"A costume adds meaning and context to both the performer and audience alike".

Costuming a Tracks major performance is a balance between artistic vision, function, meaning and collaboration with performers and the artistic team. We talk with Tim Newth, and Cj Fraser Bell who are teaming up to design and produce the costumes for this year’s show Seasons of Skin and Bark.

Tim Newth is the Tracks Artistic Co-Director and has been the designer of all the company's major works since 1988. He kicks off by explaining why the costumes are important to a Tracks show.

“A costume adds meaning and context to both the performer and audience alike. For the majority of Tracks dancers, this is not their profession. Often it can be someone's first performance experience. If you are asking someone to dance in front of their community...they need to feel good about what you are doing and how they look. A costume can connect the performer to their heritage, add to their sense of self or take one beyond oneself, to be larger than life.”  

Cj is a published poet and interdisciplinary artist with 10 years of experience in the making and presentation of performance works as a designer, writer, performer, and stage manager. 

"So every piece in this costume "collection" is unique"

Here in the Tracks office, we’ve been seeing some delicious samples appearing on the costume rack behind Cj’s desk - how would you describe the costuming for this show and what inspired your concepts?

Cj: Seasons of Skin and Bark has such a conceptional bedrock to draw from, the natural seasons of this place and the seasons of the body, so a colour profile quickly emerged from growing up here and from referencing the Larrakia seasonal calendar with Tim. I was inspired by fashion collection launches and how each piece is distinct but together they come together to make a cohesive unit. So every piece in this costume "collection" is unique in this way, no colours or cuts are repeated, but together they form the seasonal calendar of the top end, of the breadth of our skin tones, and the blooms that pop up in the bush.

Tim:  We definitely utilized the Larrakia calendar used it as our boundaries and a place to start. So colour has been the key thing, rather than it being about having a flared skirt, or being in a particular style. The concept of the show is influenced by the seasons of nature that we experience as human beings - the rain, the wet, the dry, the dew. 

The best person to do the costumes for this show?

Tim, what drew you to Cj as the best person to do the costumes for this show?

Two years ago when Seasons was just in the concept stage we had engaged another designer, but COVID happened and things changed. I knew we needed somebody who was really good with people, because putting someone in a costume is just about as much about that relationship of putting them in a garment and making them feel competent in it, as it is about whether it's red, orange, yellow, or whatever. Somebody suggested Cj who had worked with Tracks for many many years; firstly as a volunteer; then as a Stage Manager, but I had never worked with them creatively. It's been a really wonderful experience and we’re looking forward to the first dress rehearsal in a couple of weeks. 

"Working collectively to create a shared vision is really addictive"

Cj, As an artist who works across multiple art forms and mediums, what do you enjoy most about the type of work you’re doing for this project?

I thrive in a collaborative space - working collectively to create a shared vision is really addictive compared to solo work or leading a project. I've never worked under an artistic director before as an artist in this way so it's been exciting to try a new way of making and dreaming big and then making that a reality.

A Tracks alumni

You’re also a Tracks alumni, having taken part in a number of our dance and choreography programs, have these experiences influenced your concepts for this project?

Hahahah, I don't know about being a dance alumni, but technically yeah, I did the choreo program in 2019 which was so great - after working in stage management for the company for the better part of a decade - I thought it was time I dipped my toe in creatively! Tracks is a truly remarkable company. I love their whole-of-movement approach, and the ephemeral quality of their shows. Having stage managed their shows, and created movement with them definitely helps a first time costume designer wrap their head around the unique requirements these costumes will need to meet!

Cj’s recent design credits include Highway of Lost Hearts by Mary Anne Butler for Brown's Mart, CUSP by Mary Anne Butler for Australian Theatre for Young People and Brown’s Mart (2019/20), and Queer Territory, a performance tour and visual installation Cj created in residence at the Northern Territory Library (2018/19). 

Seasons of Skin and Bark

Seasons of Skin and Bark will be performed at the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens from 8-16 of August as part of the Darwin Festival.

Read more about Seasons of Skin and Bark