{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1719491"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1719491/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PK3496/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PK3496/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PK3496","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1719491","accessionNumber":"S.63-2023","objectType":"Costume design","titles":[{"title":"La Valse","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Costume design by Sylvia Green, for a dancer in Molly Lake's ballet <i>La Valse</i>, first performed by the Ballet Guild at a 2.45pm matinee at the Garrick Theatre, London, on Sunday, 22 November 1942. The design is probably for Molly Lake herself.\n\n<i>La Valse</i>, to music by Maurice Ravel, was set in the corner of a ballroom. The programme note reads: ‘The house is at rest. The past dances again’. The ballet was described as ‘a pleasant, if not very original or exciting kaleidoscope’.\n\nSylvia Green graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1938. During the Second World War she designed costumes for dance companies, including the Arts Theatre Ballet, the Ballet Guild and its successors, the Embassy Ballet (founded in 1945) and the Continental Ballet. She became a children’s book illustrator and taught art in schools. From about 1960 she chose to focus on the practising and teaching of ecclesiastical embroidery. She died in 2004.\n\nGreen is an example of the growing participation of women in stage design in 20th-century Britain. She worked primarily with small-scale touring companies, whose contribution to the growth of interest in ballet outside London is often overlooked: the history of the development of ballet in Britain is dominated by the emphasis on The Royal Ballet. \r\n\n\r\n\r\n","physicalDescription":"Costume design for a female dancer. She wears a knee-length, grey-blue dress with a fitted bodice, and a flared, layered skirt. It has one small lace sleeve and is decorated with black ribbons and bows and white stars. She has a white headdress. The design is drawn on grey-green paper. Unsigned.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Green, Sylvia","id":"A4704"},"association":{"text":"costume designers","id":"AAT163428"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"sugar paper","id":"x39836"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting (image-making)","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on sugar paper","categories":[{"text":"Dance","id":"THES252984"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2025PK3496"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES402719"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"costume design","id":"AAT163423"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1942","earliest":"1942-01-01","latest":"1942-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by the Beryl Dean Education Trust","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"27.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"18.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'La Valse / Molly Lake / GREEN'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Annotation in white paint, lower right hand corner."}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Costume design by Sylvia Green for Molly Lake in her ballet <i>La Valse</i>, danced by the Ballet Guild, 1942","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.63-2023"],"accessionNumberNum":"63","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2023,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-10-02","recordCreationDate":"2022-05-24","availableToBook":false}}