2.9: Postmodern/Contemporary Ballet

Sally Banes’ description of postmodern ballet in Pointe of Departure paints an artistic movement where almost everything is fair game; with a collage of movement styles and music choices used alongside irony.

If the 1960s prized speaking directly, the eighties are an age of irony. Quotation marks surround everything; originality becomes a matter of quoting differently, of wearing tuxedoes and tennis shoes. Call it pastiche. It is the aesthetic of postmodernism. An about-face from modernism's "tradition of the new," it at the same time represents an extension of the collage techniques beloved of the modernist avant-garde. No less than in the other arts, this nostalgic eclecticism has swept through the contemporary dance scene. And nowhere has it more strangely- or more revealingly- expressed itself than in the current invasion of avant-garde choreographers into that bastion of choreographic conservatism, the ballet stage (1994, p. 290).

This new dance is the next chapter of modern dance– including pedestrian movements and task-oriented gestures, improvisation, chance, and a buffet of dance styles. And in a pivot from the establishment, some companies admit laypeople (without formal dance training) as professional dancers. In amongst the irreverence, irony, and rejection of hierarchy, dance moves away from universal truths… pulling away from the Greek tragedies which assume a commonality with “the everyman”, instead looking to stories of the individual experience.

Ballet’s take on postmodernism is to double down on the mixed bill program of Diaghilev’s era, now known as the triple bill (and if we really think about it, the mixed bill is a condensed version of an evening’s entertainments of the Renaissance era). Comprised of three pieces, each 20-40 minutes in length, the triple bill might feature music by a single composer or a sampling of choreographers and composers representing highlights of the 20th century. American choreographer Twyla Tharp’s collaboration with The Joffrey Ballet, Deuce Coup (1973) sees the presentation of ballet to popular music of the day (The Beach Boys) plus choreography weaving traditional ballet steps with contemporary social dances (Twyla Tharp Foundation, 2023).

Deep Dive: Company Hierarchy

This era of new dance rejects the hierarchal company structure- new companies opt for an egalitarian company structure with all members on an equal footing. No longer do we see the many members who make up the body of the company support the handful of soloists and even fewer principal dancers.

Choreographers, Companies, and Pieces

Twyla Tharp

Figure 2.35 American choreographer Twyla Tharp

(https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Twyla_Tharp_-_1981.jpg&oldid=700454516)

Twyla Tharp’s Deuce Coup–a collaboration between The Joffrey Ballet, Tharp’s company Twyla Tharp Dance, and live tagging by graffiti artists gives permission to companies and choreographers of the day to explore and expand the realm of ballet. “By combining different forms of movement – such as jazz, ballet, boxing and inventions of her own making – Ms. Tharp’s work expands the boundaries of ballet and modern dance” (Twyla Tharp Foundation, 2023, para. 2). Tharp’s 1971 Eight Jelly Rolls becomes a seminal work in the history of American dance– combining elements from classical ballet, jazz, tap, athletics, hip-hop, performed to music by Jelly Roll Morton (PBS.org, 2021).

William Forsythe

Figure 2.36 William Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude

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Making a name for himself as resident choreographer for Stuttgart Ballet in 1976, American born dancer and choreographer William Forsythe spends the next seven years creating “…new works for the Stuttgart ensemble and ballet companies in Munich, The Hague, London, Basel, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Paris, New York, and San Francisco. In 1984, he began a 20-year tenure as director of the Ballet Frankfurt, where he created works such as Artifact (1984), Impressing the Czar (1988), Limb’s Theorem (1990), The Loss of Small Detail (1991), A L I E / N A(C)TION (1992), Eidos:Telos (1995), Endless House (1999), Kammer/Kammer (2000), and Decreation (2003)” (williamforsythe.com, n.d., para. 2). Forsythe’s most noted work is 1987’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated created for the Paris Opera Ballet.

Jiří Kylián

Figure 2.37 Jiří Kylián’s Petit Mort

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Born in Czechoslovakia in 1947, Jiří Kylián’s ballet education takes him to Prague and London, landing him at the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany. Here Kylián makes his choreographic debut with Paradox (1970).

After having made three ballets for Nederlands Dans Theater, Viewers, Stoolgame and La Cathédrale Engloutie, he became artistic director of the company in 1975. In 1978 he put Nederlands Dans Theater on the international map with Sinfonietta. That same year, together with Carel Birnie, he founded Nederlands Dans Theater II, which served as a bridge between school and professional company life and was meant to give young dancers the opportunity to develop their skills and talents and to function as a breeding ground for young talent. He also initiated Nederlands Dans Theater III in 1991, the company for older dancers, above forty years of age. This three-dimensional structure was unique in the world of dance. After an extraordinary record of service, Kylián handed over the artistic leadership in 1999, but remained associated to the dance company as house choreographer until December 2009. Jiří Kylián has created nearly 100 works of which many are performed all over the world. Kylián has not only made works for Nederlands Dans Theater, but also for the Stuttgart Ballet, the Paris Opéra Ballet, Bayerisches Staatsoper Münich, Swedish television, and the Tokyo Ballet (American Ballet Theatre, 2023, para. 1).

Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet

Figure 2.38 Alonzo King with dance company member

( https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Alonzo_King_.tif&oldid=577117885)

Founded by Alonzo King and Robert Rosenwasser in 1982, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet is a globally renowned contemporary dance company based out of San Francisco, CA. Collaborating with a wide range of international artists over many disciplines, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet creates “performances that alter the way we look at ballet today. Its unique artistic vision adheres to the classical form—the linear, mathematical, and geometrical principles that are deeply rooted in the pre-existing East-West continuum” (linesballet.org, 2023, para. 1).

Elizabeth Kramer’s review of LINES’ Art Songs and Sand in 2017 describes the company’s technical prowess as “derived with the rigor of classical ballet but with a fast-paced and exuberant style that included plenty of body-born angles and palatable tension” (2017). In a display of the company’s musical spectrum:

Art Songs is choreographed to four pieces of music, including Schumann’s Silent Tears, Bach’s Erbarme Dich from the St. Matthew Passion and arias by Handel and Purcell, all sung by mezzo-soprano Maya Lahyani… Sand,… showed how King’s work shares sensibilities associated with jazz. Set to music with tenor saxophonist Charles Lloyd and jazz pianist Jason Moran…the piece consisted of sometimes languid and often free-flowing movement that could match the syrup-like flow of Lloyd’s playing (Kramer, 2017).

Complexions Contemporary Ballet

Figure 2.39 Complexions Contemporary Ballet publicity photograph

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A contemporary ballet company founded in 1994 by former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre company members Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson. The company’s autobiography highlights their approach and company culture; and how the company both reflects the world and hopes to inspire positive change. With their:

…singular approach to reinventing dance through a groundbreaking mix of methods, styles, and cultures. Today, Complexions represents one of the most recognized, diverse, inclusive, and respected performing arts brands in the world…

The company’s foremost innovation is that dance should be about removing boundaries, not reinforcing them. Whether it be the limiting traditions of a single style, period, venue, or culture, Complexions transcends them all, creating an open, continually evolving form of dance that reflects the movement of our world—and all its constituent cultures—as an interrelated whole (complexionsdance.org, n.d., para. 5).

An example of Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s eclectic repertoire is their two-part program STARDUST: From Bach to Bowie (2016), set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach– the German composer of the late Baroque period, and David Bowie– English singer-songwriter of the glam rock era.

Takeaways:

Ballet in this era is more accessible due to the push for inclusivity. When everything is fair game (in regard to movement style) and companies move beyond universal truths, diverse dancers are able to share their talents and lived history with previously inaccessible companies and with audiences who previously were alienated from ballet.

Ballet Styles and Schools

Tree rings reveal environmental phenomena, newspapers record events, and the Billboard Top 100 provide snapshots of popular music of the day. Similarly, ballet styles and methods are time capsules of culture, immigration/international influences, and examination. And though these techniques are reflections of countries and their people, ballet today sees styles enjoying a broader reach. You can easily study the Cecchetti Method in Italy, America, or the U.K.

On the compatibility of styles. Each ballet style is its own language. Just like some words carry the same meaning over several languages; ballet enjoys assorted overlapping steps, and the same progression of barre work, center work, and across the floor. And then the differences will show through… the French school’s port de bras consists of six poses while Vaganova has four. Depending on the studio, piqué en dehors can be called step-up turns, step-over turns, and lame duck turns. And you might receive some odd looks performing Cecchetti’s third arabesque if a Vaganova instructor asks for third arabesque.

French School

Figure 2.40 Vitruvian Man c. 1490

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da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man is a great representation of the Renaissance era: the study of the classics (ancient Roman) coupled with the humanist tenet of humans exploring the natural world. This look at the human form and proportions figures heavily into the refinement of ballet technique.

Figure 2.41 Degas capturing ballet dancers behind the scenes

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In 1661 Louis XIV and Pierre Beauchamp establish the first dancing conservatory, Académie Royale de Danse (Grant, 1982, p. 58). The École de Danse de l’Opéra, an associated school is founded in 1713 and is now present day École de Danse du Théâtre National de l’Opéra.

According to Gail Grant (1982), “the French school was known for its elegance and soft, graceful movements rather than technical virtuosity” (p. 58). The examination of the Classics during the Renaissance instills in ballet an “anatomical geometry” (Homans, 2010, p. 48). This mathematical cornerstone is embedded in subsequent ballet methods. Today’s French school still sees elegant, clean lines and a graceful style plus fluidity, technical precision, and fast foot work (petit allegro).

Deep Dive: The Geometry of Dance

The next time you watch ballet check out the geometry of a passé and arabesque. And if you really want a Deep Dive, explore the geometry of attitude derrière in relation to different styles of ballet.

Bournonville Style

Figure 2.42 August Bournonville portrait c. 1828

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August Bournonville (1805-1879), born to noted French dancer and choreographer Antoine Bournonville in Denmark, “would be the most influential Danish choreographer of the 19th century” (D. Craine and J. Mackrell, 2004, p. 78). Performing in Italy and France during ballet’s Romantic Era provides Bournonville a keen sense of musicality and ability to use his stocky build as an athletic asset. Returning to the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen (1829) as a guest artist, in one year’s time Bournonville is promoted to company member and director. Retiring in 1877, Bournonville leads the Royal Danish Ballet to international acclaim with his uniquely Danish style (D. Craine and J. Mackrell, 2004).

Jennifer Homan’s describes Bournonville’s style as reflecting “the Vestris school and French ballet circa 1820: the jumps, pirouettes, and bravura male technique, the pointed feet and fully extended knees, the open turned-out legs” (2010, p. 189) and the spiraling through the torso and shoulders. Other attributes include clean lines, arms held low (port de bras not adding to the momentum of the jump), stream-lined transitions, and in lieu of jumping straight up- dancers bound with an up and over quality. Also, women often mirror the men’s choreography with little to no modification.

Cecchetti Method

Figure 2.43 Enrico Cecchetti (seen right) in rehearsal with ballerina Anna Pavlova

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Enrico Cecchetti (1850-1928) is an Italian premier danseur whose touring career leads to Russia’s Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. By 1890 Cecchetti “accepted the position of second ballet master at the Mariinsky Theatre” (Grant, 1982, p. 28). Teaching takes Cecchetti to the Imperial School in Russia, Poland, on tour as private tutor of international ballerina Anna Pavlova, Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes, England, returning to Italy in 1925. Cecchetti commits his remaining years to instruction and advancing his teaching methods (Grant, 1982, p.28).

According to The Cecchetti Council of America (2022), The Cecchetti Method provides rigorous training built upon “the laws of anatomy”. This respect for anatomical mechanics couples with a prescribed lesson plan for each day of the week. Students spend a year perfecting each day’s lesson plan. In knowing each combination so thoroughly, this frees the student to dedicate their focus entirely on technique. Students are tested by certified Cecchetti examiners to advance in level. The Cecchetti Method instills balance, poise, strength, elevation, elasticity, and jumps that appear to suspend in the air.

Vaganova

Figure 2.44 Agrippina Vaganova dancing the role of Esmerelda c. 1910

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Agrippina Vaganova (1879-1951) is a Soviet dancer, teacher, and ballet director. As relayed by Craine and Mackrell (2004), Vaganova’s appreciable command of technique was no match for the crowded field of ballerinas (including Anna Pavlova) and their considerable sway over the Mariinsky Theatre leadership. Retiring in 1916, Vaganova embarks on her most enduring contribution: crafting her own system of ballet. Her teaching credentials include the School of Russian Ballet, the Imperial Theatre School (the Leningrad Ballet School), the Kirov (1917 until her passing in 1951), and artistic director of the Kirov Ballet from 1931 to 1937.

In crafting her style Vaganova pulls elements from her international instructors and national culture. Vaganova draws on Marius Petipa’s graceful French school style, the athleticism associated with Cecchetti’s school, and adds “to them the dramatic soulfulness of the Russian national character” (D. Craine and J. Mackrell, 2004, p. 490). This weaving of styles enhances Vaganova’s pioneering concept of integrating all bodily movement starting at the barre. Students are working on completely integrated dance steps (head, arms, feet, etc.) from the onset and not learning one component at a time in building a complete concept (Homans, 2010, p. 355).

Royal Academy of Dance

Founded in 1920, the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) is the product of internationally renowned dance figures Philip Richardson, Adeline Genée, Tamara Karsavina, Edouard Espinosa, Phyllis Bedells, and Lucia Cormani. Their goal is threefold: distill French, Bournonville, Cecchetti, and Vaganova’s practices and methods into one new ballet form, provide teacher-training courses to ensure standards of classical ballet training, and train future generations of dancers in Great Britain (D. Craine and J. Mackrell, 2004, p. 404). This methodology is now taught throughout the world.

RAD is an examination/level-based method with supplementary studies in free movement ( a 20th century dance form– a precursor to modern dance) and character dance. Akin to the Vaganova style, RAD students are taught at a slower pace to ensure an attention to detail. In performance expect to see a streamlined classical style paired with inspired lyricism (D. Craine and J. Mackrell, 2004, p. 404).

Balanchine/American

Figure 2.45 Portrait of George Balanchine

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George Balanchine (1904-1983) is an ethnic Georgian born in St. Petersburg, Russia. A dancer with superb musical credentials, Balanchine joins the Kirov in 1922. By 1924, his unorthodox tendencies cross paths with Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes; within a year he is the company’s chief choreographer. Lincoln Kirstein’s 1933 invitation to America sets the stage for a ballet revolution. Within a year Balanchine opens the School of American Ballet. Following a handful of stops and starts a professional American ballet company with Balanchine at the helm is inaugurated in 1946- the New York City Ballet. With a school cultivating students in Balanchine’s style feeding into his company, Balanchine ushers in the era of Neoclassical ballet.

Balanchine’s affinity for the uniquely American artforms of jazz and modern dance are woven together with his impressive musicianship and classical Russian ballet training. Characteristics of Balanchine’s style include extreme speed, athleticism, very deep plié, opening the hip to achieve a longer arabesque line, a long 4th position for pirouettes, off-balance positions, and emphasis on long limbs.

Takeaway:

Ballet is a huge family tree, with all styles linked to a singular origin story. Each style is a valid teaching method reflecting cultural history and attributes.

Teaching Exercise

Take a look at the port de bras from two of the schools/styles previously discussed. Examine the similarities and differences.

Ballet Body Type(s)

Figure 2.46 Oil painting of ballerina

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There are certain attributes (and at times, caricatures) about ballet that live in our collective consciousness: pink, girly, pointe shoes, huge tutus, prudish, stuck up, and dedication all come to mind. The physical embodiment of these traits conjures a thin Caucasian woman with long lithe limbs, a short torso, and a small head. Sadly, no amount of training, cross training, or innate talent can change the size of your head or the proportions of your arms, legs, and torso. This concoction of extreme body type and exaggerated tenets of technical ability has created the habitat for self-destruction of female dancers.

Dancers live in their instrument. The constant barrage of critique and criticism can be counterproductive and extinguish the joy of dance. Lily O’Hara’s article, Ballet: A Cursed and Complicated Beauty, takes a brief look at ballet’s evolving obsession with the female body and the perceived ballet body type. This decades-long preoccupation with controlling the female form has created a harsh ecosystem of unattainable perfection.

Eating disorders, body dysmorphia, anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and substance use are just some of the battles that dancers fight daily. These illnesses thrive in environments thick with criticism and a focus on the physique, and they often stem from a distorted notion of hard work. (2023, para. 14)

The professional ballet landscape wasn’t always so ruthless. There was a time when noble birthright was the only limiting factor to ballet.

The Physical Form

Revisiting Louis XIV, bodies of the aristocracy were healthy and well looked after. While turn out was becoming a feature of ballet, it certainly wasn’t at today’s ideal 180°. A great focus being placed on the bearing or manner (teachable traits) which were beneficial at court and in performance.

The introduction of the ballerina and subsequent reincarnations of the ballerina sees the shift to an awareness of the body. As previously discussed, fashion and ballet working hand in glove, push and pull the aesthetics of clothing styles and the bodies wearing them. Dance historian Lynn Garafola notes, “In the 1880s and 1890s, ballerinas were always corseted, with tutus that looked almost like they had bustles in the back. It was very much an hourglass figure” (Henderson, 2021, para. 5). While these corseted bodies were “seemingly weightless and ethereal,

the hallmark of the early ballerina at the time was not extreme thinness. Her soft and supple lines were celebrated, a sign of beauty and femininity” (O’Hara, 2023, para. 9).

The slimming down of the ballerina coincides with The Roaring Twenties and the emergence of the flapper. Recovering from World War I and moving away from antiquated social norms, we see bobbed hairdos, the appearance of the boyish flapper with her shortened column dress (concealing her hips), and the collaboration between fashion houses and ballet companies in Europe.

Power/Control

The focus on the female body and what that body represents sharpens during the Romantic Era. Ballerinas portraying ethereal fairy-women who were “devoted to charting the misty inner worlds of dreams and the imagination” (Homans, 2010, p.170). O’Hara breaks down the cycle of control between the men creating/choreographing the ballets who project onto the ballerinas and the audiences hungry for the stories of unattainable love.

Giselle and La Sylphide were centered around female figures that descended into a flurry of madness due to their tortured relationship with a man, or in ballet terms, their cavalier. These ballets were written and choreographed by men who attributed their pain and loneliness to the women who wronged them, or who never loved them in return, and the heartache of these men gave us our ballerina—a picture of male fantasy and the source of their temptation—and a way for them to exert their power over women by turning them into characters and putting them under a spotlight. (2023, para. 14)

The Culmination of Power Over the Ballerina Body

Figure 2.47 Ballerina Suzanne Farrell performing with New York City Ballet c. 1965

(https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:SuzanneFarrell1965.jpg&oldid=693521965)

George Balanchine propels ballet technique and establishes ballet in America. His methods are born out of his training in Imperial Russia, the precedence of a patriarchal company structure, and an obsession with the female form. The epitome of ballerina is established and pushed to the extreme by Balanchine. Master teacher Gretchen Ward describes the ballet body as:

The ideal female dancer… should stand between 5’2” and 5’8” and weigh 85–115 lbs, with a long neck, small head, small bust, small posterior, slim thighs, long straight legs, and thin ankles, while the ideal male dancer should measure 5’9” to 6’2” and weigh 135–165 lbs, with a long neck, narrow hips, proportionate torso, small posterior, long arms and hands, and no bulky muscles. (Klapper, 2020, p. 231)

Balanchine’s physical standards are quickly adopted by companies around the world. Seventy years on, we are reckoning with the standards, methods, and systems having entrenched dancers for generations.

Note

Dance historian Lynn Garafola acknowledges that while men “do experience certain aesthetic pressures, the range of acceptable body types for male ballet dancers has always been broader than that for women, and has continued to widen in recent years. Yet female ballet dancers are still held to drastic standards” (Henderson, 2021, para. 3).