This year, Ballet West is going for bold.
Willam F. Christensen's much-adored ballet, "The Nutcracker," will be more striking, especially when it comes to the "Waltz of the Flowers" costumes, said costume and production designer David Heuvel.
"We haven't built new costumes for the waltz since 1998," Heuvel said during an interview at the Ballet West costume department. "And we needed to because the older ones were in bad shape. We took the opportunity to adjust the colors and make them stand out."
Instead of the lighter pastels that have been present during the waltz in the past years, the news costumes feature deeper purples and pinks.
Revamping the costumes proved to be a logistical exercise in hard work and timing.
"There are 16 dancers, but we have a total of 26 bodices that we salvaged from the past costumes," he said. "We had to make 36 skirts."
To facilitate the skirts' flower motif, Heuvel and his crew created 1,800 petals that needed to be sewn onto the skirts.
"We used 350 yards of nylon for the skirts and petals," he said. "And we had only a short period of time to do that and send the skirts to Houston to be dyed and painted the colors we needed them to be."
The petals were created with two pieces of nylon and then edged in green.
"We work on the costumes on and off, because of the other productions we have to do," said Heuvel. "So altogether it may have taken four full days to apply the petals to 23 completed skirts."
Costume work for "The Nutcracker" actually began in July, when the staff returned from the off-season, said Heuvel.
"We knew we were going to have to do some major work this year," he said. "And we start with the corps de ballet, because we know all the dancers will be a part of the corps numbers. When we get
the cast for the demi-soloists, soloists and principals, then we can begin work on those individual costumes. But when we start, we start with the corps costumes."
Heuvel and costume shop manager Cindy Farrimond have a system they work with to keep track of of the demi-soloist and the soloist costumes that are scattered among the throng of corps costumes.
"When we find out who is dancing the solos, we start to work on their costumes," he said. "When the cast is set in stone, we then write each of the soloists names in the bodices and then work from there."
Heuvel said while "The Nutcracker" costumes are the first to be worked on for the season, he and his six-member staff also have to work on the other Ballet West performances, as well as contracted productions from other cities.
"We are also currently doing work for a production in Idaho that needs to be done next week," said Heuvel. "But we were working on the opening gala and the next week was 'The Tempest.' We just finished that run, and we are a week away from 'The Nutcracker.' So we have had our work cut out for us."
Adding to the logistical puzzle is the dancers' fitting times, said Heuvel.
"We take all the costumes from our shop to the Capitol Theatre, because of contractual agreements," he said. "We try to make the fittings as efficient as possible, but there is a lot of running back and forth from shop to the theater."
Luckily, Heuvel doesn't have to do the children fittings. He leaves that for wardrobe supervisor Jacqueline Cintura Bryce.
"She works on the children and then is backstage during the performances with her crew," he said. "I only work on the show until the final dress rehearsal and then I start on 'Madame Butterfly.'
"If it weren't for Jackie, I'd be more crazy than I am already."
If you go ...
What: The Nutcracker, Ballet West
Where: Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South
When: Friday through Dec. 27, 7 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 p.m. and Dec. 24, noon
How much: $17-$71
Phone: 355-2787, 888-451-2787
Web: www.arttix.org
E-mail: scott@desnews.com