BRATTLEBORO-Kathi Keller, 77, founder of Brattleboro School of Dance (BSD), is the master costumer who has designed, sourced, and created - by hand - all of the costumes for its performances over five decades.
The Commons met with Keller at the BSD studio recently to see firsthand the hundreds of costumes she has made over the years in a very special room, the costume closet. Here's an excerpt of the conversation:
Victoria Chertok: Tell me about the Sugar Plum Fairy costume you are holding up now.
Kathi Keller: My mother bought this fabric in Japan in 1960, and when we decided we needed a new tutu, I found this in my piles of stuff and thought it was perfect.
This [other costume] came from a former student of mine, Coco [Dupont-Schlieben], who owned Cygnet Studio in New York City. I took it and reused it to make this tutu. I learned a lot from Coco.
V.C.: In The Nutcracker, you have over 100 costumes for nearly 70 performers?
K.K.: There are 100 costumes in this show! We originally started doing The Nutcracker with the Albany Berkshire Ballet, but that was years ago. All of those costumes came to us. A lot are really old.
All of the ballet costumes are made so that everything is exposed; they are not lined, so you can adjust everything.
V.C.: What is the most challenging part of costuming for a show of this size?
K.K.: Doing all of the refitting. Half of the costumes need to be readjusted. That takes the longest time. You have to be in all rehearsals to catch them.
For this year's show I had to make a bunch of new things. We added four kids, so we had to make new costumes.
V.C.: Tell me about the names written in black pen inside each of the costumes.
K.K.: All these names have worn this exact costume, starting from the early 1980s.
One of the names is Carrie, a renowned teacher at BSD and elsewhere. So is Rachel. Lucy is a mother of two young dancers at BSD, and she herself dances frequently in classes and BSD productions. Sequoyah is a budding teacher and professional performer in this year's production. Diana has danced this particular part at least 5 times, and is starting to take on teaching duties as well at BSD. Opal and Eleanor started off dancing with BSD very young and were both cast as Clara four years ago. Now they are dancing in "Waltz of the Flowers" - one of the most beloved and beautiful pieces in The Nutcracker.
The costumes are 45 years old, but are in exceptional shape due to the exquisite care and careful cleaning they have received over the years.
These names (written in the costumes) represent decades of legacy at BSD. The kids love when they get their costume. They immediately look inside to see the names of who has worn it and danced in it before.
V.C.: How many professional dancers do you have in your studio? How many will perform in Nutcracker?
K.K.: Right now we have six dancers from the studio who are dancing professionally. In The Nutcracker, we have 45 children participating this year with 18 adults. The age range is 6 to 75 years old.
V.C.: I heard you had to remake the giant Mother Ginger costume! That must have been a challenge.
K.K.: Yes, some of the costumes and props were thrown out by accident two years ago ["Can the show go on?: Dance school hopes to replace assets that disappeared from storage facility in time for annual performance," News, Oct. 11, 2023].
We remade the biggest one: Mother Ginger. I went up to Coco's house in Charlotte because she has a big cutting table and big machines. We used yards and yards of fabric.
V.C.: In your opinion, why is The Nutcracker still so popular?
K.K.: Well, I always like it because Clara, the main character, is a girl. How many stories do we have where the main character is a girl? Who is going to throw the slipper at the mouse king and knock him down? It's girl power!
V.C.: Is there anything else about this performance that you'd like to add?
K.K.: One of the things that is really fun for me is that I got to choreograph three of the pieces, so I've been running rehearsals. It's fun to see the level of the pointe dancers go up. Marzipan was a duet, and we double-cast it. I said, 'Wow, this looks really good as a quartet en pointe.'
We started adding real parents to the first act, and it's been great. We have that cross-generational thing - parents and kids on stage together - and it is just wonderful.
Another thing I love is that sense of community. People just stepping up and being together and moving together and creating something magical.
Victoria Chertok is a contributing writer to The Commons and The Keene Sentinel. She has lived and worked in Windham County since the mid-1990s.
This Arts item by Victoria Chertok was written for The Commons.