Sleeve development

So this was trickier than anticipated. Dexter said that our samples didn't need to be perfectly finished but I really tried to make it look neat. I failed a little bit as I did the bias wrong and therefore ended up with lots of folds where I didn't want them; I think I managed to save it in the end and the inside is probably much neater than the outside. If I was to repeat this and have more time I would have tried to find a different way to attach the frills to the sleeve as there is too much bulk in that area. The idea of this project was to experiment though and I still really enjoyed the ideas behind it. In the end I like the look of the sleeve, perhaps I would have used two whole circles for the frills rather than just one as I'm not sure I like how it falls. Despite the many mistakes I made I think it is a fair reflection of the design.

EARLY ADVENTURES!!!!

"WE JUST DANCE" Matthew Bourne

14.05.12 7.30pm Matthew Bourne's Early Adventures

Just got back from watching Matthew Bourne's Early Adventures and just feeling elated. That's how you should feel when you come out of a performance, on a total high. It was one of the funniest things I've seen dance or otherwise. I love the complete extremes of emotion they manage to achieve- one minute I was crying with laughter, the next just crying. Some of the solo's were fantastic, the one at the end of COUNTRY called Shallow Brown by a guy named Christopher Marney was wonderful, completely had me hooked, in fact I loved him every time he was on stage. My absolute favourite! Everything about it was entertaining and it had everyone laughing. It was great to see such a packed audience and everyone responding so well to it, it seem to be universal in its ability to reach people as the audience were made up of a huge range of people. People even reacted well to bits that were perhaps more risque than I'd expected. When MB came on to talk at the end I was so relieved. I'd been really worried that this image I'd built of him in my head was going to be destroyed, that he'd be full of waffle and really self centred but he wasn't. I think that was the best bit of the night, realising that really he's down to earth, honest about what he does, what he likes and doesn't like and doesn't pretend to know everything. I built up the courage to ask a question and was so happy when he spoke to me as though I was actually there, same with Kerry Macmillan (one of the dancers) who also answered the question. They spoke to me as though I was a real person and they weren't just addressing a huge crowd. I felt very privileged and probably bounced all the way home. It was a wonderful night and I feel I've gained so much from seeing all the pieces, the use of humour, costume, movement of the performers was immaculate and I loved every second!

What I asked (paraphrased he used several more examples but I hadn't seen them so couldn't comment)


MB (Me!): Obviously this is one of your earliest works but within it I could see lots of  elements from your full length pieces, how much did these early pieces influence you later on and how often did you find yourself drawing on them for inspiration?


MB (Matthew Bourne!): A lot actually, there are definitely lots of things that as we've come to look back on this piece I've recognised, more so than perhaps I realised. There's definitely some movements in the second piece that are in pieces like HIGHLAND FLING, the end of TOWN where they all leave the stage like this (places one hand over head with fingers draped, demonstrating) that's definitely a swan motif though in this piece it's trees with grapes hanging off them. There are quite a few things from THE NUTCRACKER! (I nod this is what I had noticed) that we used as well, what do you think? [turns to dancers]

KM: (Kerry Macmillan): I think that's been one of the best points about coming back to work on this piece, because Matt himself dances in the original it's been wonderful to see how all these ideas came about. There's definitely lots of things I recognise,

T (Tom? Dancer:) Yeah in SPITFIRE the scene where they are posing is really similar to that of the NUTCRACKER! except the arms go the opposite way, that's all they kept shouting at us in rehearsal.. ARMS! but it was really good to work on.

Bodice all together

Working Away

Levelling the Tutu layer by layer, a really time consuming and tricky task made harder by short pins which continuously fell out. Eventually borrowed some quilting pins which sped the whole process up no end!

Getting there...

It's so exciting to see it all coming together, I've finally completed levelling my skirt (that was a learning curve and a half!) and just have to fix the Basque to the bodice, attach the shoulder straps and decoration and strengthen my hooks and bars! It feels so strange to be able to see the final piece emerging; it's not quite like Dexter's but that would be unrealistic and detrimental to his skill as a maker. Was I to repeat the project there are many, many things which I would do differently but such is the nature of hindsight. Sufficient to say I feel quite proud of my achievements; considering I was two making projects short of most others in the group I felt very concerned at the beginning as to how I was going to cope. This has proved to me however that I made the right decision, every step of this project has made me realise how much I want to do this and how much this suits me as a person. I cannot see myself doing anything else where possible next year, I am desperate to carry this on and take it further. Having learnt so much and seen so many new things I want to take what I know and run with it, gathering more all the way!

Surviving without Dexter!!

As we came in for our tutorial last Thursday Dexter informed us that he'd fallen down the stairs coming from the archive and later that day caved in to our pressure to go home and rest. Unfortunately the sprain was much worse than we all thought and he has now been signed off sick for the next two weeks! After sending him best wishes and cake we found ourselves panicking about how exactly we were going to manage without him as he has been a constant presence through this project and an oracle of all knowledge and skill! A little daunted we've continued on managing to contact him with questions and queries which he has answered to the best of his ability on the end of the phone. Other than that we've been having to use his sample as reference and work out for ourselves any fine details; this means we've been working very closely and ended up much tighter as a group for this. Regardless it's been much tougher without Dexter's presence at uni and hopefully this won't be reflected too much in the end results. Get better soon!

Update of progress

These last few days have been a little stressful but managing somehow to keep on track. the levelling of the tutu is becoming a major task not aided by my MAJOR cold. Trying to place pins and cut accurately is greatly hindered by sneezing every two minutes! Other than feeling very under the weather I still feel reasonably content with the project, the workload is slightly overwhelming but not unachievable and I've learnt not to underestimate the power of needing to finish a task. When I work I'm able to keep focused and produce results quickly and without rushing -this being negated however when ill- at which point my work rate drops  drastically. Hoping to have an early night tonight and recover, then get up early and work on finishing my tutu for the mock fittings at half one. I'm currently very stressed over my POP essay and will be glad when I can focus all my attention on this!