Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2019 - 11

about the Graham version, and how
the central figures were a man and
a woman making their way through
the world, and decided to have a more
feminist view and make it just about a
woman," he says. As he continued to
work through the themes of the piece,
he went back to the essentials of the
work itself and the original creators.
Vasterling explained how, during a conversation with a friend, they realized the
irony that this quintessential American
work "was written by a group of outsiders: a woman, a gay Jew, and a Japanese
man in 1944. [Graham, Copland and
Artist/Set Designer Isamu Noguchi] ...
That really set the theme of [my version
of] the ballet-a central figure that represents a mother [but also] the idea of
America. There is opportunity and then
there are outsiders and the outsiders
are always trying to get in."
Although not a practitioner of Graham's technique, Vasterling wanted his
expressionistic ballet choreography to
pay homage to the modern dance icon.
However, his personal connection to
the material deepened as he developed
the work. His usual mode of working
is to finish the concept before beginning choreography. He weaves together
disparate influences-ideas from texts
he reads, research, etc. For this work,
while he developed it from what he
terms "a confluence of events," he didn't
resolve everything until he had worked
for a while with the dancers in the studio. "I couldn't figure out how to finish
this ballet and then suddenly realized it
was a tribute to my mother," he says.
Vasterling works with a variety of designers, but he likes Holly Hynes' style for
his more minimalistic pieces. Her years of
experience designing for top companies,
including New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and the Paris Opera
Ballet have honed her ability to bring out
thematic ideas without overwhelming the
expressive power of the dancer's body. As
his concept developed more layers, and
he worked on interweaving the abstract
themes of outsider-ness, tradition, and his
family connection, he confirmed his feeling that she was the right collaborator for
this ballet.
When developing a work, Hynes
and Vasterling not only discuss ideas
and look at sketches, but they also explore research together firsthand. For a

Katie Vasilopoulos
as The Mother
and dancers from
Nashville Ballet. Photo
by Mitchell D. Wilson.

previous work, Layla and the Majnun,
they visited the Islamic Art section of
the Metropolitan Museum in New York,
wandering the galleries, responding to
artifacts and images, and pointing out
details to each other. For Appalachian
Spring, they visited a Shaker village.
Hynes studied the colors and textures
of Shaker artifacts, as well as the balanced simplicity. The designer was
struck by the idea that they are "people
of the earth but also of the heavens."
Hynes begins any dance costume
design by connecting with the music.
She strives to translate not only what
the music says to the choreographer,
but also what it says to her. "Shutting
your eyes, and seeing what you imagine
as you listen-maybe that morphs or
changes [your ideas] or gives you some
other new direction." Edithe Gilfond's
costume design for the original Appalachian Spring featured Graham's signature full skirts, but as part of a realistic,
although simplified, translation of Shaker clothing to modern dance. Hynes
developed a more abstract look, while
keeping to Vasterling's request that the
dancers look like individual people in
real clothes. Together, they created a
character for each dancer-the troublesome one, the youngest, the quiet one.

She chose earthy textures and colors
with an added touch of stronger hue on
each dancer, and also used pattern to
create a "relaxed and simple" feeling-
plaid skirt panels for the women and
striped shirts for the men. The Mother
character's outfit is the most related to
Shaker clothing, while she let more skin
show on the younger characters.
To develop this alternate silhouette,
Hynes looked to Graham and Copland's
era for inspiration, the 1930s and '40s.
She kept the flavor of Graham's full
skirts, but only the mother figure has
the long, covering length. Hynes developed a skirt shape with inset panels that
open and close like a fan as the dancer
twirls; the touch of colorful plaid gives a
bit of a surprise for the audience. Hynes
describes her connection with Graham's work being that she "didn't want
to lose the heaviness and the flow of the
skirt, because it takes so long for that
big old skirt to come back to earth." The
designer chose silk noil for the women's
costumes for the rough texture, the dyeability, and the flow. The Nashville Ballet costume shop did an admirable job
integrating the stiffer taffeta plaid panels into the drapey skirt fabric. She also
found fabrics for the men's costumes
that stretched and moved as needed for
SUMMER 2019

THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

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Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2019

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