Design perspectives. A collaboration between the London College of Fashion, Ballets Russes and the V&A.

On the 19^th of November the V&A  held an amazing event of  a collaboration between the English National Ballet and the London college of Fashion.  The Late Night Friday sessions at the V&A exhibited a film screening as well as a performance from the ballet dancers.

In 2009 the English National Ballet invited LCF students to watch their rehearsals of Sadler’s Wells and explore the Ballet Russes though dance, set and costume designs.  

This linked in with an exhibition this year on the Ballet Russes in the V&A.

I went into an early session of the short film by Thomas Elliot and James English of Bunker Design. It showed close ups of the dancers which was wonderful to see exactly how the moved, the detailing on the costumes and the emotion on their faces.

The costumes and the way of filming them were slightly odd with different shots of the same outfit shown fast. I would have liked to have seen more of the behind the scenes work and who was involved in its creation.

The performance however was great. We were lucky enough to be standing at the front so I could see but there were so many people that the queue was forming around the corridor. It was only 15 minutes of dance but it was so fantastic to watch, especially in the Raphael gallery with its beautiful back drop.

There was a small display in the middle with weird and wonderful set design and lovely bags and shoes. The quality of the photography was in particularly impressive.

Walking around the display was models showing of the outfits created by the students. They formed a catwalk around the display and it was really exciting when they just appeared from no where.

Overall it was a very good event and it was all free!