“I got my start attending the Shakespeare Festival in Southern Utah as a kid. The first show I saw was “Macbeth”—I was around 6 years old and obsessed with the witches. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to be a costumer. My parents and junior high teachers were incredibly supportive. At 18, I landed a dressing job at Pioneer Theatre, which was a fantastic crash course in theater processes.

I went to school here for theater design, but most of my real learning came directly from working with veterans who held esoteric costuming knowledge—like the closely guarded secrets of tutu making. I worked here as a draper at 23 with Steve, an artistic designer who taught me abstract thinking in dance and made me a confident dyer. Later, I trained under David Heuvel at Ballet West, the premier tutu maker. I went on to spend six years at Nevada Ballet Theater. I built their costume department from scratch, which was deeply validating after years of feeling like I wasn’t good enough.

When I was invited back here, I wanted to recreate that success. We’ve grown the shop into a supportive, positive environment where students are excited to get custom-made costumes.

Designing for dance is unique because there’s rarely a script. You’re collaborating with choreographers, listening to abstract adjectives and synthesizing undeveloped ideas into physical garments. I love combining their vision with my own design aesthetics. Dance garments must move, so I focus heavily on fabric movement and lightweight construction. Sometimes requests sound wild—like making 32 capes—but we have fun with it.

In my creative process, I trust my gut and usually go with my first idea. I love clothing construction, historical fashion, and current trends, often designing backwards from how a piece is built. Working with talented choreographers provides great feedback that fine-tunes my initial concepts. Once a project finishes, I take a week to reset before diving eagerly into the next challenge. One career highlight was designing George Balanchine’s “Serenade”—a prestigious, highly specific ballet I’ve been fortunate to build twice.

Currently, our shop of six—including helpful work-study students—manages five separate pieces per show. With cast sizes expanding from 30 to over 60 dancers, we have to design efficiently without sacrificing professionalism. For instance, we’re currently making 14 flamenco dresses requiring 100 yards of fabric for Sandra Rivera’s piece, bias-cut nightgowns, and custom-dyed, intentionally distressed garments for Pam Gaber’s piece. Seeing those initial sketches materialize on stage is always a success.”

— Christopher Larson, costume shop manager and resident designer for the Alice Sheets Marriott Center for Dance