Archives

Visual and emotional mobility in ballet

by Gwen Herat

Muscular mobility cannot be achieved unless daily perseverance and a massive deal of physical hardwork are combined for that flexibility which is the success of a ballet dancer. Clearly athletes like ballet dancers have discovered that much exercise are adapted to avert the loss of muscular power which directly bring physical play into the body parts that ultimately project the most beautiful vision on stage.

A student who has acquired the art of genuine classical dance will keep up the practices of proper exercises belonging to this art. She will be more agile and pliant even at sixty than an athlete at thirty who may have restricted his exercises daily. The muscular mobility that is so essential to a dancer is as important as visual and emotional mobility.

This means that movements of the dancer as the audience see her. The visual appeal of ballet has always been the most important factor strengthening the ballets although of late contemporary dance which functions as beautiful movements for its art, has not been of any form of importance to the choreographer.

This is because of inner frustration and tension or even despair, frequently dominates the world of contemporary dance.

Though dance is performing art, sculpture and painting can assemble along with it as visual art in the eyes of an audience once held captive inside a theatre. They will accept all three within a framework of 'frozen' art through ballet moves, it is still minus dialogue like the painting hung up on a wall.

However, an audience will not accept that theory of movement is less than nice because it will ultimately boil down to like looking at an ugly painting trapped inside a hall.

So, the establishment of beautiful movements have to arise from visual mobility. It is an essential constituent of dance and because of its aesthetically performing superiority, ballet is capable of stirring emotions not only within the dancers but in the minds of the audience too.

In the theatre, it is a living vibrant dream. In particular, it is attuned to expressing physicality and sensuality. The body is the instrument that ballet depends on its disposal. It is physical and sensual and or highly emotional. In dance, everyone is aware of this. It was believed that when Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev danced, they fell artistically in love with each other every time they danced.

In opera and drama, the theatre is largely through the expressive means of voice and always face the audience to communicate or come in eye-contact but in ballet the dancer only communicates through her body while responding to music. Seldom or never does she comes in contact with the audience. But dance is great because the dancer gets the feeling she is in communication not only with her body but with her soul. A great scientists of the last century, C. F. Weizsacker wrote in his 'History of Nature' that 'Body and soul are not two substances but one.

They are becoming aware of himself in two different ways.' In visual terms the dance underline this concept that permits a man to look at himself not only in two different ways but two different aspects brought together.

Dance like all other performing and visual arts, has plundered its way into great literary authors and composers. It has invaded into the world of Shakespeare, Tchaikvosky, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Mozart, Pugni to name a few icons. Ballet has crept into myths, fables, legends, fantasies etc.

It has also sought out poets whose brilliant verses have been translated to dance enhancing its literary quality still further. Though an artificial testimony representing a total inadequacy at times in literary gems with all its emotional tricks than in any other performing art, ballet can tell us though not verbally but visually what dancers feel for each other while on performance.

The dancer has to concentrate every facet of expression and emotion that has gripped her body. In a highly strung emotional version of Romeo and Juliet, choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan, the audience were convinced they were watching the real Romeo and Juliet on stage and not in a ballet when danced by Fonteyn and Nureyev. These two characters rose straight from the pages of Shakespeare tragedy infinitely innocent with the exuberance of young love. This ballet by its sensual pulse of right music (Prokofiev's) with the physicality of the performers, probed into the core basic sexual undercurrents which Shakespeare never intended.

He made sure that in drama the need for either Romeo or Juliet to be seen naked in bed was not at all necessary and Shakespeare in his wildest dreams never imagined that this particular tragedy will 'market' his play to its peak above the rest. He would have thanked ballet for it.

The bed chamber remains a vital scene in this tragedy and while many have tried to portray it in various forms, no one dared to bring in sexuality to it. However, ballets offers the ethereal beauty and youthful innocence under its balcony, all told in movements to music which is harder to enact than in drama.

This particular scene has caught the imagination of many a choreographer who have interpreted it with the essence of the Bard. But today, it is being challenged by the new crop choreographers who persue to give it a new twist for instance like in the film 'Shakespeare in Love', a boring disgusted version of Shakespeare's much loved tragedy.

Many dancers are more pleasing to the eyes than others. They have more anatomy to draw the audience especially clad in a skin-tight body stocking often worn by dancers for modern dancing, leaving little to the imagination. Most look stunning as dancers are expected to keep down their weight and with the aesthetic need for them to wear it, no one looks poorly.

In ballet the appeal of a dancer's anatomy is very real for an audience even if it is admitted that body tights do the needful. though no one goes to the theatre to see the anatomy of a dancer, subconsciously that is what ballet is all about if one were to look at the performer and not the performing.

'Sexism' has not got on stage with ballet though a pretty face will do the needful with the graceful flow of long limbs in movement. A dancer seldom smiles at the audience nor come in eye contact. The physical form of a dancer whether in body tights or tutus to enhance her personality will ultimately have to depend only on her dancing to captivate the audience. While everything else assists her, it is only her dance technicalities along with a great sense of musicality that will enable her to reach the top.

Though ballet has reached sophistication since the golden Romantic Age and no matter how liberal people are towards the changing face of ballet, everyone agrees that a vision of an attractive figure passionately presented on stage, will enhance her role.

This will no doubt, amount to the outcome of visual and emotional mobility in ballet after years of training and performing.

www.ceylincoproperties.com

STONE 'N' STRING

www.ppilk.com

www.crescat.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager