![]() ![]() ![]() She and Wig and Makeup Artist Jill Haley work full-time to design, create and maintain the wigs and makeup for the Company, hiring additional hair and makeup artists depending on the needs of each ballet. Rena Most has been ABT’s wig and makeup supervisor since 2015. Once dancers don wigs, as the fairies in the Company’s production of The Sleeping Beauty do, they meet the demands of the choreography while capped by coiffures that shimmer like spun sugar. Why wigs? Aside from appearance and style-how many men today have hair like Prince Désiré-dancers move with a virtuosity that can make Olympic gold medalists look like slackers, but a wig will keep its shape no matter what. Hairdos, whether indicating 19th-century imperial Russia or sunny Spain, have to look right for the historical period, convey who’s who and-crucially-stay on. ![]() The heavy, sinister makeup for a malicious being like Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty or the ancient, mysterious Astronomer in The Golden Cockerel must instantly tell the audience all about that character, but without overexaggerating into scary-clown territory. The makeup on a dancer’s face must convey character-or just look beautiful-all the way to the last row of the grandest theater, without appearing too overdone from close up. Wigs and makeup for ballet pose challenges that go far beyond those for most theater or film. It’s disciplined artistry in the service of extravagant fantasy. ABT’s wig and makeup staff use time-tested theatrical techniques, hard-won skills, and even some psychological acuity to make the unreal feel real. Realizing the visions of each ballet’s choreographer and costume and scenic designers, Wig and Makeup Supervisor Rena Most and her team turn today’s performers into elegant courtiers from a lost era, or change a couple of guys into a pair of comically wicked stepsisters. ![]() That’s a lot of fantasy to bring to life on stage, and helping transform ABT’s youthful, vibrant dancers into ancient witches and whimsical sprites is the task of the Company’s makeup and wig staff. This season at the Metropolitan Opera House, American Ballet Theatre’s seven full-length ballets teem with wizened astronomers, evil sorcerers, an aging, careworn mother, a very confused old knight and more swans than you can count. Sylphs, princes, fairies, pirates-ballet has more than its fair share of mythological creatures and otherworldly beings. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |