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Think Tank for Ballet Directors


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I don't think anyone would argue that creativity is not important, nor that there is precious little of it in ballet today. (Well, some might argue that, but I wouldn't!) There also is some truth, I think, to the idea that once you go down Swan Lake road, you have to go down that road (i.e., the synchronized corps) you can't switch off easily to other types of ballet. (That's why I put up the thread on Hierarchies II; the corps)

But this is not true when ballet is working. Both Ashton and Balanchine had a corps -- their companies could do "Swan Lake," (the second act, the one with the 24 swans :P ) and did it very differently. But they also created contemporary BALLETS, grafting onto the ballet vocabulary movements from other disciplines without losing the character of ballet (as choreographers had been doing for the past four centuries). So it can be done.

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Thanks, we have a printer like that at work. We spent two days wondering what a string of characters meant, until a copy of the document came in hardcopy via distribution - it was an ampersand. I'm just glad it wasn't resolving to promote the development of the individual ballet company hat, etc. etc.

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Brendan McCarthy wrote:

Dancers are taught, by and large, to execute movement with great precision. They are not taught, in the main, to be playful with ideas.

Yes; and the fact that they are not taught to think for themselves is a mistake, in my opinion. Brainless dancers are the most boring kind to watch, and they are the kind that are mostly bred today. So many ballet dancers never learn to think for themselves artistically that the art is stagnating, and it has been happening for so long that people think that ballet is inherently stagnant. Part of the blame for this lies with teachers and directors, but part of it also lies with the dancers themselves, who do nothing but take three technique classes a day and think that it's enough to prepare them for a life in the arts. Yes, focus and dedication are necessary to achieve a very high level of quality, but that doesn't mean that one's life must be lived in a studio following orders. I think that part of the education of a dancer is a study of choreography, just as musicians study composition. Ergo, I reiterate my point, which is that dancers are not trained or educated as well as other artists, which thus explains the lack of creativity and self-renewal.

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I really think the directors have themselves to look to for this problem, not the art form. Creativity begins at home. You want creativity? Be creative in your directorial vision. Believe in ballet. Look for ballet choreographers instead of bankable names. Nourish your school. If you choose to do the Petipa and other classics, do it with the same commitment you put into new works. Treat your dancers like adults. And have a good source of funding :(

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i just worry that the solution(s) you list, which i think are the right ones, leigh, are not going to be turned to as naturally as whatever conclusion(s) may have been reached at this conference. i worry that whatever ideas they've had, the tendency these days is not to trust yourself artistically but to look to an institution or a consensus or a governing body for what you ought to do, when it comes to ballet.

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