Kristel Ruutma will defend her master’s project „Transmission of Craft Knowledge: Making a Classical Ballet Dress“

Kristel Ruutma will defend her master’s project „Transmission of Craft Knowledge: Making a Classical Ballet Dress“ (sup. Diana Tuulik) in Folkloristics and Applied Heritage Studies on Tuesday, January 23 at 1:00 pm.

Reviewer: junior researcher Tiina Kull, Estonian National Museum.

Please join us either in Ülikooli 16-214 or via Zoom (Meeting ID: 968 1828 9713, Passcode: 743977)!

Master's project overview:

The aim of the master’s project Transmission of Craft Knowledge: Making a Classical Ballet Dress was to get an apprehension of master craftsman’s knowledge transmission. The knowledge transfer process was revealed by making a classical ballet dress under the supervision of a master craftsperson Külli Kukk in the costume department of Theatre Vanemuine, in Tartu, Estonia.

Practising craft as an occupation and learning directly from a master is seen as one of the most important factors to the vitality of crafts. I focus my practice-led research on the process of passing on the knowledge and expertise, i.e. the transmission of skills, from a master to an apprentice.

The fieldwork showed that transmission of craftsperson’s knowledge is a time consuming and complex process. Although certain knowledge can be articulated and demonstrated, masters possess also tacit knowledge that cannot be expressed due to their subconscious nature.

As a part of the project, I documented the dress that I completed during my project to serve as a complementary source of information for further research of ballet costumes.