Daphne Karstens
Agency of Play
Website / Social Media: www.daphnekarstens.com
“HOW IS YOUR COSTUME AGENTIVE?”
Exploring geometry and the negative space of the body to influence the movement of the performer and create character and behaviour in relation to geometric shapes.
BIOGRAPHY
Daphne is a Dutch costume designer based in Amsterdam. In her work she explores the concept of body sculptures to create experimental and innovative wearable art pieces. She often works with unconventional materials and combines the individual qualities of materials through experimentation with shape, structure and technology. She wants to explore and redefine the boundaries and possibilities of costume and wearable sculpture and translates the outcome of this into visual costume-based performances.
Daphne has a BA in Scenography from De Theaterschool, Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (2013) and an MA in Costume Design for Performance from London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London (2015).
TITLE: Het Grote Kleurenballet (Translation: The Big Colourballet)
Het Grote Kleurenballet is a visual theatre piece made for children from 4 years old. The main inspiration for the piece is Oskar Schlemmers’ Triadic Ballet. The aim of the designs was to make visual theatre for children where costume and their geometric shapes were leading in the creation of the characters without simplifying the designs and believing that children can understand different characters by using the aesthetics of geometry on the body.
For the designs, I used primary colours and basic geometric shapes as starting point. Resulting in ‘blue ball’, ‘red rectangle’ and ‘yellow triangle’. Each shape influenced movement differently and was used to establish the characters. During the length of the play, the costumes developed more and more until the performers became full geometric creatures.
At the start of the piece the performers followed strict rules for movement and tried hard to ‘stay between the lines’. This evolved throughout the performance until they were not limited anymore by the set rules and the movement limitations of the costumes. Eventually, each shape was taken off and used to create an abstract composition of colour and shapes on stage.
GENERAL CREDITS
Concept: Rianne Meboer and Suzanne Bakker
Performers: Rianne Meboer, Suzanne Bakker, Tjebbe Roelofs
Director: Anne van Dorp
Sound Design: Jolle Roelofs
Stage and Light Design: Calle de Hoog
Costume Design: Daphne Karstens
Photographers: Frank Wiersema and Moon Saris
IMAGE CAPTIONS & CREDITS
01
Daphne Karstens, Het Grote Kleurenballet, 2019, performance
Performer: Rianne Meboer
Concept: Rianne Meboer and Suzanne Bakker
Director: Anne van Dorp
Sound Design: Jolle Roelofs
Stage and Light Design: Calle de Hoog
Costume Design: Daphne Karstens
Foto: Frank Wiersema
02
Daphne Karstens, Het Grote Kleurenballet, 2019, performance
Performers: (L to R) Rianne Meboer, Suzanne Bakker, Tjebbe Roelofs
Concept: Rianne Meboer and Suzanne Bakker
Director: Anne van Dorp
Sound Design: Jolle Roelofs
Stage and Light Design: Calle de Hoog
Costume Design: Daphne Karstens
Foto: Moon Saris
03
Daphne Karstens, Het Grote Kleurenballet, 2019, performance
Performer: Suzanne Bakker
Concept: Rianne Meboer and Suzanne Bakker
Director: Anne van Dorp
Sound Design: Jolle Roelofs
Stage and Light Design: Calle de Hoog
Costume Design: Daphne Karstens
Foto: Moon Saris
04
Daphne Karstens, Het Grote Kleurenballet, 2019, performance
Performer: Tjebbe Roelofs
Concept: Rianne Meboer and Suzanne Bakker
Director: Anne van Dorp
Sound Design: Jolle Roelofs
Stage and Light Design: Calle de Hoog
Costume Design: Daphne Karstens
Foto: Frank Wiersema
05
Daphne Karstens, Het Grote Kleurenballet, 2019, performance
Performer: Suzanne Bakker
Concept: Rianne Meboer and Suzanne Bakker
Director: Anne van Dorp
Sound Design: Jolle Roelofs
Stage and Light Design: Calle de Hoog
Costume Design: Daphne Karstens
Foto: Frank Wiersema
06
Daphne Karstens, Het Grote Kleurenballet, 2019, performance
Performer: Rianne Meboer
Concept: Rianne Meboer and Suzanne Bakker
Director: Anne van Dorp
Sound Design: Jolle Roelofs
Stage and Light Design: Calle de Hoog
Costume Design: Daphne Karstens
Foto: Frank Wiersema
07
Daphne Karstens, Het Grote Kleurenballet, 2019, performance
Performers: (L to R) Suzanne Bakker, Tjebbe Roelofs, Rianne Meboer
Concept: Rianne Meboer and Suzanne Bakker
Director: Anne van Dorp
Sound Design: Jolle Roelofs
Stage and Light Design: Calle de Hoog
Costume Design: Daphne Karstens
Foto: Frank Wiersema
08
Daphne Karstens, Het Grote Kleurenballet, 2019, performance
Performers: (L to R) Tjebbe Roelofs, Rianne Meboer, Suzanne Bakker
Concept: Rianne Meboer and Suzanne Bakker
Director: Anne van Dorp
Sound Design: Jolle Roelofs
Stage and Light Design: Calle de Hoog
Costume Design: Daphne Karstens
Foto: Moon Saris
09
Daphne Karstens, Het Grote Kleurenballet, 2019, performance
Performer: Tjebbe Roelofs
Concept: Rianne Meboer and Suzanne Bakker
Director: Anne van Dorp
Sound Design: Jolle Roelofs
Stage and Light Design: Calle de Hoog
Costume Design: Daphne Karstens
Foto: Moon Saris
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