Designing Dance - New Wings for Madame Butterfly

Photos by Thomas Dallas Watson

I’m ushered into a large workroom where seamstresses are quietly fastening hems with precision. Inside the wardrobe department of The Primrose Potter Australian Ballet Centre, swathes of silk are pinned to a mannequin named Pavlova, piles of tulle sprout from table corners, and huge wicker baskets filled with boots and slippers line the walls.

Photograph by Kate Scott

While The Australian Ballet is touring Tokyo and Nagoya, wardrobe production manager Michael Williams agrees to give me a sneak peek at the restoration process of Stanton Welch’s seductive production of Madame Butterfly. The ballet, an adaptation of Puccini’s classic opera, was designed by Peter Farmer, one of the dance world’s most experienced and revered artists. His costumes – all 170 of them – are currently undergoing necessary repairs before the company next performs the ballet, from February 2011.

Photos by Thomas Dallas Watson

In the workroom, amidst the maze of deep plum organza ball gowns and mossy green kimonos, there lie several ‘Kabuki Sailor’ costumes that appear to be bleeding deep crimson, and a set of black mesh masks that look suitable for fencing. It is a ballet of stark contrasts, with the ultra-feminine, languid kimonos placed against the warrior-like outfits worn by the dominating males.

Madame Butterfly pic by Paul Empsom

Diaphanous silks float delicately from the arms of the female dancers, seeming only to illuminate the pathos of Butterfly’s story. Sculptural black head-dresses worn by the Japanese men might have been plucked out of a Philip Treacy showroom, whereas Butterfly’s girlfriends wear flowers in their hair so delicate it is as though each young woman has been sprinkled with cherry blossoms.