Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2018 - Public - 33

NMA collection. These show Dean costumed and in various poses from her earlier Aboriginal dances.
Unfortunately, there is scant evidence relating to Constable's involvement as a collaborator on the costumes
for Corroboree; although a file exists at
the State Library of NSW marked "Bill
Constable," none of the documents inside reference the costumes. Reporting
and discussion of his designs mostly refer to his beautifully painted set design
of an Australian landscape but fail to address his costumes either at all or with
any useful detail. As such, it is impossible to know how engaged he was in
the material realization of his costume
designs or who made the key decisions
regarding the translation from concept
to hand-sewn reality. It is the author's
belief that Dean was strongly involved in
this process.
The ballet follows the story of the
Boy Initiate as he approaches initiation
into manhood, following the seven movements outlined in Antill's score. Both
male and female Aboriginal characters,
as well as a set of fantasy creatures, ap-

pear throughout the journey. The ballet
climaxes when the Boy Initiate leaps
into a fire and emerges a man, Dean
and Carell's stage friendly version of a
circumcision rite. The choreography
consisted of movements that were unfamiliar to both the white dancers and
audiences, which Dean was always careful to clarify as inspired by her research
of indigenous dance rather than copied
from it. She described this process as "a
translation of the conventions of one culture into the conventions traditional to
another" (Dean 1966, 25).
Upon receiving the commission to
choreograph the ballet, Dean and Carell
set about organizing a research trip in
order to create a production that was,
in their opinion, authentic and true to
Aboriginal culture. In July 1953, with a
sponsored Holden Utility truck (an icon
of Australian culture), the pair set out on
an extensive eight-month trip to study numerous local indigenous communities in
outback Australia. Their 1955 published
record of the trip, Dust for the Dancers,
provides a detailed account of their travels, but proves problematic in its accu-

racy; the authors take poetic license in
their accounts of what Dean, a woman,
would have been allowed to watch in
the various dances and ceremonies she
claims to have witnessed (Haskins 2014,
34). Dean and Carell's intentions might
best be summed up in their own words
from the foreword of the same publication, where they state that Australian Aboriginal culture is dying. "To 'feel'... their
dance culture was the main purpose of
our trip into Central and Northern Australia, to see it and feel it... and so we
have tried to 'catch' this feeling and rescue it from entire oblivion" (Carell and
Dean 1955, ix). A little over 10 years
later, Dean said:
...even after seven years of interest in and study of the Australian aboriginal people, I still felt
that only a thorough, first-hand
knowledge that would come from
a comprehensive research journey
would give the background necessary to create a major work, and
particularly for a Royal Gala performance. I decided that the ballet would have to be based on as

The Designs of
William Ivey Long
BY BOBBI OWEN

The Designs of William Ivey Long is
the 12th book in USITT's series
documenting the work of
America's best theatrical designers.

Member Price - $35
Order online: usitt.org/william-ivey-long
order by phone: (800) 938-7488

SPRING 2018

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2018 - Public