This costume titled Ballerina was designed by Norma Moriceau. It was part of the Europe float in the Arrivals segment of the Olympic Opening Ceremony held on September 15, 2000. The design of the costume was inspired by classical ballet tutus. It was made in the Olympic Ceremonies Costume Department at Refrern, NSW, and worn in the performance by Irena Lantis.

The Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games was comprised of three major sections: the mandatory formalities and protocol sections, the cultural display and the entrance of the athletes. Within the cultural display, there were eight segments titled: Welcome, Deep Sea Dreaming, Awakening, Fire, Nature, Tin Symphony, Arrivals and Eternity.

This costume was used in the Arrivals segment of the Opening Ceremony. This segment aimed to produce a theatrical representation of Australia's multiculturalism. The programme for the Olympic Opening Ceremony states: The history of Australia is the history of migration. We have come from all corners of the planet to form a vibrant, culturally rich and constantly evolving society. In this segment, a new group of arrivals form the Olympic symbol that unites the five continents of the world. They disperse, leaving behind their children - our hope for the future. More children appear until two thousand gather to form the pattern of the night sky, containing the distinctive Southern Cross constellation. From the centre of the structure Nikki Webster performs "Under Southern Skies' to celebrate the unity of all our people.

There were five floats in the Arrivals segment. Each float represented a continent. Using the symbolism of the colours of Olympic rings, each continent/float was represented by a colour. Black was used to represent the African nations, yellow the Asian nations, red the Americas, green was used for Europe and blue for Oceania, which includes Australia

Fashion and film designers rather than theatrical designers were chosen to provide a contemporary, cutting edge, high fashion look to the costumes. The designers were Jenny Kee - Africa and Americas, Lisa Ho - Asia, Norma Moriceau - Europe and Peter Morrissey - Oceania. Norma Moriceau, the designer of this costume, is one of Australia's most awarded and prolific film costume and production designers.

Performers were selected from schools, community groups and from cultural and ethnic support groups. Approximately 500 performers danced around and on each of the five floats in the costumes created by the designers.

The approach to the Europe float in the initial design brief was to use the artistic, musical and scientific achievements of Europe as basic themes for the costumes.

The Ballerina costume is made in the same manner as traditional ballet tutus from stretch velvet, lame and tulle. It was worn in the ceremony by Irena Lantis.

Norma Moriceau is one of Australia's most awarded and prolific film costume and production designers. Her credits include Mad Max, Crocodile Dundee and Babe Pig in the City. She has won three AFI awards for Best Costume Design for Newsfront (1978), Fatty Finn (1980) and Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior (1981). In addition to this she has received two AFI nominations for her costume designs for Street Hero (1984) and The Chain Reaction (1980).

Moriceau has a bold signature style, often incorporating tribal symbolism, off beat surrealism and the use of found objects in her designs.

She was assisted in the realisation of the costumes for the Europe float by another Australian production and costume designer, Lisa Meagher.

The initial design brief for the Europe float was to use the artistic, musical and scientific achievements of Europe as basic themes for the costumes.

Moriceau added touches of pink, fluorescent yellow and metallic gold to the base palette of green to give added depth and vibrancy to the costumes.

The makeup design was an integral part of the overall look of the costume. The make up for the wearer of the costume consisted of a white face with a green glitter 'mask' painted over the eyes.

The Ballerina design is based on the classical ballet tutu.



Maker name Ceremonies Costume Department

Worn by Irena Lantis of Sophia Haskas Dancers on the Europe float.

Presented to the Powerhouse Museum by the Olympic Coordination Authority, on behalf of the NSW Government

Performance costume, 'Ballerina', fabric, designed by Norma Moriceau, made by Ceremonies Costume Department, used in Opening Ceremony of Olympic Games, Sydney, 2000

The bodice of the tutu is made from green stretch velvet fabric. The bodice has pink elastic straps and the front of the bodice has been lined with flesh coloured stretch synthetic fabric. The green velvet bodice has been beaded with green, yellow and clear acrylic and glass stones and strip sequins. The skirt is crush pleated green lurex that has been caught up on the hem forming a decorative fluted edge. Underneath the green lurex are three layers of tulle frills. The top layer is a darker green, the middle layer lime green and the bottom layer yellow. A fiberglass hoop has been sewn into the outside of the darker green layer of tulle.

Made: 2000

There are two white manufacturers labels sewn into the left side seam of the bodice. The first label has black text "Bloch / Small" written on it. The second label has care instructions for the garment.

2001/84/186

2000