Let's talk ballet
Jan. 24th, 2009 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gfrancieInteresting review about a book that is kind of a philosophical musing part love letter on ballet. It was written in the early part of the 20th century and it is the first English-language translation of Akim Volynsky. He covered a lot of the Russian ballet greats of the period. (and those who would later be great like Balanchine) He also talks about the minute details and steps of the dance itself.
In fouettés, he writes, “the soul becomes the arena of the most intense feelings, from healthy and natural to pathological and demonic.”
If you are familiar with ballet -that is some exquisite stuff.
When I was in ballet I recall being enamoured of certain steps. One kind of develops their favorites. It is easy to fall in love with the obvious appeal of the grand jeté. It is like a big open kiss with no reservations. here you can watch Baryshnikov perform one .19 seconds in. (watching his leaps and jumps are impressive as it is)
Yet over time a dancer will find a personal attachment to smaller steps that might not stand out on stage but one might notice the dancer performs with loving care. Though I had didn't have much chance to use it in performance there was a peculiar fondness for Tire-bouchon because one part of me had to be so still and disciplined and the other part of me had to be so flexible. I was never a technically great dancer. I was too honestly lazy and self-conscious. My teacher (a real Auntie Mame character) would harangue me about the fact that I would never point as much as I could. A wasted pair of feet. She wouldn't let me get ballet shoes with the split sole because she kept wanting me to point harder. So while I was never ever impressive in class I think I made up for it sometimes by having half-way decent presence on stage. I like to think that I was at least fun to watch in performance because I could emote well, remember to smile and my arms weren't stiff. I also danced obsessively in time to the music. (this is how I would teach myself to remember the choreography, otherwise I would be lost.) Probably one of the hardest things about dancing (at least for me) was partnering. It was the ultimate exercise in trust (something I was never very comfortable with) and often there wasn't a lot of time to get to know your partner and yet you had to be incredibly intimate with them and believe they wouldn't drop you. I used to want to throw up before partnering. "Okay gotta go out there and let this guy pick me up and throw me around and I have to look at him adoringly...Gah...don't puke. don't puke." Some guys were better than others. I recall one who used to hold you so tight that it hurt. Any girl that would rub her waist -you could tell she had been dancing with J. Some were a little pervy -that is a given. I think my favorite person I ever had to dance with was this guy who was a football player and who was into thrash-metal. He had a shaved head and looked like he could beat up anyone. But I felt very safe with him and I don't think he realized his own strength. Dum-de-dum...where do you want this girl? Carrying someone about like they were a small bag of oranges. You never felt like he was going to drop you and he would always ask if he could make you more comfortable. Easy to look adoringly at him.
Now let's Fonteyn and Nureyev do some dancing from Le Corsaire Here you see two people who defied what the general feeling of what a dancer ought to be. He was defiant and came to dance late and was total peasant stock. She was too tiny and a little round (for a dancer) and was dancing way beyond the age that most dancers work. And you can see how comfortable they are when partnering. Genuine intimacy and beauty.
In fouettés, he writes, “the soul becomes the arena of the most intense feelings, from healthy and natural to pathological and demonic.”
If you are familiar with ballet -that is some exquisite stuff.
When I was in ballet I recall being enamoured of certain steps. One kind of develops their favorites. It is easy to fall in love with the obvious appeal of the grand jeté. It is like a big open kiss with no reservations. here you can watch Baryshnikov perform one .19 seconds in. (watching his leaps and jumps are impressive as it is)
Yet over time a dancer will find a personal attachment to smaller steps that might not stand out on stage but one might notice the dancer performs with loving care. Though I had didn't have much chance to use it in performance there was a peculiar fondness for Tire-bouchon because one part of me had to be so still and disciplined and the other part of me had to be so flexible. I was never a technically great dancer. I was too honestly lazy and self-conscious. My teacher (a real Auntie Mame character) would harangue me about the fact that I would never point as much as I could. A wasted pair of feet. She wouldn't let me get ballet shoes with the split sole because she kept wanting me to point harder. So while I was never ever impressive in class I think I made up for it sometimes by having half-way decent presence on stage. I like to think that I was at least fun to watch in performance because I could emote well, remember to smile and my arms weren't stiff. I also danced obsessively in time to the music. (this is how I would teach myself to remember the choreography, otherwise I would be lost.) Probably one of the hardest things about dancing (at least for me) was partnering. It was the ultimate exercise in trust (something I was never very comfortable with) and often there wasn't a lot of time to get to know your partner and yet you had to be incredibly intimate with them and believe they wouldn't drop you. I used to want to throw up before partnering. "Okay gotta go out there and let this guy pick me up and throw me around and I have to look at him adoringly...Gah...don't puke. don't puke." Some guys were better than others. I recall one who used to hold you so tight that it hurt. Any girl that would rub her waist -you could tell she had been dancing with J. Some were a little pervy -that is a given. I think my favorite person I ever had to dance with was this guy who was a football player and who was into thrash-metal. He had a shaved head and looked like he could beat up anyone. But I felt very safe with him and I don't think he realized his own strength. Dum-de-dum...where do you want this girl? Carrying someone about like they were a small bag of oranges. You never felt like he was going to drop you and he would always ask if he could make you more comfortable. Easy to look adoringly at him.
Now let's Fonteyn and Nureyev do some dancing from Le Corsaire Here you see two people who defied what the general feeling of what a dancer ought to be. He was defiant and came to dance late and was total peasant stock. She was too tiny and a little round (for a dancer) and was dancing way beyond the age that most dancers work. And you can see how comfortable they are when partnering. Genuine intimacy and beauty.
