Ballet… Who Knew?

Before last Thursday, I could count the number of ballets to which I’ve gone on a single hand. This trio of performances, however, awakened an interest in ballet that none of the others had done. Yes, BAM’s production of The Nutcracker is fantastic, but I viewed it as I would a show and not necessarily as a ballet.

Theme and Variations is what I imagined a standard ballet performance to consist of: a man and woman dancing while surrounded by ballerinas and their partners. Although it didn’t follow a story, I felt that it was a general depiction of how a courtship might go. The man and woman represented blossoming couples of all sorts. While the other dancers twirled about in a fanciful (yet precise) manner, my focus rested on the couple in the center, their heated passions being spoken though choreographed movements. This does also spark another question: in the context of Theme and Variations, might the idea of choreography serve to understand the art of courtship and tendencies of a pair of lovers? I think it does. Just as love may very well be an art, the goal of choreographing such a beautiful work as Theme and Variations is a labor of love that requires an understanding of such relations.

The second performance, A Month in the Country, is to me a multi-layered one. Each of the characters served to intensify the audience’s reception of the performance as a whole. For example, Kolia (the son) danced whimsically, and in a sense, lightened the conflict between the other characters. However, I was left thinking more. Might his whimsical side serve to mask his desire to see his family remain settled with each other? After all, he did try to get his father’s attention with his new kite (among other actions).

After the show, a number of you and I discussed the idea that ballet performers who play in performances such as A Month in the Country must refrain from voicing anything, so all of the emotion and meaning they wish to convey must come though to the audience though their movement and even facial expressions. In comparison, the use of facial expressions in this second performance were needed all the more because of the set storyline, whereas in the first and particularly the third performances, movement of the body was much more the focus.

Piano Concerto #1 is much less an interest of mine, but was nonetheless a spectacular performance. I felt that it is much more a show of raw dance talent than a groundbreaking example of contemporary ballet, under which category the latter two performances fall.

At the end of the show, I wasn’t as tired as I had been after the opera. Although my day prior to attending the ballet was draining, my spirits were lifted. I am glad to say that I now have a greater appreciation for ballet and that I plan to attend more performances in the future, near and far!