Stage Door News
Stage Door News
When ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje step out on the ice to represent Canada in Sochi on Sunday morning two cutters at the Stratford Festival will be holding their breath.
Terri Dans and Margaret Lamb constructed their costumes which were designed by Debra Hanson and will be seen by millions of people around the world at the Olympics.
“I can't watch it now because I'm terrified she'll have a wardrobe malfunction and it will be the difference between a medal or not so I'll watch after,” Lamb said.
Dans and Lamb are experienced members of the wardrobe team. They've built costumes seen by thousands of people that must stand up night after night for months, but Weaver and Poje are elite athletes.
“They travel at such a speed and they're spinning, you don't see how much abuse costumes get until you see the stills,” Lamb said. “And they're lifted in weird ways. I think they look really great but I'm just so nervous every time there's a lift.”
There are no back up costumes either so a rip is serious business.
The connection between the skaters and the theatre world was made through actor Geoffrey Tyler. He has done the choreography for Weaver and Poje.
Coincidentally, the short program is from 42nd Street, a musical the Festival produced for the 2012 season and a production Lamb and Dans worked on just before taking on the ice dancers.
Weaver and Poje aren't under the same scrutiny as their Canadian teammates and defending gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir but no doubt they feel the weight of the country's hopes on their shoulders too.
It's not just the skaters under intense scrutiny either. The beautiful electric blue dress Weaver wears for their short program is the second attempt. The first dress, a blue sequin number, didn't make the cut. This second dress did get raves. Their long program is a tango and the costumes for that are elegant.
The pair were training in Detroit so Dans and Lamb had to travel there for the first fitting in late August.
“The fittings went really well considering we didn't measure them—her mother did,” Dans said.
The deadline was tight to get those costumes done for the competition season.
“I'm proud to see them out there and it's nice to see your work on a large scale,” Dans said.
They also constructed the practice outfits for the skaters to wear in Sochi just two weeks before they left and have never seen them on their bodies.
This isn't Dans' first trip around the Olympic rings. She constructed some of the costumes for the opening ceremonies, designed by John Pennoyer, for the Vancouver Olympics four years ago.
By Laura Cudworth for www.stratfordbeaconherald.com.
Photo: Terri Dans and Margaret Lamb. ©2014 Scott Wishart.
2014-02-12
Stratford: Festival wardrobe team has a hand in Olympics ice dancing costumes