing 1,00 
•  1 meter of white cotton fabric which costs 1,20 pound a metter
•  2 metters of netting  (2 meters wide) costing 1,20 pound a metter and a total costs 2,40 pounds
• 1 metter lastic which costs 0.50 

Recycled materials:

• Blue plastic bags 27 of which I managed to find in my wardrobe as I always save all bags I get from all sort of stores. First I wanted to buy the bags but struggling to find a store which offers them I made a search around my home items.
• Cellophane with white dots which I found again in my wardrobe left from an old bouquet

Total cost: 5,10 £

That cost totally fits into my plan for the costume as my target price was 5-6 influeced by the price of Marvin Gaye Chetwynd's costume we created so in terms of budget I managed to achieve my aim about the costume.

Artist Sam Metz about my work

A few hours earlier I receved a feedback about my work and my costume from a good friend of mine, Sam Metz. She was one of the performers in the "Brain Bug" performance as part of Marvin Gaye Chetwynd's exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary and has been familiar with my work. Her research recently observes the movement of the body and its interation with material so she put a some really interesting sides to my wotk - a performing and a political aspects.

You can find more information about Sam Metz here.

"I have previously viewed Salina's work when she made costumes ad part of the Marvin Gaye Chetwynd performances at Nottingham Contemporary. I this work she had a real understanding of how the usage of 'low materials' could create inviting, dynamic and accessible works. The costumes she made there reflected the carnival and party aesthetic of the pieces.
Similarly, Salina has applied some of the principles of using 'low materials'(cheap, accessible and ubiquitous) to create the snowflake garment designed for The Nutcracker. Salina uses materials in an ingenious ways to draw the audience in. The low budge materials seem to represent the current financial climate, whilst the carnivalesque appeal of the finished garments seems to be a reactionary statement, celebratory not impoverished.
This costume has layers of appeal, the mixture of recycled materials and fabrics means that some elements of the costume such as the lower layer of blue bags will only be fully recognised in performance - through the sound of the performer's movement and through the reveal created by the performers moving body. This seems to be important, the performer literally enlivens the esthetic and enables further engagement with the use of low budget materials. Salina's designs are interesting visually but perhaps more interesting in what they suggest politically."

Sam Metz, Associate Artist,
Nottingham Contemporary

Audience comments

In order to test my costume and the audience reaction on it, I made a walk through the city center on it, asking people to share their thoughts and comments on the costume. Unfortunately I didn't manage to find an assistant to photograph me, so I can't provide any visuals of my research.
Here are some of the comment I managed to write down:

"Very interesting work, I didn't notice the recycled materials"

"I like the colors and the white dots"

"Very brave idea. I would dance ballet in this costume"

"It's nice for alternative theatre"

"Good costume. It looks simple but it's not if you look at it."

I also managed to contact some of my friends from the "Get Involved 17" group and here are the comments they made about my costume:

"It really looks like a snowflake costume. I think the white dots are essential"

"I think it will look better if you shorten the uper netting layer so the blue could be easily seen, because I didn't notice it at first and it's important."

"You look at it and can't really notice the unusual materials. It's a nice mixture. At first, when I hear "A costume made of a mixture of recylcled materials and fabric", I imagine an obvious difference between the type of material and You've found an effective way to remove that difference."

"I think the cellophane decoration makes the costume really alive and is a good refence to a real snowflake"

Looking at the comments I noticed that my risk referencing a costume with bad reviews, had become the most successful aspect of the costume and I had managed to turn a flaw into an effect. 
Another conclusion which could be made is that the comments are very similar to the reviews of Northern ballet's Nutcracker in terms of aliveness and realism in the costume. The audience relates it to the character.
The colors as a reference have also achieved their aims. The only negative comment conrcern the length of the white layer of the tutu in order to reveal the colors better. But thinking of that aspect, I also consider the fact that in actual performance during the movement of the dancer the blue layer of plastic bags will be revealed and will reach the audience.

Final costume and references

Here the final look of the costume I made:

As a reference I used 2 of the costumes I earlier discussed on my blog., one of them with many negative reviews and the other - with very positive ones.

The main reference I made is to the Northern ballet snoflake costume from which I used the simplicity of the design and the mixture of white and bright blue as colors.

The other influence on my costumes had the white spots on the Mariinsky costume which I referenced with the cellophane decoration. Although the costumes for this performance had some extremely negative comments on youtube, I decided to take that risk because that was a detail I mostly liked of the costumes

Costume making - part 2

The tutu is also a very hard part of the ballerina costume and takes a lot of time. My tutu was made of 3 different materials - cellophane as a decoration, netting as a decoration layer and upper frill and blue plastic bags the other frills.

Every frills is made of 3 pieces with the same size sewn together. Considering my height wich is 5'6'', I cut them with 13'' width which is 33 cm. Every next frill is made with 3 cm shorter width. The other lenght of the pieces is extremely hard to be predicted depending of the waist measurements. Mine was around 145 cm for waist - 78 cm. But when I attach it it was enough only for the half of it so I had make another one of 145 cm and to attach it on the other side.

For the plastic bags I used three triple pieces for one frills. I left the extra piece of the lower basque without sewing on it.

Usually, for a tutu are needed at least 6 layers but because of the hevier weight of the plastic bags, I decided to leave it with only 3.

 In case of adding a decoration on a tutu, a additional layer is needed on the top but it is made in a different way. The decoraton layer is first cut on a cardboard measuring the circle formed on the tutu looking it from the top, a cut in the middle is added where the basque and bodice are. The decoration layer can either be completely flat or a bit curved if the middle cut is made a bit wider. When the cardboard is cut on the netting, there should be at least extra 10 cm left on the outer side because. Otherwise, it might become smaller than the layer under it which is not desireable.

I made my decoration layer with a bit bigger cut in the middle and pin it to the other  frills. You can see the extra fabric left. I cut it a lot wider because it was first time and decided not to risk. The cellophane decoration was made the same way.

Sources:

http://tututoday.com/how-to-make-a-tutu-introembellishment-2/
http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/how-to-make-a-tutu-skirt

Costume Making - part 1

The costume of ballerina is made of three parts - bodice and basque (upper and lower basque) and tutu. The bodice and the basque I made of leotard fabric, another option are satin and poult, but I chose leotard because I found a leotard piece on s good discount. The linning was cotton. The linning of the bodice was made of 8 different parts when the upper leotard cover was made of 4, all of the first cut of cardboard and afterwards on the fabric, allowing  1 extra santimeter of each side of every part.

The basque is made of upper basque, which starts from the waist, using my waist measurements and a lower basque on which the frills are later sewn. The cut of the upper basque is on the as it connects with the cut the the bodice. First, as a main mistake I put the cute of the bodice on the from side and then when I tried it on I realised its not possible to be worn as there is not enough space for the body to put it on. Only the cut of the power bodice should be left on the front side

It took me more than a week to make it as I sew it without a sewing machine. I also allowe myself to made an addition to thelower basque.  I put an extra piece of leotart fabric ( without linning) to connect the two side of the lower bodice. I did it because the cotton linning isn't stretchy and my body didn't fit. Another option is lastic to be inserted around the holes for the legs.

Reference:
Harrison, K. M, 1975. How to dress Dancers [book]. Midas Books. Kent

Snowflake sketch

This is the initial sketch of my costume, mixture of recycled materials and fabric. The bodice is made of leotartd fabric with cotton. There is an upper belt made of white sponges.The tutu is made of 3 different materials, all of them sewn to the basque - a cellophane decorations layer, the dots are part of the cellophane  pattern. The first frill and the upper decoration layer are made of white netting and the second and the third frills are made of blue plastic bags. As a main reference I used the Northern ballet costume which I analyse earlier. The simple sillhouette and the colors are refenced from the Northern ballet snowflake costume.and the white dots on the cellophane I allow myself to reference from Mariinski ballet which was my first idea for a main reference but due to the negative feedback on youtube. I decided to use the dots because that was the main aspect which impressed me about that costume, for that reason I decided o take that risk.

Creative selfie project - budget and audience reaction

Relating the collaborative project to my MA question I focused on two main aspects - budget and audience reaction.
Budget
The budget of the event was tight (the prepared ne was around 100 pounds) but as we were a small group of performers - around 10 people -  we managed to spend even less than the amount we had. It wasn't hard to spend less because we used both bought items and everyday objects (which our curator found in her house without spending money on them). Here are a price list of the used materials:
1. Color paper lists - around 10,00 pounds total as we used many different colors for the head a thinner (for the hair) and a thicker one (for the skin) and silver paper for the masks.
2.  A plastic rubber bin and a cardboard skeleton both at an proximate price of 7 pounds.
3. A cardboard box also got for free as an old delivery box.
4. Second hand kimono from ebay for 5 pounds, fabric for the entensions - around 5 meters, 1,20 pound for a meter which makes 6 pounds
5. Washable glue for the head for 5 pounds
6. 10 packages of color markers, each of them for a pound; total: 10 pounds
7. 4 packages of pink glousse for the box at a total price of approximately 4 pounds
8. Black paint for the box at the price ot 3 pounds
9. The color print of our selfie photos which we put on the box and the kimono costed approximately 15 pounds
10. Safety pins to hold the selfie photos to the kimono - 1,00 pound
11. Sewing equipment for sewing the extensions of the kimono - 1 pound
12. Elastic for the masks - 1 pound.

total cost of the project: approximately 73 pounds

Audience reaction
I based my analysis on an article about the audience engagement in nonprofit arts. An essensial part of choosing an approach how to engage the audience is choosing a mix of  audience typologies your project would target to reach. According to this research article, there are 6 main audience typologies:

 "1 Readers are “light engagers” who enjoy doing little except for reading program notes, wall texts and an occasional article;
2 Critical Reviewers pay attention to critic’s reviews and other independent sources of information before deciding to attend;
3 Casual Talkers process art by talking about it informally with friends and family members;
4 Technology-based Processors are facile with blogs, social media and other digital venues for engagement;
5 Insight Seekers seek an intellectual experience, and like to absorb a lot of information before and after arts programs;
6 Active Learners want to get personally involved in shaping their own experience.", Brown, A.S., Ratzkin, R. (p. 8)

The typologies which our Creative Selfie project focuses to reach were Casual Talkers, Technology-based Processors and Active Learners. Casual Talkers the people who were participating in the event and who were expected to share their exciting experience with their relatives and also we as a performer to spread the information about the event to our friends and invite them to participate. Technology-based Processors we expected to be active online and to upload their creative selfie photos (we created a hash tag #creativeselfie to make this happen) and the Active learners were all the people, who drew something on the kimono, look into the black box or even had a quick chat with us about the idea of the event.
 The most successfull reached typology in our project was definitely the Active learners as there were many people participacipating.the most effective costume in terms of audience participation was the kimono - we managed to get all of it covered by their drawings and an important fact was that people were finding it really interesting (some of them spent even around half an hour, trying to create extraordinary and beautiful images). One big reason for its success was that we found it easiest to be promoted and spend most time on asking the people to draw. The second capturing the attention part of our street performance was the head mask - kids and young people were waving to it. A deffect of the head mask was that it was impossible to communicate with the audience with it because they couldn't hear the words I was saying. The black had its audience looking at it but we didn't received any excited reactions from the people. The last thing in terms of audience participatin were the mirror masks - but silver paper couldn't actually serve as a mirror. Maybe a better effect would have had covered the masks with glued mirror pieces.
In term of the participation by technology-based processors, the event couldn't reach the effect we wanted. Although we creat a hashtag #creativeselfie, there weren't any people uploading selfies with our masks and costumes. But this could be considered normal as the event happened just once and people weren't prepared with any preliminary promotion and presentation of the idea.
Another aspect which wasn't very developed about our project was the preliminary process as a whole which. We had 2-3 brainstorming sessions but on mostly we discussed mostly the different ideas and their visual aspect. Bigger projects usually require a long preparation process. According to the Arch of engagement1, the Build-up, "begins when a commitment to attend is made" (Brown, A.S., Ratzkin, R. (p. 15), process very often continue up to 18 months.


*"Arch of Engament refers to a five-stage process through which audiences pass, including buld-up and contextualization, the artistic exchange, post-processing and extended impact echo." Brown, A.S., Ratzkin, R. (p. 5)

Reference:
Brown, A.S., Ratzkin, R., 2011. [online] Making Sense of Audience Engagement. Available at: wolfbrown.com/makingsense [Accessed 30/06/14]