Dear

Choreographers,
I created descriptions for the terms Professor Pribble provides in the elements of design
section to help you with completing your costume form. These are not meant to be strict
definitions. You may find or have others and Professor Pribble may offer others as well.
Dr. Dragon

Descriptions of Selected Elements of Design
These definitions were created by Dr. Dragon

Element of Design Description

Warm/Cool Colors
Warm: red, yellow, and orange; evoke warmth because they
remind us of things like the sun or fire.
Cool: blue, green, and purple (violet); evoke a cool feeling
because they remind us of things like water or grass.
Fast/ Slow Does the movement tend to be fast or slow?
Legato/Staccato This refers to the movement:
Legato: Legato means connected or joined (seamless, movement
flowing one movement into another).
Staccato: Staccato means disconnected, detached (sharp
movement with stops/ pauses between movements)
Pattern/Solid Are you looking for fabric with patterns or solid colors?
Textured/Smooth Are you looking for fabric that has a texture or that is smooth?
Movement/Stiffness Do you want the fabric to have movement or do you want it to
be stiff.
Heavy/ Light This relates to the weight of the fabric. Examples:

• Lightweight fabrics: chiffon, linen, organza, cheesecloth,

lace, voile, mesh, habutai.
• Medium weight fabrics: sateen, oxford, velvet, taffeta
and charmeuse.
• Heavy weight fabrics: upholstery fabric, canvas,
brocade, poplin, denim and peau de soie.

Street Closes/ Costumes Are you looking for everyday wear clothing (suit, pajamas,
jeans, etc.) or something that looks like a costume (like a
clown, ringmaster, ballerina, etc.)?
Voluminous/Tight This refers to
Voluminous: A garment that has a lot of material, and is loose
on your body, and is spacious, full, large, or has lots of volume.
Tight: A garment that is form fitting, or that is held to the skin
usually by elastic tension using some type of stretch fabric.