Where do the aesthetics lie?

[DefJef]

I am an architect who attends ballet and knows little about technique and jargon and so forth. I view the ballet like architecture in motion or solidified music in motion. I can't see what an expert sees in a performance.

However, for me the dancers represent the idealization of form and motion. Each of us has our eyes trained by our education and out exposure to idealized notions of beauty. This clearly changes over time. There is, for me a ballerina who is too short or too tall, too thin or too curvey or not curvey enough... The same applies to male dancers. In addition, the dancers exist in a matrix of the company and this often forces a type of conformity of appearance.... like a row of identical ballerinas performing in syncronicity. This works better with conformity than it does with variety.

You can pick apart a dancer and put them against some platonic ideal and some will come closer to it (the one for today) and others will be off... and usually by a bit.. at least in classical ballet. This type of dance is in a sense very structured and rigid and it is almost expected that a certain body type will be desired over others.

Techique also is a component of the aestheic appeal of a dancer. When they have a perfectly proportioned body and technique and dance with passion it is the nexus of aesthetics in the ballet.

My two cents!

[dirac]

I am an architect who attends ballet and knows little about technique and jargon and so forth. I view the ballet like architecture in motion or solidified music in motion. I can't see what an expert sees in a performance.

I think you see more than you give yourself credit for, and thank you for your two cents!