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In the spring, i oversaw an independent study course in theatrical footwear topics. My student, Grier Coleman, recently turned in all of her research and projects, and i thought i'd share with the readership her final project, which was to make a pair of "blue-footed booby feet."
This image was one of the primary research images Grier used, a booby doing the famous booby-dance. (This project is excellent on many levels, not the least of which is the chance to use phrases like "booby-dance" in a completely innocent context.)
We talked about how, were one making a complete booby costume, you'd have to take into account the shape of the bird and the gait of a performer--often big walkaround costumes like this that portray short-legged animals with a wide gait will have a "saddle" built into them so that the actor walks around in a sort of sumo crouch. A blue-footed booby costume would probably involve just such a saddle, and thus the width of the foot-splay could get a bit wider than it would if it were being worn by a person walking with a normal human gait.
( Read more... )
Grier starts this week as an intern in the costume department and Juilliard in NYC. I'll miss her in classes and working with me on mainstage shows, but i can't wait to see where her career goes from here!
This image was one of the primary research images Grier used, a booby doing the famous booby-dance. (This project is excellent on many levels, not the least of which is the chance to use phrases like "booby-dance" in a completely innocent context.)
We talked about how, were one making a complete booby costume, you'd have to take into account the shape of the bird and the gait of a performer--often big walkaround costumes like this that portray short-legged animals with a wide gait will have a "saddle" built into them so that the actor walks around in a sort of sumo crouch. A blue-footed booby costume would probably involve just such a saddle, and thus the width of the foot-splay could get a bit wider than it would if it were being worn by a person walking with a normal human gait.
( Read more... )
Grier starts this week as an intern in the costume department and Juilliard in NYC. I'll miss her in classes and working with me on mainstage shows, but i can't wait to see where her career goes from here!
