Ballerinas defy the corporeal in a quest for the ethereal (2019)
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Re: Ballerinas defy the corporeal in a quest for the ethereal (2019)
#2There are a number of physical impositions placed on ballerinas. They are expected to have a small head, a long neck, small breasts, narrow hips and thin, graceful limbs. Mutilation of the feet to complete the illusion is simply part of the package...
Re: Ballerinas defy the corporeal in a quest for the ethereal (2019)
#3There are a number of physical impositions placed on ballerinas. They are expected to have a small head, a long neck, small breasts, narrow hips and thin, graceful limbs. Mutilation of the feet to complete the illusion is simply part of the package...
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Re: Ballerinas defy the corporeal in a quest for the ethereal (2019)
#4There are a number of physical impositions placed on ballerinas. They are expected to have a small head, a long neck, small breasts, narrow hips and thin, graceful limbs. Mutilation of the feet to complete the illusion is simply part of the package...
It’s like the opposite of the physical impositions placed on bouncers.
Re: Ballerinas defy the corporeal in a quest for the ethereal (2019)
#5It is tragic that ballet requires such physical sacrifice, because it is such a beautiful art form.
Re: Ballerinas defy the corporeal in a quest for the ethereal (2019)
#6It is tragic that ballet requires such physical sacrifice, because it is such a beautiful art form.
It would still be beautiful without the pointe. For some reason, in many activities, people tend to go to the greatest lengths for even the smallest gains... ballet without pointe would still be ballet, I think non-experts like me would barely notice if they stopped using those - yet all ballet dancers sacrifice their feet for that perhaps last 2%. Why isn't there any ballets that just don't use pointe? Perhaps there is, would be nice to get to know about them.
Re: Ballerinas defy the corporeal in a quest for the ethereal (2019)
#7It is tragic that ballet requires such physical sacrifice, because it is such a beautiful art form.
It would still be beautiful without the pointe. For some reason, in many activities, people tend to go to the greatest lengths for even the smallest gains... ballet without pointe would still be ballet, I think non-experts like me would barely notice if they stopped using those - yet all ballet dancers sacrifice their feet for that perhaps last 2%. Why isn't there any ballets that just don't use pointe? Perhaps there…
Yep, totally agree with you. It doesn't have to be that way
Re: Ballerinas defy the corporeal in a quest for the ethereal (2019)
#8It is tragic that ballet requires such physical sacrifice, because it is such a beautiful art form.
It would still be beautiful without the pointe. For some reason, in many activities, people tend to go to the greatest lengths for even the smallest gains... ballet without pointe would still be ballet, I think non-experts like me would barely notice if they stopped using those - yet all ballet dancers sacrifice their feet for that perhaps last 2%. Why isn't there any ballets that just don't use pointe? Perhaps there…
I think that part of the allure and magic of ballet is exactly this perfection, this going for the last few percents.
But I agree with you that dance without pointe can be great.
I went a unconventional way as a dancer. I discovered dance relatively late in my life, quit my computer science phd and did a bit unconventional contemporary dance education, which had almost no classical Ballet training. So I don’t know so much about what’s going on in the Ballet world. But I do think that not all contemporary Ballet dancers use pointe.
Also, most contemporary dancers are trained in Ballet as well and depending on the style of the artists contemporary dance can contain more or less Ballet elements without doing pointe work.
See for example Wayne McGregor, whose performances look very classical to me: https://youtu.be/2SMmL6kIx-w
Or for example these scene of performances by Pina Bausch and Peeping Tom, which are maybe a bit less classical, but performed by excellent dancers, who are also trained classically. https://youtu.be/J3i7r79dtFo https://youtu.be/b1SIUcfS1Zw
In general there has been a lot of progress in working with the body, not against it, especially in contemporary dance, but also in Ballet.
Re: Ballerinas defy the corporeal in a quest for the ethereal (2019)
#9It is tragic that ballet requires such physical sacrifice, because it is such a beautiful art form.
It would still be beautiful without the pointe. For some reason, in many activities, people tend to go to the greatest lengths for even the smallest gains... ballet without pointe would still be ballet, I think non-experts like me would barely notice if they stopped using those - yet all ballet dancers sacrifice their feet for that perhaps last 2%. Why isn't there any ballets that just don't use pointe? Perhaps there…
Whether it actually is even 2% more beautiful is entirely subjective. Disciplines that are entirely subjective and cultural tend to develop memetic inbreeding, and one of the ways to reach "ever greater heights" in such an art is with costly signaling. Claims that such and such arbitrary sacrifice is necessary for a higher ideal or beauty are easy to sustain through dogma (because there is no truly objective beauty).
An example: Kyokushin, the "full contact" karate of its time, is now a shell of its former self, with simultaneous xenophobia and infighting. It's lost touch by declining to be tested against reality, and now you have 100kg practitioners being pummeled by 65kg MMArtists[1]. You hear the exact same memes about following tradition and sacrificing the body in order to attain a higher ideal.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPt9c_0bsZc&feature=youtu.be...
Re: Ballerinas defy the corporeal in a quest for the ethereal (2019)
#10It is tragic that ballet requires such physical sacrifice, because it is such a beautiful art form.
It would still be beautiful without the pointe. For some reason, in many activities, people tend to go to the greatest lengths for even the smallest gains... ballet without pointe would still be ballet, I think non-experts like me would barely notice if they stopped using those - yet all ballet dancers sacrifice their feet for that perhaps last 2%. Why isn't there any ballets that just don't use pointe? Perhaps there…
>>It would still be beautiful without the pointe.
That reminds me of the Monty Python joke:
"Why do they make all them all go on tip-toe? Why don't they just get taller dancers?"
//edit//And if you're interested in an article on the people that make the shoes:
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-big-burly-blokes-who...