The Arts in Arizona

[rebeccmeister]

Last night I went with D and A to see "Ballet Under the Stars," a free performance by Arizona Ballet that was held at Tempe Beach Park [I should mention that there's actually no beach at Tempe Beach Park, which is in keeping with the way places are named here--there are lots of planned communities with names like "Lakewood," for instance. Umm. Not many lakes or woods in this part of Arizona, people!].

Anyhoo, there was lots of gratuitous spandex, which was rather amusing. It makes sense in context--ballet is about movement of the human form, so one must be able to see the human form to observe it moving. There were also a ton of small children, and there was some splendid dancing. A good time was had by all.

But I was reminded of one of my dilemmas about ballet and other forms of dancing. Part of what makes ballet so appealing is the uniformity of it all--all ballerinas must hold their hands just so and have extremely little body fat, etc. etc. The attractiveness of ballet is clear in the popularity of Degas' art, for instance. But of course the uniformity also makes ballet a little bit disturbing as well. Ballerinas are incredibly lucky if they don't have to think about what they eat all of the time. I just can't imagine having to live like that. Or what it must be like when a ballerina gets to be too old and retires from ballet and then has children that inherit her abnormal relationship with food.

The real challenge is that pretty much every time I have seen shows that try to incorporate body forms that deviate from the ballerina ideal, they fail. Other body forms can be completely successful in other areas of art and in life in general, but dance seems to pose a greater challenge.

Comments

rambling from a former ballet dancer.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

all ballerinas must hold their hands just so and have extremely little body fat

That is actually the influence of George Balanchine. Part of that had to do with the fact that when he was first starting out as an instructor/choreographer he could only get very young girls (they were about 11/12 years old) so there was this look that became fashionable. And many of his muses/wives were tall and quite trim so it set a trend and then became the standard.

If you look at dancers from an earlier era (take a good look at the Degas dancers) they were a little more....varied.

Ballet itself is very much about structure and self-control and extreme athletic ability and how far you can push the body in terms of flexibility, height and movement.
I grew up training to be a ballet dancer and it was very much about touching the sun. Though I was fortunate to have an instructor who kept a close eye when it came to making sure sure we were being healthy with our bodies. (she essentially blackmailed me out of an eating disorder I had started to develop)

When a ballerina gets to a point where it is difficult to constantly perform (essentially aging out like any athlete) they often take up teaching. There are a number that have children while they are active dancers and continue working. They obviously can't dance while heavily pregnant but many jump right back into it.

The thing is to be a good dancer with a good strong career you can't really take on an eating disorder because it does end your career earlier. Gelsey Kirkland was a good example of that. (she also had a drug problem) Where as the ones who do maintain a healthy lifestyle and take care of themselves can dance for a very very long time.

Of course this is all chatter about classical ballet. You should see some modern ballet pieces that Mark Morris does. He tends to incorporate dancers of different sizes and shapes and has a real sense of humor with in his work. He likes to play about with gender and bodies so it gives it a much more intriguing look and experience.

Re: rambling from a former ballet dancer.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for your perspective. I am, clearly, an outsider when it comes to understanding ballet. And it's good to know that some instructors who are responsible about being healthy--I just happened to know a ballerina who was struggling mightily with food issues.

I should also say that I really, really respect ballerinas for their athletic ability. My best friend used to be a gymnast, and always said that rhythmic gymnastics was much harder than traditional gymnastics--watching the ballet last night got me to thinking that HERE was a group of rhythmic gymnasts who were working together instead of competing for individual glory. It's a much more interesting process to see.

Where would one find performances by Mark Morris? Again, I'm a relative newcomer to ballet.

Re: rambling from a former ballet dancer.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

Mark Morris is from Seattle and unfortunatly a lot of his stuff isn't available on DVD.
his version of Nutcracker (called Hard Nut) is on VHS. That is kind of cool.

this is kind of cool because Yo-Yo Ma was involved.

His stuff is on PBS every so often and his dance group will tour now and then.

Re: rambling from a former ballet dancer.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

I will have to look into this matter more and keep my ears perked for opportunities. Thank you!

Re: rambling from a former ballet dancer.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

I believe there is a website for the dance group so it might show when they tour.

[earthlingmike.livejournal.com]

When I think about it I have seen some less restricted forms of dance but still very thought out and well practised, that involved even chubby women, that looked great.