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Short-haired Ballerinas


canbelto

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With reference to Dancers hair; From my experience as a Professional Wardrobe Mistress with The Royal Ballet, I can tell you quite often the Dancers had hair of varying lengths, but mostly their own hair was long enough to be able to be put in the three main "Ballet Styles", 1. the bun at the nape of the neck, or 2. a French pleat down the back of the head. Then there was 3. a bun on the top of the head. The style at the front around the face, would either cover the ears, with a middle parting.. Another style is when the hair is combed back above the ears, all these style's are held in place with pins and grips, using a bun net the hair combed down and forwards. Depending on the costume design and the Ballet being performed, the dancer may or may not have to wear a wig, in which case their own hair, would be pushed up underneath, and held in place with a hair net, or even with a stockinette type of material and safely fixed in place. It was a very serious offence if a Dancers hair fell down, which resulted in a very strict telling off !! IT WAS SIMPLY JUST NOT ALLOWED TO HAPPEN.

All the Dancers (at least in the Royal Ballet) :beg: , had their own "Hair Box", which contained various hair pieces, such as ringlettes, false buns, curls etc, which was specially made for each person and dyed to match the colour of their own hair. :clapping::angel_not:

When it comes to Character roles, in the case of Men, they would be provided with beards, mastouches, and any facial hair that might be needed, either to match their own colouring, or perhaps grey to represent age.

I am sorry if this information has spoilt the illustion, but I thought you would be interested to know how a dancer can change their appearance. :clapping:

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All the Dancers (at least in the Royal Ballet) :clapping: , had their own "Hair Box", which contained various hair pieces, such as ringlettes, false buns, curls etc, which was specially made for each person and dyed to match the colour of their own hair. :clapping::angel_not:
That's fascinating. Is the hair real? Wht happens if the dancer changes the color of her own hair, or is that not allowed?

Nanarina, your post made me think of a story about hair collecting that I heard last week on National Public Radio. Here's an article about an exhibition in Philadelphia:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_scie...on_display.html

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:blushing:

All the Dancers (at least in the Royal Ballet) :beg: , had their own "Hair Box", which contained various hair pieces, such as ringlettes, false buns, curls etc, which was specially made for each person and dyed to match the colour of their own hair. :flowers::sweatingbullets:
That's fascinating. Is the hair real? Wht happens if the dancer changes the color of her own hair, or is that not allowed?

Nanarina, your post made me think of a story about hair collecting that I heard last week on National Public Radio. Here's an article about an exhibition in Philadelphia:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_scie...on_display.html

Hi Bart. Thanks for sending the article for me to read, it was fascinating. To return to the former subject of Dancers hair, and answer your questions. At first the hair used was real, purchased by the Wig Master at the Opera House (Albert) , it would arrive in long lengths and he and his staff would make the Wigs and hair pieces. The dancers would be expected to keep their hair the same colour, as it would be too difficult to have to keep dying the false items. As it was I had to be able to dress the wigs and false pieces, which was very time cunsuming, and meant I needed to be a hair dresser amongst all the other requirements of my position. We had wig and head shapes the items were fixed to so that they could be dressed using hot irons, pins and laquer, it was a real art, as if you singed the hair, it would break off . Some smaller pieces could be washed in mild shampoo, dried with a hair dryer and worked on. Over the years synthetic hair was also used.

Nowadays the Companies seem to provide hair dressers for the Dancers, (If you look on Skyblog Aurelie Dupont) you will see her sitting in her dressing room having her hair done). The Royal Ballet in the past did not have this privallige, everyone had to do their own hair and make up.

Still refering to the 1960 - 1970 era, I remember a very upsetting episode I experienced when working with the Kirov and Bolshoi during their visits to ROH London, when two burly women in uniforms cut off the long hair of the dancers with a large pair of scissors, with no regard to style or fashion. We were later told by an Interpreter that it was the custom, to provide hair for wigs. We personally found it very distressing as

the girls themselves were openly upset.

Enjoy your ballet.... :lol:

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I've noticed this trend more and more. In the past, ballerinas almost always had really long hair that they tied up with a bun, and they wouldn't cut it until they retired. But now I'm noticing that more and more ballerinas have very short hair, and that they use hair-pieces or probably even wigs when performing. Off the top of my head, I think Veronika Part, Uliana Lopatkina, Nina Ananiashvilli, Sofiane Sylve, and Darcey Bussell have pretty short hair. Susan Jaffe I know had really short hair too. I think Natalia Makarova towards the end of her career also had really short hair, and Sylvie Guillem for awhile had this short bob but now her hair's pretty long. I can understand how ballerinas would want a change after a whole lifetime of keeping hair shoulder length or long, but I admit it looks funny when I see pictures of Uliana Lopatkina and she has this super-short cut, and then in performance pictures she obviously has some kind of hair extension/wig. Isn't it easier to just keep your hair long instead of having to put on so much artificial hair during a performance? And can anyone think of any other bobbed ballerinas?

Unrelated: I really like Suzanne Farrell's new somewhat short, permed 'do. I think it looks nice and frames her face well.

I'm not sure if anyone one mentioned Cynthia Gregory or not. One would think it would be simpler to keep their hair long but maybe the long hair tends to get damaged from so much styling, etc.

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With reference to Dancers hair; From my experience as a Professional Wardrobe Mistress with The Royal Ballet, I can tell you quite often the Dancers had hair of varying lengths, but mostly their own hair was long enough to be able to be put in the three main "Ballet Styles", 1. the bun at the nape of the neck, or 2. a French pleat down the back of the head. Then there was 3. a bun on the top of the head. The style at the front around the face, would either cover the ears, with a middle parting.. Another style is when the hair is combed back above the ears, all these style's are held in place with pins and grips, using a bun net the hair combed down and forwards. Depending on the costume design and the Ballet being performed, the dancer may or may not have to wear a wig, in which case their own hair, would be pushed up underneath, and held in place with a hair net, or even with a stockinette type of material and safely fixed in place. It was a very serious offence if a Dancers hair fell down, which resulted in a very strict telling off !! IT WAS SIMPLY JUST NOT ALLOWED TO HAPPEN.

All the Dancers (at least in the Royal Ballet) :beg: , had their own "Hair Box", which contained various hair pieces, such as ringlettes, false buns, curls etc, which was specially made for each person and dyed to match the colour of their own hair. :sweatingbullets::)

When it comes to Character roles, in the case of Men, they would be provided with beards, mastouches, and any facial hair that might be needed, either to match their own colouring, or perhaps grey to represent age.

I am sorry if this information has spoilt the illustion, but I thought you would be interested to know how a dancer can change their appearance. :clapping:

Thank you for the interesting information. That must be so exciting to work with the Royal Ballet. I have a question for you regarding costumes if you don't mind. How many costumes are there for the same female principal role, Kitri for example. Is there only one that all of the female leads share or do they each get their own? I've always wondered about that sort of thing and how all the costumes are kept clean. Thank you!

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On ‎3‎/‎19‎/‎2006 at 11:18 PM, carbro said:

An artist has to be true to her character. How many interviews have you read of performers talking about putting on their costume for the first time opened up great insights into the role. I'm sure the same is true when appearance is transformed by hair or make-up?

Remember the tv movie, "Playing for Time" about the prisoners in the WWII concentration camp who formed an orchestra, thereby saving themselves but also giving the Nazis a showcase for how well they kept their inmates? All of the principal actresses agreed to shave their heads, except Marissa Berenson, who appeared with luxuriant auburn waves. While you could believe the others were ill-nourished and suffering, she looked like she'd just spent a week at a spa. She should have been given an ultimatum: your tresses or the role, but not both.

Makarova's hair spent many years hidden beneath beautiful, long silk scarves. I liked her short do and thought it was fine in Carmen and other ballets that were not strictly classical.

Berenson didn't need to have a shaved head for her role.  Her character was a Polish gentile, so she was able to keep her hair.  All of the other Polish gentile inmates (in this movie) had full heads of hair as well.

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