Bryony Hamer

Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Bringing Gabrielle to life!

Salador Dali

In term 3 we were asked to work in a group of 5-6 and as a group design a set, costumes, make up, hair and prosthetics for our chosen concept (ours being surrealism - read about our design process here) for the play 'The Madwoman of Chaillot'.

My costume design for Gabrielle

We were then asked to realise 3 of our character designs. I was working with Liz Hedley to design for the character Gabrielle - The Madwoman of Chaillot. She's a sweet, light and fluffy woman dressed in 1880s fashion who keeps canaries and hears voices from her hot water bottle. We decided to play on the idea that she's living in a bit of a dreamland with her head in the clouds.

Everyone on my course is so talented and has a unique style. Here are some links to some of the girls on my course who are on Blogspot for this current project. It's so interesting to see what other people have come up with for the same play! Do take a look.
Charlotte Wainwright
Lucy Calder
Megan Doyle
Sanya Torkmorad-Jozavi

Here are some photos below of the process of constructing and realising my design for Gabrielle with hair and makeup artist Elizabeth Hedley.

The progression of making my final costume.
Fittings with my model, Jessica Foy

Gabrielle's final costume details

Elizabeth Hedley and Aurora Beadle applying the make-up and wigs on our presentation day

A special thank to Stefanie Kemp for being our make up
assistant on our presentation day

Gabrielle
Wig and Make up: Elizabeth Hedley
Costume: Bryony Hamer
The RagpickerWig, Makeup and Prosthetics: Aurora Beadle and Elizabeth Hedley (Stefanie Kemp - assistant)
Costume: Poppy Moorcroft

Gabrielle
Wig and Make up: Elizabeth Hedley
Costume: Bryony Hamer

I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone in my group. They are all so talented and it has been a real privilege working with them all. I have learnt so much and learnt to appreciate how important it is to create the whole look for a character. Working in a group has been difficult at times but so fascinating to learn about the different sides of the design process and I hope to collaborate further with other students in the future!

Consolidation and Collaboration: The Madwoman of Chaillot

Finally I have a chance to update my Blog on my final term of my first year at University of the Arts: London College of Fashion. It has been very full on but extremely rewarding at the end of it all. I plan to practice dressmaking to fit over the summer and work a lot to save some pennies for my next project in October: 18th Century Men's tailoring. I will probably study this a little over the summer in preparation for it but I'm so excited!

This term just gone was all about consolidating all the skills we had learnt in the first term and being able to make a costume quite independently as part of a group of 3 Costume students and 2-3 Makeup and Prosthetics students. As a group we had analyse and break down the given script (The Madwoman of Chaillot [pronounced "shy-O"]) and come up with an overall idea and concept.

Salvador Dali - The Persistence of Memory 1931

We decided to focus on the main point of the play: it is mad! This led onto looking into surrealism and the Mad Hatter's tea party as part of our concept. We felt that each character was in their own time period and in their own little world so we really focused on this when designing.

Andre Breton

As a group each costume designer paired up with a makeup artist to design a complete look for one character of the play (3 characters in total per group).

Poppy Moorcroft's Costume design for
The Ragpicker

Anastaysia Hochar's Costume Design for
Josephine (1920s)

We had to decide on a scene in the play we would be designing for and design and build a set box for that scene.

Our stage was designed to have an interactive audience where not only the stage will be dressed appropriately for each act but the audience's tables and chairs as well. For both acts we wanted to create real sensual elements to give the audience a life like experience and really set the scene, eg. Act 2: the tables will be dressed with antique lace, fresh flowers and the audience and actors will be served tea, cake and honey.

I was collaborating with Elizabeth Hedley to design for the character Gabrielle: The Madwoman of St Sulpice - a sweet, light and fluffy old woman dressed in 1880s fashion who keeps canaries and hears voices from her hot water bottle. We decided to play on the idea that she's living in a bit of a dreamland with her head in the clouds.

As an individual project we then had to design 3 more characters ourselves to go in our portfolio:

The Ragpicker

The Flower Girl

Constance: the Madwoman of Passy

Monday, 1 July 2013

The Royal Ballet School - Work Experience

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get to have a weeks work experience at the Royal Ballet Lower School which I really loved. The school itself is just stunning and is situated in Richmond Park amongst deer and greenery. My first day was really exciting as the gates were opened and a beautiful 18th Century Building (White Lodge - shown below) was in front of me.

The Royal Ballet Lower School, White Lodge

The boarding school is for students aged between 11-16 years where they will take their GCSE exams in their final years. Their afternoons/evenings are spent learning dance - mainly classical ballet but additionally contemporary, Scottish and Irish dance. If they are successful in the audition process they will continue on to the Upper School in Covent Garden.

The Wardrobe Department

During the few days I was there I was working with Caroline Hume, the Wardrobe Mistress, where we were adding final touches, organising costumes, attending rehearsals and fittings and making final alterations in preparation for the Summer Fair at the end of the week. It was a lot of basic skills but it was sew useful to put what I had learnt in my first year at uni into good practice.

Costumes that aren't machine washable have sweat pads sewn
under the arms which are removed after the performance
and machine washed separately

Pattern cutting tiny bodices! Generally, classical ballet
dancers measurements are all quite a similar so their bodices
rarely need altering from one year to the next so can be reused.

As well as this I was lucky enough to meet and work with many talented staff including rehearsal pianists and dance teachers who have danced professionally and had incredible experiences.

Tutus are stacked on top of each other on a tutu pole

I felt so privileged to be around such talented and hard working students. Everyone at the school was such an inspiration but I particularly liked how it really felt like a family. It was also so exciting to watch them rehearse and perform to such a high standard and to know that one day they may be performing on the most famous stages in the world!

The students on the Royal Opera House Stage

I am now following one of the student's blogs who has graduated this year and starting in the Upper School in September. Prisca Bertoni (www.all4ballet.com) describes what it is like to be a student at White Lodge - a pleasure to read and I am so excited to see where she ends up in the future - same as I feel about all the students. It is such a tough industry but I really hope they all get the future they deserve, hope and dream for.

Prisca Bertoni

See Prisca's blog post about leaving White Lodge and her final performances here. She posts photographs of wearing the bodice/tutu that I worked on.

Picture 10 on The Classic FM website also shows the tutus being worn on the Royal Opera House stage at Linbury Theatre! I got far too excited about this!

Monday, 3 June 2013

Akram Khan Company - iTMOi

As a complete contrast to a hip hop show I saw at the beginning of the month (Some Like it Hip Hop), at the end of May my Mum and I were lucky enough to go and see Akram Khan's iTMOi. For those of you who don't know, Akram Khan is an artistic director, choreographer and dancer. You might recognise his work from the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony - in my opinion, the best part of the it! See here.

However, I have only just discovered that American broadcasters chose not to show his sequence as it was not commercial enough. See here. I am extremely shocked and disappointed to hear this as I really really love his work.

Akram Khan's sequence in the London 2012 Olymic Opening Ceremony

After reading a few reviews for iTMOi I didn't feel as guilty for admitting that I didn't really understand it! But in my opinion, that is the beauty of dance. I really think that dance is an art so even if the audience don't fully understand it, it can be interpreted in many different ways allowing the mind to wonder and get lost in the performance.

A report of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in 1913

The piece is inspired by Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (iTMOi : In the mind of Igor) celebrating it's 100th anniversary. Now if my understandings are correct when the Rite of Spring premiered on 29th May 1913 it caused an outrage to the point that Stravinsky's dissonant chords and energetic rhythm caused a riot amongst the audience.

So is it really a bad thing that some (according to reviews) were unimpressed by Khan's iTMOi? The Rite of Spring remains one of the most famous and inspirational ballets over the past century didn't exactly receive a good reception!

Although I found it hard to follow I still personally thought the piece was absolutely fantastic! I particularly loved how the creative team had clearly worked so well together and every aspect of the production: the minimalistic set, costume (Kimie Nakano), choreography (Akram Khan), lighting (Fabiana Piccioli) and composition (Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook, and Ben Frost) blended so effortlessly together. It was very impressive to watch.

Something I really loved about this performance is the innovative way the dancers interacted with the costumes and props. For example, the dancer (I think Denis 'Koone' Kuhnert) would use the structure of the crinoline combined with the choreography to create different shapes and movements. Very clever! Also, the use of chalk in the performance I though felt very dream-like and mystical which was a very interesting way to create a mood and atmosphere.

I really admire Akram Khan and his team. The work they produce is exactly the kind of thing I love. Although people (including myself sometimes!) struggle to understand it I can only describe it as a good thing because it means I'm still thinking about it and I saw it a week ago! Overall, a really powerful, intense and mesmerising performance that I simply couldn't take my eyes off.

ZooNation: Some Like it Hip Hop

Sadler's Wells is definitely one of my absolute favourite theatres. I first went there to see Matthew Bourne's Edward Scissorhands in 2007 and have been going back ever since and have never been disappointed by any production I've seen! I would recommend this theatre to anyone. There's always a variety of productions on ranging from ballet to hip hop to bollywood and more. It's fantastic!

At the beginning of May 2013 I went to Peacock Theatre to see the company Zoonation's dance show 'Some Like it Hip Hop' (directed, written and choreographed by Kate Prince) which was massively entertaining. It is a story of 'love, mistaken identity and revolution and where women are kept subservient to men.' It was full of extremely talented dancers, musicians and singers who all portrayed their character's personality through their choreography - this in particular was very enjoyable to watch.

I loved the aspect of having infectious live music (written by DJ Walde, Josh Cohen and Kate Prince) incorporated into the performance and choreography. It really brought the show to life and had us all up, dancing and singing along at the end of the show. All in all a really fantastic and fun show suitable for a wide age range that hit many emotional levels making us laugh, cry, be amazed and left us singing and dancing into the night - a real feel-good show!

Book tickets here. If you go on a Tuesday or Thursday you can go to a post show 30 minute dance class teaching basic street dance steps with the cast!

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

Hermes Exhibtion - Saatchi Gallery

A few days ago I was lucky enough to get to go to the Hermes exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery (part of the Festival des Metiers) with my friend Xiwen which was just fantastic.

That's something I absolutely love about living in London - just being able to pop over and see and exhibition. When living on the Isle of Wight my Mum was very good at organising days out in London involving some sort of gallery/museum and/or theatre. Although this was great, we'd have to plan weeks or months in advance so living in London means I have such a privilege of being able to wake up and think: I think I'll go to the Saatchi Gallery today! It's great!

Anyway, the exhibition was free (I still can't believe it!) but was unfortunately only on for a week so I can't urge you to go and see it but I took lots of photos!
It was a very interactive exhibition that gave the opportunity to witness the Hermes artisans crafting their famous masterpieces including the Hermes silk scarf, handbags, watches etc. They even talked through the process of what they were doing via a French-English translator which felt very authentic! It really gave me the chance to really appreciate the amount of time, precision, talent and patience that goes into each and every piece. I began to understand why they're so expensive.