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50s flavour in wayward ballet

WA Ballet dancers Sergey Pevnev and Sarah Hepburn. Picture: Rob Duncan/WA News

Although La Fille mal gardee (or The Wayward Daughter) dates back to the late 18th century, the most frequently staged version of this lighthearted and mischievous ballet was created by French choreographer Marc Ribaud, who came up with the idea of setting the story of star-crossed love in 1950s rural France.

The original ballet was inspired by a late 18th century painting by Pierre-Antoine Baudoin of a young girl in tears, being scolded by her mother as a young man scurries away in the background.

Originally choreographed by Jean Dauberval, the comic ballet tells the story of two star-crossed lovers, Lise and Colas, whose relationship is thwarted by Lise's mother, who plans to marry her off to the son of a wealthy wine merchant. Through a series of whimsical vignettes, Lise endeavours to make her way back to her beloved beau Colas.

Crucial to Ribaud's re-imagining of the story in a mid-century context is the costuming. Along with set designer Richard Roberts, Melbourne-based costumer Lexi De Silva has created a romantic, nostalgic mood with a bit of rock'n'roll attitude thrown in.

"The 1950s was a period when the young were spirited and rebellious," De Silva says. "That was reflected in the swing dance costumes and movie stars like James Dean.

"I wanted to use that as inspiration for the young characters in the ballet - using denim jeans and singlets for the boys and flouncy skirts and blouses for the girls. The older characters are dressed more conservatively but there are also influences from the traditional French provincial clothing seen on the local townsfolk.

"The costumes are really important in demarcating the age groups, and which views they hold. It helps the audience to immediately understand certain things about the characters and the storyline."

De Silva, whose resume includes work on Julius Caesar for the Victoria Opera, Swan Lake for the Australian Ballet, and Pecan Summer, Australia's first indigenous opera, says the major challenge of costuming La Fille mal gardee - apart from corresponding with Ribaud via Skype and email to nut out design ideas - was sourcing the fabrics to match the vision she had in her mind.

"Trying to oversee a fitting over Skype is pretty tricky," she admits. "And there are two halves to a design: the costume drawing and the fabrics. The latter obviously contributes hugely to the success of the costumes. I had a very specific colour palette and patterns in mind and it was difficult to find what I wanted."

De Silva studied design at the Victorian College of the Arts after a childhood spent "playing dress-ups", dancing and acting in local pantomimes. For her, designing costumes for ballet was the perfect outlet for her love of creating and performing.

"There's a wonderful challenge in creating a costume for a moving body," she says.

"They need to be strong yet light, practical yet evocative, while all the while being flattering and sympathetic to the form of the body. I love that designing for ballet is never 'real life' - you have the opportunity to create a new world that only exists on stage at that moment. That can be said of other forms of live performance but for me ballet has more fantasy, more imagination and more romance."

Complementing De Silva's retro costuming and Richard Roberts' set design, Myron Romanul will return to Perth to conduct the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, who will perform a score originally created by John Lanchbery in 1959 for The Royal Ballet.

For De Silva, the joys of her work are manifold. "I love what I do and have never considered it to be a 'job'," she says.

"I love the research, collaboration and creativity of the design stage, I love the excitement of seeing 2-D drawings turn into 3-D costumes. But the biggest reward, of course, is opening night - to see the accumulation of all the hard work from the entire team is a feeling I will never get tired of. It's a natural high."

La Fille mal gardee is at His Majesty’s Theatre from September 5-20.