Melanie Cretens

Title: Resident Costume Designer

Costume Design: Melanie has been designing and sewing costumes from the age of 10, when she made the cheerleading costumes(and created the squad) for her grade school’s team. She learned to sew from her mother and had a natural talent for draping; she used these skills to design and make costumes for the first professional dance company she was a member of, the Sahnobar Dance Ensemble in Gainesville, FL. Melanie finally enrolled in the Fashion Design program at Mt. Mary College in Wauwatosa, WI in 2001; there were no theater programs that encompassed costuming and she soon realized the program would not assist in reaching this goal, so in 2003 she moved to California, where she has since designed and/or constructed costumes for 3 International Dance companies, including Jillina’s Sahlala Dancers, and worked on costumes for the Bellydance Superstars ‘06 tour. In September of 2009, Melanie produced the show Paintings: A Study of the Orientalist Image at Cabaret X, for which she served as the Costume Designer, as well as the Artistic Director, Choreographer, and Principal Dancer. She worked for over a year as the assistant costumer for The Glendale Center Theatre, and has worked wardrobe for several shows at UCLA Live! and the Alex Theatre. Melanie recently served as the costume designer for the Studio XRT production of The Front Page.

Dance: Melanie began dance classes at the age of 4 in Milwaukee, WI, studying the basics of ballet, tap, and jazz, and first appeared onstage as one of the Siamese Princesses in a production of the musical The King and I when she was 6 years old. She continued in modern jazz through her ‘teens. From 1990-95, she attended the University Center for Performing Arts in Davie, FL, studying the Eric Morris Method of Acting for the Theater, and Modern Dance/Contact Improvisation. In ‘95 Melanie moved to Gainesville, FL, where she began studying traditional Egyptian and Lebanese Raqs Sharqi with the Sahnobar Dance Ensemble, a Middle Eastern Dance Company that Melanie then began performing with in 1997. She also studied the Egyptian folk styles of Saiidi and Ghawazee, the Gulf Dance Khaleeji, and Turkish Raqs Sharqi and Romanian dance. Melanie took Isadora Duncan and Lester Horton Modern Dance classes, studying with a second generation Duncan-trained teacher from 1998-99. In 2003 Melanie took intensive classes with Suhaila and Jamila Salimpour, the Suhaila Dance Company, and Bal Anat in Berkeley, CA. In 2004 she moved to Los Angeles, where she trained with Jillina(of the Bellydance Superstars), Tamra Henna, and other Bellydance Artists. She has performed with three International Dance Companies, including Jillina’s Sahlala Dancers and the Bellytwins. In 2007 she appeared as one of Venus’s minions in the LA Opera production of Tannhauser. Since living in LA, she has appeared as a featured Bellydancer in several music videos, stage productions, for the t.v. show Drive, and in the romantic comedy A Numbers Game, starring Steven Bauer. Melanie recently presented a show titled Paintings: A Study of the Orientalist Image at Cabaret X, in which she was the Principal Dancer, Artistic Director, and Choreographer. She is currently a principal dancer and contributing choreographer for the International Dance company Tigrana Dancers.

Teaching Experience: Melanie is a dedicated professional dancer who takes pride in her attention to technique and her passion for dance. She has taught several Beginning Bellydance and Beginning Middle Eastern Dance sessions, and has recently branched into teaching Introduction to Modern Dance and Basic Yoga Stretch. Melanie’s well-rounded dance training has given her the strengths and knowledge of several dance forms. Her studies and performances of Classical and Folk styles of Middle Eastern Dance for the last 14 years has given her an invaluable understanding of them. She has studied with the top instructors in these disciplines and conveys technique in a simple, clear way.

What the XRT Means To Me…: Possibility and opportunity to fulfill my highest artistic goals and creative dreams. A feeling of mutual respect and sincere desire for true collaboration.

Why I Do What I Do…: Dance is my most natural form of expression; it is something I need to do to survive, like breathing, eating, sleeping. Movement is the essence of all living things; without movement (growth, advancement, expansion) there literally is no life. It’s not really ever been a choice I have made, it’s what I’m compelled to do just so I can be.

Costuming has also always been quite natural. I started holding pieces of fabric up to my body and playing with the forms they made since I was able to do so. I was constantly cutting up and dyeing my clothes and fashioning them into different pieces. I learned to sew at an early age and would make pillows, shirts, etc. My interest in this always applied to performing in some way; I have always been fascinated at the way costuming accentuates and enhances movement.

Did You Know? Melanie hopes to see the pyramids of Egypt and visit Italy. She loves coconut water, sleep, and Saiidi music.