Dressed and impressed: a selection of well-known professional dancers from different genres and eras recall the costumes they liked best and what made them great - ballet United States

Dance Magazine, Oct, 2002 by Heather Wisner

DUNCAN COOPER (principal dancer, Dance Theatre of Harlem): Prodigal Son. Choreographed by George Balanchine. Costumes by Georges Rouault. Sphinx. Choreographed by Glen Tetley. Costumes by Willa Kim

There are two: Prodigal Son and Glen Tetley's Sphinx. In Prodigal I wear the brown leather top with holes in it--I feel comfortable in it, even though I don't particularly like the skirt. Prodigal is one of my favorite roles to dance--you have to prepare physically and mentally, because if you can't act, you lose the audience in the first five minutes. The role came very easily to me--it was the first major role I did after three major knee surgeries, so the story reflected how I felt about coming home, back to dance.

In Sphinx, I play Oedipus--there's a unitard that almost makes him look like he's wearing his skin inside out. It's a golden skin-tone color with blood-red veins. It just sucks to your skin--it's almost like being naked. Unfortunately, I don't have time to enjoy the costume; because the role is so stressful. Glen is a joy to work with, but his work is really challenging. It's like a thick novel more than a comic book. The story is based on La Machine infernale by Jean Cocteau. I go to get the answer to the Sphinx's riddle; I go there to seduce her, but I leave with the riddle, and she dies.

JANIE TAYLOR (soloist, New York City Ballet): La Valse. New York City Ballet. Choreographer: George Balanchine. Costume designer: Karinska

The ballet's about a young girl--she's doomed; she dies at the end. The costume is all white--the top is satiny, and the bottom is a long tulle dress, with long white gloves and white fights and shoes. Later in the ballet I put on a black dress over the top--I wrap it around--and black gloves and a black necklace. The most stressful part is putting the gloves on on time. The white gloves have no fingers, but the black gloves do--there's someone holding the gloves out for you, and you have to put them on in one movement.

At first, when you're all in white, you feel young and innocent; when you put on the black, you feel dating, like you're giving in to something you haven't before. The skirt's long and flowing--when you move, it's big; it moves with you. I think it's really beautiful, and it's fun acting a part. I love the gloves. It's not something you'd ordinarily wear--it's like playing dress-up.

PALOMA HERRERA (principal dancer, American Ballet Theatre): Medora, Le Corsaire. American Ballet Theatre. Staged by Anna-Marie Holmes after Marius Petipa and Konstantin Sergeyev. Costumes: Irina Tibilova

The more you dance, the harder it is to choose--when I do guesting, I wear my own costumes. I like Don Quixote--at ABT we use the white costumes, but when I do it in concert, I wear the red and black. It's nice when the costumes are made for you, because you can add detailing and really make it your own.

The first act of Corsaire is all about technique, but the second act is a love duet with Medora and Conrad--they call it the bedroom pas de deux. I love the music, the lighting, and the dancing. It's beautiful, and you don't see it very often, so it comes as a surprise. The costume is a tunic, like in Romeo and Juliet. It's very light and soft, lilac-colored. It's very comfortable, almost like a leotard, and the headpiece is soft--you can put jewels everywhere and make it your own. Sometimes, even if I love the ballet, the costume isn't very comfortable--it's tight, there are too many bones in the middle, it's stiff, or it has too many jewels and it's heavy. The [Corsaire] tunic makes you feel very free.