The beginning of Breathe

For this SDP unit I previously explained how I would be involved in constructing costumes for the universities own costume store. The other part to this unit is to also be involved with the Breathe project.

Our previous CIC unit focused on Battle for the Winds for the Olympic opening ceremonies in Weymouth. The Breathe project is also a part of this where a large cast will be involved in the finale of the Weymouth celebrations. This cast brings together four different dance groups to create ‘the breathers’, aged 12-50 years old who are disabled, non-disabled or have learning difficulties. As a group they will be involved within the storyline to produce an exciting performance.

The ‘Breathers’ are characters made up of washed up debris and who live as part of the beach. Within this they will be split up into six different character groups such as the elders, jesters, navigators, teenage rebels etc. Everyone will wear the same base costume where further garments are to be added over the top. This is because each character group will then have a distinguishing garment/ piece to separate them. For example the teenage rebels will all wear Mohawk headdresses. As a group we will help create these costumes both at uni and in evening classes. The evening classes will require us teaching volunteers in constructing sections of the costumes. This is intended to be a community project as it is open to locals but also the breathers themselves, meaning some of the artists will have the opportunity to make their own costumes.

The evening sessions aren’t due to start until after the Easter break so our first task is to finish creating the base costumes. Below is a photo taken from Weymouth beach showing how over time the iron bridge has become rusted and created a unique pattern. This has then been used as inspiration for the base costumes (also shown below).

At first white garments were sourced and then dip dyed to create a graduation in colour. Paint was then sponged on top of this giving more texture to reflect the patterns found at Weymouth. 

Above is an example of one of the tops I worked on myself, using the Weymouth photo and example as a guide. I wanted the colours to be strong so they stand out but also blend into one another giving a mottled effect.