Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1981 - 8

The platform was constructed ten feet square and thirty
inches high. A four by three foot piece of three-quarter inch
plexiglass was imbedded in the center. The platform was
faced with black corduroy and the top was painted black. It
was also castered to facilitate set-up and take-down for the
number, second on the bill. Under the plexiglass plate I
mounted three motorized color wheels. Three 300W
PAR56MFL lamps were mounted eighteen inches beneath the
plexiglass. A piece of stove pipe was used to limit the spill as
far as the opening to the color wheel. The color wheel motors
were controlled by one constant circuit, but each lamp was
controlled individually. The color wheels had six slots, which
were gelled with straw, amber, red, magenta, violet, and blue.
On each side of the stage a red, amber, and a blue circuit was
available. The fourth circuit on each side was gelled with a
combination of amber and violet, and focused above the area
covered by the other lights. The downlight circuits were gelled
with amber, magenta, and violet.
The dance began with just a glow from the lights beneath
the stage. This presented us with our first problem. The lamps
beneath the color wheels were difficult to start at a low light
level, and it was only the ability of the dimmer board to reproduce the timing and voltage necessary to produce the effect
that allowed us to proceed with a minimum of delay. We soon
discovered that we needed only about twenty percent of the
light available from the 300W lamps, seeming to contradict
the statement that the lights beneath the stage were very powerful. Had time allowed, a switch to less powerful lamps could
have solved the warm-up problem and allowed us to control
the light level more precisely. As the piece progressed we
added the sidelight colors and began to encounter a new
problem. The light-colored floor was picking up a great deal of
flare from the sidelights, destroying the illusion of the void.
The sides of the platform were being hit directly by the sidelights, revealing it very clearly. We found we were having
trouble sustaining a growing image throughout the entire
piece and began to search for ways to vary the look of the
piece during the middle section. The core of the fire was also
appearing too blue, so we changed some of the blue slots to
amber and straw.
Most of the problems encountered during the rehearsal period resulted from compromises that we had settled upon
early in our discussions of the piece. We knew that the floor
would be a problem, but had hoped that by performing the
piece on a platform, the light on the floor would be minimized.
In fact, the platform added another object on the stage to pick
up the light and further destroy the illusion. Using the motorized color wheels instead of a manually operated projector
definitely limited the effects we could produce, but it simplified
the cueing and running of the piece so much that for our case
I am sure this was an advantage and not a liability. The intensity of the light throughout the piece was undoubtedly
much greater than in the original. I felt this was necessary to
satisfy our audience.
Throughout the work on this piece we realized we could
never duplicate the work of Lore Fuller-we did not have access to any of the original materials, and could not duplicate
the original set-up. We hoped to give the audience an impression of what one of Fuller's dances might have been like. I
think that this was accomplished. The piece flowed nicely
from moment to moment, and we were especially pleased with
the way in which the volume of the stage was used. The piece
began with all attention centered upon one cubic foot of
space, progressed until there was an impression of the entire
stage filled with fiery fabric, and ended with all attention riveted upon that same one cubic foot of space.
Failures of the piece came mostly from our inability to duplicate the original set-up. At the beginning and the end, when
the sidelights were not used, this was not a problem, but
the other 90% of the piece it definitely detracted from the effect.O
Michael Sicotte is Assistant Professor of Design at Mansfield State
College.

The Fire Dance:
Costume
as Performer

by Jean E. Gonzalez

As the costumer, it was my job to construct a costume
originally designed by Lore Fuller as indigenous to the Fir~
Dance. But no one knew exactly what the costume looked
like. Drawings and sculpture of Fuller expressed the artists'
romantic impressions of her and contemporary descriptions of
her performance provided little more than ethereal inspiration.
In a crude drawing done by Fuller in order to obtain a patent
for an earlier dance garment, the costume appeared to be no
more than a circular cape. The drawing also indicated the use
of curved canes to extend her arm movements and it is possible that this patent was for these canes.
Realizing her almost paranoid secrecy concerning her
dance-and the fact that the patent drawing was for a costume other than the Fire Dance--I considered her patent
sketch as a sort of spiritual skeleton upon which to drape. A
posed photograph of Fuller in the Fire Dance costume did
however, provide some tangible clues, such as: 1) an impres~
sion of the amount of fabric involved; 2) the garment seemed
to be one unit, unlike those of Fuller's imitators who tried to
copy her dance using costumes made of scarves and ribbons'
3) the costume did not appear to be hemmed, that is, th~
edges were raw or unfinished. The photograph did not show
how the garment was attached to her body, nor did it indicate
seam lines or reveal much about the costume's construction.
Despite numerous accounts that described a very complicated costume, * my analysis of the information available revealed two key facts-the garment was basically a circle and
it consisted of pie shaped wedges or gores. The circumference and diameter of the circle, the number of gores and
how they were cut-whether on the straight, bias or a combination-were questions to be answered, in addition to how
and where the garment was attached to her and how the arm
extending poles were attached to the garment.
Although Fuller insisted her patterns were intricately complicated, containing numerous gores and secret seams, I realized that she used fabric strictly as a tool or vehicle to achieve
the effect she desired. As her mastery of her medium grew,
she must have learned that unnecessary seams would only
add unwanted weight. In short, I approached the problem from
what I perceived to be her standpoint. It is possible that upon
conception, she knew no more of what her costume looked
like than I did. She was after an image involving movement
and the flight of fabric. The mechanics were worked out solely
to create a specific image. I, too, adopted this approach.
Because the Fire Dance evolved from Fuller's constant exploration of her art and manipulation of her materials, it
seemed logical to expand on her cape drawing taking it
through what I believed to be a natural progression toward the

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1981