The battle between the sexes has become complicated, particularly now that there is no longer a clean line dividing men and women. Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner of the Kardashian TV franchise, is the most prominent case in point.She was a man, who wished to live as a woman but remain heterosexual. The changing nature of identity has displaced the role of clothing. It's no longer a (true) reflection of gender, but the idiosyncratic taste of the wearer.Adele Blank, the veteran Cape Town-based choregrapher known for leading the Free Flight Company, advances this idea in Cross Dress, a new work commissioned for the Joburg Ballet spring season."You can't judge a book by its cover," observes the feisty 70-something dancing legend.As such the male dancers in Cross Dress will appear as women. That is, they will wear women's clothing designed by Andrew Chandler for Black Coffee.Chandler identified the female signature as corsets, which have through the ages been relied upon to give the wearer a female form.With the help of Madonna, Jean Paul Gaultier wrestled this garment from its restrictive gender-slanted history, transforming it into a vehicle for women's liberation in the 1990s.Chandler has built on this reinvention, viewing it as the ideal signature to articulate the "sophisticated interplay of feminine and masculine. It's witty role-play."With its hard lines and exterior, the corset brings to mind a masculine shell."The choice of corsets is a logical one I think, since they tend to be flattering on either women or men," says Chandler.His brief from Blank was not conventional; she wanted him to create women's clothing suitable for men but without adopting feminine guiles.In other words, Chandler was not creating a wardrobe for drag queens, who tend to adopt exaggerated female characteristics when wearing women's clothing.In this way Cross Dress presents an interesting challenge for the male dancers; they must not allow the clothes to influence their performance. "I want them to embrace their male dance personae," says Blank.It will be interesting to see if the dancers will be able to achieve this, given how costume in dance so often determines gestures and mood.This relationship has paved the way for so many collaborations between designers and choreographers. Carlo Gibson of Strange Love has worked with Nelisiwe Xaba, creating her Saartjie Bartman-like costume from a parachute , while David Tlale has brought his flair for drama to Vuyani Dance Theatre productions such as Full Moon.Black Coffee's designs for Cross Dress are essential to the production, yet Blank also paradoxically wants them to be peripheral to it. An interesting reversal that seems apt for these topsy-turvy gender wars.Cross Dress is part of the Celebration 7 programme at the Joburg Theatre, which starts tomorrow. For more information call 0861-670-670 or visit www.joburgtheatre.com..