The Ballet

Saturday night I saw my first ballet. The opera house was stunningly beautiful and was the perfect space in which to see Swan Lake.

To be quite honest, the opera house reminded me of some sort of heavenly space and the stage truly became a twilight zone. Yes, this borders on hyperbole but the golden ceilings and the beautifully crafted boxes speak of something transcendent. I know that I am being brought up in a studio training that teaches that any space is a valid performance space. Per Peter Brook and Ngugi Wa Thiongo, there is no such thing as an empty space. And yet, it is always refreshing to appreciate the ostentation of past theatremakers. I felt like a kid again, aching to be onstage and also just play in the orchestra pit. Moments like these remind me why I want to do this for the rest of my life.

Needless to say, I was very excited to see my first ballet, let alone Swan Lake. There was an authentic anticipation for the performance in the theatre, which was something that haven't felt in a long time. And then it began.

Ballet is a bizarre art form. It is truly bizarre. The dancers glide across the stage with a fluid grace that is truly a pleasure to watch. Then they move within these statuesque poses that illustrate the intensity of their training. What is so bizarre is that watching a ballet is watching the destruction of the human body in a very strict form. These dancers have trained in such a rigid form that their bodies will permanently be altered. Bad knees. Arthritis. Torn ligaments. We applaud these impossible dance moves because anyone in their right mind would never put their body through such extensive harm on a daily basis.

And so much of Swan Lake, is one group of dancers after another showing off variations of what they can do. This being my first ballet, I was surprised by how little the dance forwarded the story.The story was a mere excuse for these people to get up and show off to one another (put crudely). All emotion was symbolized in simple, cliched gesture while all else was a whirlwind of beautiful and complicated movement. I guess what really triggered all these thoughts was the moment the cast bowed. Yes, I will clap for them. But in all honesty, what am I applauding? A group of dedicated dancers who have spent their lives learning a physically destructive dance form that only a select few can "excel" in? Am I applauding the fact that these people can dance a form that I will never be to? Am I applauding my own inability? What irked me then was the three to four curtain calls. I felt that after the first one, we were just applauding the tradition of ballet rather than the strength of the just seen performance. The beauty of the actual theatre locked us into the tradition of the piece.

What do I applaud: the tradition of the performance or the nature of the performance itself? Or both? That is what was so interesting about the ballet. It can confuse and redirect the audience's attention. It can give us mediocre rendition of a story and yet amaze us with its physically strenuous and destructive dance form. A dance of destruction on a transcendent stage (oof). Why do they bow in the middle of the piece, after each dance? The fourth wall is constantly broken and yet we are expected to appreciate its nature. I've not been taught to stop for a bow after each beat in a scene or after each verse in a song. We judge a piece on its continuity as a whole rather than on each section.

This isn't meant to be a scathing attack on ballet as an artform. And in the end who am I to say any of this? But it has made me question what I applaud for at the end of a piece. Lets do it, I am going to make a sweeping generalization (wouldn't be the first time). I have come to believe that all art in some way or another, is a form of storytelling. And yet, I see ballet as a form at war with itself. The movement means more than the progression of the story. We are "supposed" to appreciate the perfection of the movement. One could argue that perfection is transcendent......... whooooooaaaa I need to stop this. Shut it down. SHUTTING DOWN

All said and done, I want to go again and again! I love inexpensive theatre seats!

Best,

N