Travis Halsey

Costume designer Travis Halsey has a diverse and expansive background in both design and the technical aspects of costume construction. Halsey graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a bachelor of fine arts in theater arts. For over fifteen years, he has designed and built costumes for ballet, opera, theater, circus arts, film, television, and many other forms of live performance that require the highest quality costuming.

Most recently, Halsey designed the world premiere of Garrett Smith's "Imbue," which debuted at Texas Ballet Theater in 2017. He also constructed a large portion of Houston Ballet's The Nutcracker, designed by Timothy Goodchild and choreographed by Stanton Welch.

Halsey also recently co-designed and constructed Act II of an underwater rendition of George Balanchine's, A Midsummer Night's Dream for Miami City Ballet. Halsey has constructed for Madonna's Rebel Heart world tour under designer Arianne Phillips and brought to life the beautiful tutu renderings of William Ivey Long for the production, Little Dancer, which premiered at the Kennedy Center in late 2014.

Halsey has also recently worked on the films Chi-Raq, Divergent, Bolden!, and Transformers. TV shows include Chicago PD, and Chicago Fire.

Halsey has worked in, or associated with, many major American costume shops, fulfilling roles such as Lead Patternmaker, Stitching Supervisor, and Designer. He has worked on numerous world premieres, such the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago's Don Quixote, choreographed by Yuri Possokhov and Son of a Chamber Symphony, choreographed by Stanton Welch; Houston Ballet's Return, choreographed by Garrett Smith and co-design for A Doll's House, choreographed by Stanton Welch; Ballet West's Facades, choreographed by Garrett Smith; and Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre's The Sleeping Beauty.

As a craftsman, Halsey is highly skilled in many costume disciplines, including, but not limited to: classical tutu construction, stretch garments, puppetry, corsetry, tailoring, fabric sublimation, thermoplastics, and quick change magic.


Along with his many design and construction credits, Halsey has also taught specialty classes around the globe for over a decade. Subjects have included classical tutu construction, shibori fabric manipulation, flat patterning, draping, patterning for stretch, character heads, basic and advanced sewing, and finishing techniques.