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A Conversation Between
Edwaard Liang and Maria Pinto
On Costuming:
World Premiere
Age of Innocence
Sponsored by Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Joffrey Ballet
(Joffrey Website)
Joffrey Tower
10 East Randolph Street
Chicago, Illinois 60601
312.902.1500
Fall Program:: October 15 - 26, 2008
Susan Weinrebe
October 14, 2008
If there’s one ingredient that cannot be removed from the soufflé of dance, it’s capable and trustful partnering. A sit-down conversation between choreographer, Edwaard Liang and designer, Maria Pinto proved that to be the case as well when the two collaborated to costume Liang’s world premiere dance, Age of Innocence, one of the works in the Joffrey’s fall program.
Held in the Gerald Arpino Studio in the Joffrey Tower, the brand new home and studio of the Joffrey Ballet, Liang and Pinto were seated on the practice floor, backed by three of the costume mock ups for his ballet. The invited audience, mostly women, there at the invitation of Today’s Chicago Woman Magazine, listened as the two artists discussed the genesis of their work.
The partnership began when Ashley C. Wheater, Artistic Director, asked Liang to do a new ballet as an inauguration of his first season with the Joffrey. Putting together his team of many talents for the ballet, Wheater suggested Maria Pinto, who is known for designs chosen by strong, assertive women. The actual coming together was a bit like an arranged marriage, though there seemed to be an immediate sense of the two being simpatico.
First Ms. Pinto saw a DVD of Mr. Liang’s work, a dance set to the dreamy “I’m In The Mood For Love” and felt an immediate synergy. Before that, the choreographer, who had been on the road, had watched a recent version of Pride and Prejudice, which led to reading much of Jane Austin’s writing. Touched by the sense, that “…women didn’t really have very much, except for listening to what their families told them to do,” he was moved to portray the dance of courtship from the woman’s point of view.
Pinto, who had no previous experience costuming dancers, considered, “…how costumes were exposing or not exposing,” so when dancers were lifted, for instance, their tops didn’t levitate as well. She had to develop a new vocabulary as she discovered how whalebone and the set of a sleeve interacted with the dancers’ movements. Dancers are, of course, athletes, and unlike common folk, may lift a leg at a 180 degree angle or fly across the stage.
Imagine mocked-up costumes in flowing fabric of butter cream hue, though they were eventually changed to peachy tones the better to enhance dancers’ pale skin under performance lights. Liang described one movement in a pas de deux in which the women, “…blast out of the background in full skirts.” Each of the costumes hints at classic influences with embellishments of gold trim and braid. Yet, they are modern and young, with the man’s top done up in jersey like a track suit with a transparent back. This was one of the first costuming imperatives: keep some of the traditions and old things, but bring in a modern and young feeling.
This air of youthfulness was exactly what Liang wanted to convey in a timeless way through dance. He said, “Picture a ball scene, the only place they (young women) had a chance to meet and flirt.” He wanted a timeless esthetic, “…but with an edge, super modern, a lot of push and pull energy.”
Liang and Pinto spoke for almost half an hour, and exuded modesty as they discussed their collaboration, how each learned from the other and worked to realize a vision for a dance. As Mr. Liang humbly put it, “It takes an army to put everything together to get that curtain to go up.”
Not only is the curtain rising, it is showcasing an inspired partnering between Edwaard Liang and Maria Pinto, delivering visual delight for the audience in each of these artists’ realms.
Joffrey Tower
Courtesy of Susan Weinrebe
Welcome to Joffrey Tower
Courtesy of Susan Weinrebe
Joffrey Tower Lobby
Courtesy of Susan Weinrebe
Conversation Audience
Courtesy of Susan Weinrebe
Costume Models
Courtesy of Susan Weinrebe
Maria Pinto and Edwaard Liang
Courtesy of Susan Weinrebe
Lisa and Susan With Costume
Courtesy of Susan Weinrebe
Leslie Minier, Maria Pinto, Edwaard Liang
Courtesy of Susan Weinrebe
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