I'm not sure if this belongs in the STUDENTS section or here.
But do all companies have hair stylists to do dancers hair backstage(specifically ballet co.)???
Or are dancers on their own?
And are wigs used alot?I remember reading that the Royal Ballet uses wigs for their dancers(particularly if dancers have shorter hair).
Do they get paid the same as salon hair stylists?

<small>[ 10-17-2002, 13:44: Message edited by: angela ]</small>

Odd but very interesting question, Angela. Any of the professionals care to answer?

I've occasionally wondered whether the members of the major ballet companies sometimes have their hair done by the pros, if it's an unusual design. In documentaries about the Russian ballet companies, the students are often shown having their hair and headresses done by someone else, for performances and graduations.

When I danced in the San Francisco Opera Ballet, we did our own hair, but our makeup was always done by the makeup artists - no individuality allowed. Those makeup guys had the best gossip!

DJB is right about the Russian dancers/graduating students having their hair done for them. It was watching that in (I believe it was) Children of Theatre Street, that I saw the method of putting up very long hair in a bun. It was one bun inside another. That solved my problem for me with my long hair. I still use that method.

Gelsey Kirkland in her auto/bio talks about having her own hair stylist for the filming of the Nutcracker she did with Baryshnikov. Remeber - her hair was down.

A tricky scene is the first act Giselle, in which the ballerina dances with her hair up, but it has to come down as part of the scene. Sometimes, as Giselle embraces her mother, the mother slips out a few hair pins. I like to watch for that moment.

It isn't unusual for dancers to wear wigs. Valery Panov did when he was on stage. Sometimes when dancers need to all have the same size bun in the same place on the head - like corps de ballet in La Sylphide, Giselle, etc., they wear hair pieces.

I knew someone who danced Giselle and in the second act put light makeup where her hair was parted down the center so it would show up. It's a very classical/traditional way of doing it.

What has puzzled me is when the dancer has a small bun on each ear (very Victorian)....I tried that, but it's really hard to get those hair pins to go through the flesh of the ears... I can't figure out how to do that. I can get the buns above or behind the ears, but not covering them.

Anyone?

I dont know the answer to your question Ms B--but its ironic djb what you said.
I've also wondered if those stylist(like the makeup artist you mentioned) talked alot of 'juice' like those guys in the movie'Barbershop'-or ANY salon for that matter

<small>[ 10-18-2002, 16:16: Message edited by: angela ]</small>

Angela, I never went to a hair salon, but I suppose getting my makeup done in the Opera was the closest I've come to that experience.

As for the short-haired Royal Ballet dancers being provided with wigs, I don't know about that, but when I saw them fixing their hair, back in the '60s, when lots of the women had short hair, it was interesting to see how they managed the classical do. It required a ribbon band of the color of the hair, a hair net to put over all of the hair and lots of bobby pins to flatten it down, and a fake bun. Onstage it looked perfect.

<small>[ 10-18-2002, 17:23: Message edited by: djb ]</small>

Basheva, securing the buns over the ears is accomplished by gluing velcro to the ears. (Or just gluing your hair to your ears.)

<small>[ 10-18-2002, 18:19: Message edited by: djb ]</small>

Well, how did the Victorians do it? They didn't have velcro.

Maybe they had sticky ears - not too many showers back then.

my friend at the cleveland ballet explained it to me once basheva. i didn't comprehend all of what she said-but it was for gisselle and it involved tieing a string around the head like a headband-in front of the ears?
and having some hair in the front not gathered with the rest-then woven in later and pined to the string? or then she took the string off?