 |
| image found here: http://www.modephonie.de/?p=530 |
thanks to my dear friend h i had my first contact with w. forsythe's choreographic work this evening. now, i will be perfectly honest and say that ballet is not something i usually enjoy - classical ballet that is. but this... was different.
a bunch of us went to the opernhaus dortmund to see a public rehearsal for “Körper.Tanzen.Formen” which - when it is performed "for real" as of march 26th - consists of three parts, one choreographed by g. balanchine, b. millepied, and w. forsythe, respectively, in that order. in the rehearsal - at least in the public part of it - the dancers performed sequences from the first and third parts.
the first was nice - i guess the fact that all dancers were in their own clothes, not in full costume, so all looked different and, well, fairly natural and normal, really helped me enjoy this part. there were also some moves that were so expressive they just made me chuckle. lots of exaggerated femininity and several instances of exaggerated masculinity in the moves. still, it was fairly close to what first comes to my mind when i hear the world "ballet" - a certain degree of artificiality, lots of tippy-toes, and this seemingly effortless lightness.
the first was nice - i guess the fact that all dancers were in their own clothes, not in full costume, so all looked different and, well, fairly natural and normal, really helped me enjoy this part. there were also some moves that were so expressive they just made me chuckle. lots of exaggerated femininity and several instances of exaggerated masculinity in the moves. still, it was fairly close to what first comes to my mind when i hear the world "ballet" - a certain degree of artificiality, lots of tippy-toes, and this seemingly effortless lightness.
the other part, forsythe's choreography that is, or at least the part of it we got to see, was utterly different. the title of the piece is "the second detail." the music was interesting and intense, the movements fluid yet exact, and the part i liked best was the female lead dancer in that sequence. powerful, yet undeniably womanly. her movements showed untamed energy, something organic, natural, something innately strong. she wasn't wearing tights so you could actually see those muscles in her legs working, a perfectly tuned machinery of sinews and fibers and bones. but none of this made her appear masculine.
i thoroughly enjoyed the lack of hyper-feminine gestures and positions in this part of the performance. woman's body does not have to be all fair and fluttery and melty and bendy in a male dancer's arms. she doesn't have to tip-toe and twirl like a pink lollipop in a tutu.
i thoroughly enjoyed the lack of hyper-feminine gestures and positions in this part of the performance. woman's body does not have to be all fair and fluttery and melty and bendy in a male dancer's arms. she doesn't have to tip-toe and twirl like a pink lollipop in a tutu.
anyway. i had a great time. and i made first contact with something new to me. how much better could you spend the day?
btw i should have big news soon, as the responses to my ph.d. applications are coming in now. watch this space. :) if you like. feel free to watch other spaces if you prefer. i'm just saying. :D
