Costume Collection
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EDT Arstistic Director and Costume Designer Donald LaCourse and Dancer and Costume Designer Renee LaCourse with the 2007 MN Sage Award for Best Costume DesignEDT’s costume collection has been built and maintained since 1974 as a labor of love and passion. We have approximately 5,000 pieces from over 50 different cultures in our collection.
In our form of dance, costuming is more than half the battle. Without our costumes, we would not be an ethnic dance theatre. We like to think that for every person on stage, there are actually two performers: the performer and the costume he or she is wearing. Because we take our costumes so seriously, we have been recognized with the 2007 Best Costume Award for our Beyond the Crescent Moon show.
To our minds, our entire costume collection is award-winning.
When it is possible, we acquire costume pieces in the native countries from which they originate. For example, we have a set of women’s costumes from Northern Bulgaria that were hand made by village women nearly one hundred years ago.
But acquiring pieces in their native countries often is not enough: In this age of the machine, it is easy to mass reproduce embroideries, shirts, belts, etc.; in the process, a lot of specificity regarding exact regional styling and color can be and often is lost. We therefore painstakingly research each costume piece before we either make or purchase any item, all with an eye for the most absolute authenticity possible. Such authenticity is achieved via consultations with native experts and through much research into books and archives. We do not take “artistic liberty” in our interpretation of how costumes should be presented; we do our best to stick as close to native traditions as possible—and this even when we must hand make the costume pieces ourselves.
So please, have a look below, and even better, come see our costumes in action in one of the many opportunities to see us performing each year! Click for our season calendar!
Costumes for our 35th Anniversary Show
The Kaiser's Jubilee:
*Click on images to enlarge!
AUSTRIA
Salzburg Costume
BOSNIA
Sarajevo Costume
CROATIA
Vrlika Costume
CZECHIA (CZECH REPUBLIC)
Sumava Costume
HUNGARY
Sárköz Costume
UKRAINE
Hutsul Costume
POLAND
Nowy Sacz Costume
ROMANIA
Oas Costume
SLOVAKIA
Trencin Costume
SLOVENIA
Gorensko Costume
Concert Facts:
Did you know that?
Mumbai
The Gateway to India
Mumbai is one of the most populous cities in the world. It was built across seven islands & was controlled by various empires before the arrival of the first Europeans, the Portuguese. Control ultimately passed to the British who, beginning in the late 18th century, reshaped the city in a series of large-scale civil engineering projects. Under British control, Mumbai emerged as India’s most important center of commerce. Today, it is home to such institutions as the Reserve Bank of India & the National Stock Exchange of India, as well as numerous Indian and multinational corporations. In 1885 the first session of the Indian National Congress ("the Congress Party") was held in Mumbai, and in the 20th century Mumbai was a strong base of support for the Indian independence movement. The city is also the home of Bollywood, India’s film and TV industry. See our Indian suite in PORTS of CALL!
**If you know something interesting--including your own personal story--about a culture represented in our current season, please tell us about it here!