Episode 36: Costuming for Aerialists, Part 1: The Foundations

Intro and Announcements

• Flourish

1:39 — Intro to Costuming

3:26 — The Importance of Base Layers in Costuming

• Audacity Works Podcast

5:46 — Protecting Your Skin & Securing Your Hair

8:27 — A Very Hard Working Dog

9:05 — Rehearsing in Costumes: Best Practices

12:22 — Conclusion and Future Topics

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome to the Arial Alchemist, where movement transforms into magic and stories take flight. I'm Fallon, a dancer, aerialist, and storyteller, inviting you into a world where circus and dance need creativity, resilience, and community. Whether you're here to be inspired, to learn, or to simply dream a little bigger, you found your place. I'm glad you're here. We're talking costuming today and next week. I broke it up into two. I'm recording probably a little bit shorter episodes. As you heard last week, I'm batch recording because I'm trying to get as much done before Italy as possible. As you were hearing this, we are 17 days away from flourish. And there's likely a spot left for you because we were keeping it smaller. We wanted it a little bit smaller, be a little bit more intimate. But that means that if you haven't signed up yet and you're like, you know what? F it, let's go. There's a spot for you. So all that information in the show notes as usual. And yeah, but we'll get into it now. So costumes. I am gonna get into some of like when my pet peeves are. Maybe I've talked about this in the past, but if I have, I forgot, which means maybe you did too. Or you didn't hear that episode, anyways. So here we are. We're gonna say it again. So I've been thinking about this because I am starting to work on costuming for our October show Bite, but also I've been working on costuming for uh Circ and Spook and the white label launch party. So like costuming is a thing, and it's it's different for the different events, but also there's things that are the same. Um, and yeah, and I am having the luxury of working with a costume designer, someone who like designs costumes. I don't know if you all know what this means. Because if you haven't really worked with like a real costume designer, you don't know. And if you've only been doing what I've done and worked in like college and local shows, then we don't got no budgets. It's like what can we afford and what fits the vibe? Let's go for that. Um, now I'm working with um, she happens to be my neighbor and she used to do this for a living, and she's just like helping me because she likes doing it and she wants to do it again. And anyways, she is asking me questions as an artist that I went, oh, I'm supposed to know the answer to that. It's making me a better artist to like think about it and like artistic director, think about like this big picture because art is hard, and for so long, it's for me truly just been like, what can we afford? And what what gives us the most bang for our buck? And can we reuse for a potential future show? To have someone come in and not asking any of those questions, but what is the mood you want to create in this tableau? What is the movement do you want to see on stage? And then also what are the safety things with Ariel specifically? So it's all been getting me thinking about that. I'm gonna dive more into that piece of it once I know what it ends up looking like because it's my first time. So when when we get closer to show and I know what those costumes are looking like, I'm gonna definitely share that process with you. But in the meantime, I'm gonna share what I have learned about costuming by getting it wrong myself or seeing it go wrong for other people. So sometimes you're picking your own costume and sometimes it's being chosen for you. But either way, I believe that these rules all stay the same. Now, there is the base layers. We need to talk about those, my friends. A lot of times that's on you to have your own undies, right? Company typically, typically, at least in in the local scene, is not providing your base layers for you. You are in charge of getting your nude tights and your nude leotards and whatever you're wearing underneath. And I got this from Rachel Strick Strickland on Audacity Works Podcast. I don't I don't even remember what episode it was, so I don't know if I can help you out. She has like 180 at this point, if I can find it. I will link it for you. Otherwise, just go listen to all of hers because they're all fantastic. Anyways, she said this at one point there must be at minimum two layers between your skin and the audience at all times. And specifically, she was talking about your uh your private bits. Yeah, if it is a family-friendly show, then two layers between you and the audience at all times. So that could be tights and a leotard, it could be underwear and a leotard, it could be whatever. It doesn't matter what it is, but there's two layers. For me, it's it's nude tights, new bodysuit, something like that, and whatever and the leotard and the costume over it. Do I make exceptions to that rule? No. No, I was trying to think if there was like any scenarios. No. I always have two layers covering my bits. That has honestly, I'll take that back. That has changed on my top half. Now that I don't have the nipples anymore, I don't have to worry about nip slips. So I'm more comfortable just wearing one layer so long as I know it covers decently and isn't gonna be distracting. All of this, we want all of these types of things. If you are having costume malfunctions, that is distracting to your audience. And now they are looking at your at your nipple instead of your art and you and what you intended them to look at. Now, sometimes that nipple is part of it. We're not talking about that today. We're not talking about the burlesque type shows or any of that. Those that's a different beast. The other piece about all of this is protecting your skin. Now, my exception to that rule is photo shoots. I hate tights. I hate nude tights, specifically nude. If you're doing like fishnette, whatever something like fashion type tights for a photo shoot, that doesn't bother me. But nude tights drive me bonkers because you either have the tight that goes all the way over your toes, and then like you don't, you're just wearing like your tights, what no one does. That's weird all the way through for your whole toes, and then a lot of them are like the convertible, so then like it's over your whole foot, except for the hole on the bottom of your arch and area list, you're gonna see that because you're gonna be upside down and your feet will be showing. Hate it. And then if you do the like stirrups or the or the foot list, then like there's that very clear bit where it's no longer the tight and is your skin, or is no longer your skin and is the tight, and and because they don't match anybody's skin, I don't care what you say, they're never gonna match anybody's skin. And so it breaks the line for me. I also like seeing the muscles. I love I love that. And it's the thing that I love in dance where they go tightless, and I can see all of those rippling muscles in their legs, and it's beautiful. I love that. Now, so that's for me. I I I don't protect my skin in photo shoots, and I just grin and bear it, and it's you know, very few and far between. That's me. I'm not judging you if you do that. Just I this is my aesthetic. It's what I prefer. So if you are performing though, we're protecting the skin. So if you need the backs of your knees covered, your ankles covered, whatever, your hips, your waist, like please cover it. Please cover it. Even if you're in a two-piece, and I've I've done that before where I've been in a two-piece costume, but had like a bot nude bodysuit underneath. And for me, the thing that can be distracting is belly buttons. So I do like a high waisted. So you're not like, where's our belly button? You know, that's my weird thing too. Maybe it doesn't bother other people, but uh it's something that I notice. And I don't want to have people watching my act and wondering where my belly button is. I want them to be like amazed at what I'm doing. Cover your skin. That's what it is. Cover your skin. We also have to remember that your hair is part of the costume. So make sure that that is secured where it needs to be, that it's not getting into your face, and most importantly, that it's not getting caught in the apparatus. Good lord, scares the crap out of me. For corporate professional type gibs, gigs like that, you want it out of your face, cleaned, slicked back, whatever. There's not flyaways, more hairspray than you know what to do with. Make sure it looks very clean. I'm sorry, I have to pause for a minute and I'm gonna let you listen to my dog who is working so hard with me. Let me get the microphone near her so you can hear it, and maybe I won't make her up.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

I hope you're gonna be able to hear that because it's so distracting for me as I'm trying to record this podcast, and she's just sawing logs over here.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

She's just, you know, yeah. She just has a very hard life. I don't know if you know.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

Where were we? Then, once we've got our costume together, our skin's protected, our hair is pulled back, all this stuff. In rehearsals, you should be wearing your costume always. Several times. Now, when I did straight dance, you would just wear your costume once, maybe twice, like tech dress was kind of it. And then when I got into Ariel, one of the first companies I was at had us rehearse several times, several rehearsals, full show runs in our costumes. And that was so important, especially that company, the artistic director, liked to have a lot of flowy stuff, even on silks. And so we wanted to make sure that like we knew exactly how to manipulate the little skirts or whatever, so that they weren't getting eaten by the fabric and ending up at the top of the fabric and us in the bottom with no clothes on. Um, and and it always worked. Like we were always like skeptical about some of these costumes, but they we would be able to get them to work. So that was a cool thing that I learned that yeah, you you don't have to just have a unitard or a leotard for silks and ropes and whatnot. You can have nothing too crazy, but you can have a bit of a skirt, a bit of flowy things, depending on your choreography. Obviously, some things work better than others. But making sure that you like what your costume looks like throughout the piece, throughout the act, throughout the show, whatever it is, because it might look nice right side up, but sideways and inverted and all this, it might be distracting, might not look the way you want it to look. So things to be aware of. I haven't had problems with most costumes, like in ripping and things like that. But it is good to know like where the seam that pulls is, like azure wrapping or whatnot, or doing certain poses and just being aware of that and maybe reinforcing it. There was one time before a gig that I had borrowed a costume from someone else, and it was a handmade costume that had been used several times, and the stitches had been reinforced and re-stitched several times, and right before I left, like it ripped right up, right up the crack, right up the middle, and I had to like do a quick, super quick sew job on it before I left for this gig. Yeah. So also just so that you're aware, but sort of sequins can rip your fabric and like certain uh rhinestones, depending on like the edges. So be aware of that. You don't want to you don't want to be damaging your equipment either. Make sure that if you have the lady lumps that they are tucked in and that they are secured, especially if you are larger chested. Um yeah, and make sure that you're going upside down and you're making sure things aren't slipping and falling out. Also, I've seen f all sorts of apparatuses grab costumes and pull, pull them. This is why two two layers, two layers, always. You can do a nude layer underneath or or something that matches your costume. Because you don't want that to be the thing that people remember about you. Oh, that was the one who her top came off, right? That's not the that's not what we want to be remembered for unless, unless again, it's burlesque and you want to be remembered for that. All right, my friends. Well, that is what I have for today. Next week we're gonna talk about what goes in your bag and and what to bring with you and have ready to go, specifically with costuming, but probably some other tidbits for for gigs and performances and shows. So if you have requests for future episodes, if you like this one, let me know. I feel like I'm just talking into the abyss, and I think people like it because people keep listening to it. But if there's things that other things you wanted to hear about or talk about, uh let me know. I am excited to have a couple, I have we'll we'll talk more about costuming and what's going in your bag next week. We're gonna talk about makeup and what that looks like, and then we're gonna get into like how to make Ariel your career, and then I've got a very special guest episode coming after that. So lots coming at you the next few weeks as I am running around the planet. Like literally and figuratively for sure. If this resonated with you, or if you know someone who might benefit for it, please share it with them. I would love that. Love to reach a few more people with it. Thank you to my patrons on Patreon. I could not do it without you. Thank you for supporting me in all of the ways, all the ways. Thank you for making this possible. Thank you so much for being here and for listening this week. I will see you next week. This has been the Ariel Alchemist. Now go create some magic of your own. Happy flying.