The costumographer: Revolutions in performance pedagogy

Abstract This visual essay reflects on the impact of costume on dance performance practice and pedagogy, focusing initially on the author’s professional engagement with experimental costume pedagogy and the impact this had on subsequent work. Discussing the transformation of her creative practice through interaction with costume, and most recent collaborative costume performance project Elizabeth & the Three Sisters , the text proposes the term ‘costumographer’ as a new definition for choreographers and performers working with costume as starting point and principal focus of the performance. It highlights the effect costume can have on the understanding and implementation of the moving and performing body, as well as the devising process and brings awareness to the lack of real costume experiences in dance education, advocating the importance of sharing pedagogies and artistic practices to critique and develop interconnecting art forms relating to performance.