Have you invented plots ..

[bart]

Last weekend I saw Ballet Florida's performance of Peter Martins' "Barber Violin Concerto." I"ve seen it several times, including the NYCB production. And each time I've seen it, I find myself seeing more and more "story-line" in the dance. First time around (shortly after the NYCB premier) I saw everything in terms of the contrast of a classical and a modern couple, with the classiscal woman being drawn stylistically to the movements movements of the modern man, and the modern woman literally hounding the stiff classical man into experimenting with new forms of movement. This was, I imagined, the way Balanchine would have depicted it.

This last time, I found myself concocting a plot that had more to do with feelings (boredom with the familiar, yearning for something new, unexpected sexual attraction). The ballet was less "about" style and more about personal relationships. And I found that I had created (in my head) quite elaborate histories, story-lines, and personalities for each of the four participants, turning dancers into characters. For instance, the long-engaged classical couple are dancing in an anteroom during a break in Liebeslieder Walzer.

I wonder whether others -- when confronted by seemingly plotless ballets -- have also had the experience of inventing plots. What are they.? How far out have you found yourself going? Once you've done it, can you ever go back to seeing the original premise again?

[BalletNut]

Perhaps it's not an entirely plotless ballet in the purest sense of the word, but I've had lots of fun coming up with "stories" about the four couples in Davidsbundlertanze. And none of my "stories" have the least thing to do with Robert Schumann either, at least not that I know of.

[sandik]

I can't say that I invent plots, but I'm always trying to figure out who people are and why they're doing what they're doing -- what their relationships are to their environment and each other.