Cynthia and Kris met with the East Wing curtain group who are interested in creating a space to put on the “Ballet Show”. They have designed their curtain decorations and are currently testing materials to transfer that design onto an appropriate material for the chosen medium. They’re looking at applique, fabric paint and embroidery in the EW mini studio.
At this meeting, we discussed the measurements of the curtain space. Cynthia and Kris planned for the possibility of working in scale and making a mock up of the elaborate curtain structure the group discussed.
Raven: “I want it to open like this.” holding her hands together, she moves them horizontally away from center.
Ophelia: “Ya, like this.” She makes the same hand movement.
Cynthia: “I remember you wanted to make sure there was no way the audience could see through the gap. You decided to make three panels for your curtain. Two stationary on either side of the center panel.”
Raven: “Maybe it could go up like this.” She slides a hand, palm out up from the table.
With paper, scissors and pencil, the group collaborates on how to represent their idea.
Kris: “I wonder how much room you’ll need to do the ballerina show? Let’s go measure the space.”
Back outside we introduced graph paper and a 1′ to 1square ratio. We cut pieces of paper to take the place of hand motions and talked about how much space the center panel should reveal for the show.
Kris: “The way you have it set up, you have 3′ for your show. Is that enough? Let’s see what 3′ looks like with the tape measure.”
Cynthia: “Kris and I will be the stationary panels. You line up in the 3′ opening.”
Kris: “Okay, twirl!”
After much bumping into each other and laughter, they adjusted the width several times. They asked passerbys to stand in for Sienna who was out that day, and they settled on a 7′ wide space for 5 dancers.
Raven: “Wait, you have to stand with your feet out.” She reasoned that more space would be needed if 5 dancers were standing in first position.
Another foot was added to the performance space to accomodate.
When the group brought their information back to the whole East Wing, the children asked:
“How will you make the curtain move?” -Maddox
Next meeting – the ballet show will relate their ideas of curtain function to a group of children interested in creating the scale structure.
Have the motion group share their information on pulleys with the curtain group.
Take a walk to Beethoven Elementary School to see how their theater curtain raises and lowers.
Search for a parent with expertise in making architectural scale models to discuss the process with the children.