Q&A with Thomas Mika

Set & Costume Designer Thomas Mika talks about his creative process and his work for Trey McIntyre's The Shadows Behind Us – a world premiere that will be part of The Masters Series.

What is your creative process for designing costumes and/or sets for a new work?
It’s always a different approach depending on the collaborators. In modern abstract choreographies sometimes it is a word of the choreographer which starts the design process, sometimes the music gives the initiation. When designing a story ballet of course the story is the main inspiration by setting the time, mood and character of the design.

How would you describe your style of costume and set design?
I like to focus the audiences’ eye on the main subject of a ballet — the dancer and the emotion. Therefore, I like to reduce all unnecessary items taking that focus away.

What are the challenges and/or considerations when designing costumes for dancers?
The physicality of movements are the most challenging aspects in designing for dance. How to make a costume last is the main question, but that question should never define the design process. It is a question to be considered in the creation workshops.

Can you explain how you portray different characters and/or portray a particular theme through the design or costumes and/or sets?
For this production, Trey didn‘t want to have individual costumes on stage. Only the idea of a sort of ballroom elegance is the main picture. The room is very abstract in that sense! I focused mainly on shaping the room into an infinite room to achieve space for the dance but as well space for the audience's’ thoughts to live in my set design. 

Read the full interview in our Production Notes for the Classroom.