In a message dated 1/8/2006 11:28:43 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I'm making a Mother Hinger costume for my daughter's ballet this next Christmas. Any suggestions? It's a robe a la francaise type like Marie Antoinette puffy one. ********************** We did "Nutcracker" every year at school [NCSA]. I remember our Mother Ginger was played by the tallest man in the dance department. The huge pannier was at 1st made of plywood and weighed like 800 pounds. Later it was fashioned out of PVC pipe....the plastic piping plumbers used. What a relief for the dancer! He also wore plasterer stilts....or something like them, that made him over a foot taller. We made long frilly pantaloons to cover these....and you did catch a glimpse of them when the children [8 or them] promenade out from under her skirts and, after their minuet, run back under. The contraption looked like an open robe with a contrasting petticoat but in reality the skirts were all attached to the pannier and the bodice was separate. The dancer would pull a cord at the point of the bodice and the [faked] petticoat part would draw up like an Austrian curtain to let the children out and back in. The gown was all cinnamon and coffee-with-cream colored taffeta with lots of swags and huge satin flowers and bows in pastel colors at the top of the panniers....decorated with white lace. She looked like a big fancy iced cake. She had a towering 1770s do with a huge delicate mob cap with lace and bows and things perched on top. A great costume. The dancer would swing those big "hips" back and forth while the children danced their minuet. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
