My Weekly Checkup (#3)

A Collection of Some Thoughts I Had This Week

Today's Weekly Checkup is brought to you by a sense of guilt. Or perhaps the need to pay proper respects to an art form I had dismissed too quickly. Maybe both. In the end, it is an opportunity to thank someone for inspiring me to recognize my biases and misconceptions, and see past them to a whole new world of beauty, passion, and art.    

The art form I am referring to is ballet; the person, one of my daughters' ballet teachers. My disdain for ballet stemmed from ignorance, but also a fatigue for all things considered "classical", i.e., important, above all else, proper (an explanation would be too long and complex for the present, but something that is on my list to blog about). The ignorance has since been corrected (the fatigue, slightly lessened--or maybe sharpened?) through countless discussions over the past three years with their ballet instructor (one of those "lighthouses, maps, and dreams" moments that I will share in a future post). For the moment, I wish to thank her by sharing both the evidence she presented to me for ballet's worth as art, and some of my own discoveries as a result of this change in my attitude.  

Art

There are two subjects that I want to study in depth as soon as my drawing proficiencies are sufficient. One of them is that of the dancer, with a focus on ballet positions and movements. With this in mind, I searched through famous paintings and drawings of ballet dancers. Edgar Degas stands out. Here are few of his that I find intriguing and inspiring.

I enjoy this one, because of the teacher standing straight and prominent in the center, but also because of the girl sitting on the piano to the left. I have seen my youngest daughter bear that expression too many times. Usually when I am talking. I feel for the teacher.

This one makes me smile. Having been backstage as a stage manager, I can say that I have seen many a young dancer interacting with other dancers exactly in this way. In fact, these two could easily be my oldest daughter and her friend getting ready to take the stage (my daughter would be the one on the left).

This one is powerful and beautiful. It's worth spending time looking at it from different angles.

My favorite. Perhaps it's the simplicity. Maybe it's the stance and head tilt. Most definitely  it's the ribbon. This one, above all the others listed, inspires me the most to pursue drawing. 

Documentaries

American Ballet Theatre: A History

I love documentaries on just about any subject. This one, highly recommended by my daughters' teacher, drove home for me the beauty, strength, grace, but also versatility and diversity of ballet. Although I felt a little more history would have been much appreciated, and more modern ballets showcased, the slow motion scenes of various dancers on stage are incredible. If anything, I wish they had been longer, and that there were more of them.

Videos

Here is a preview of the documentary American Ballet Theatre: A History.

Here is a scene from one of the ballets discussed in the documentary. It is called Dark Elegies. It is a dark and grim ballet. Finding out about this ballet, and the next one below (showcased in the documentary), played a major part in helping me get past my misconceptions about ballet.

NYTB Excerpt - Dark Elegies - 2013.04

Pillar of Fire is the other ballet covered in the documentary. The film uses it to showcase the partnering talents of Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomes (a scene that is worth watching on its own). The ballet's description was so moving, and the scene from the documentary hauntingly beautiful (great costumes and movement), that it had a profound influence on me. This excerpt is from a Dance Tabs article:

"Set to Arnold Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht” (Transfigured Night), Pillar of Fire is a timeless study of a repressed, self-destructive soul. A young woman, Hagar, lives in a small Puritan town with her two sisters. Well aware of the strict moral codes of her community, the chaste and lonely Hagar fears to become a spinster like her older sister; she desperately longs for love and intimacy. She suppresses her feelings toward a man she loves, fearing that he will not reciprocate her attraction, and, in a moment of desperation, engages in a brief relationship with a lowlife who cares nothing about her. Her ensuing emotional and physical suffering and anguish form the core of the ballet."

And this is a low quality version Pillar of Fire from 1973.

I wish there were better video versions of these scenes, or more accessible one. In the end, I highly recommend watching American Ballet Theatre: A History. It's a wonderful experience.