I went, of course, to see Carmina Burana this past weekend.  I was full of anticipation going in.  I had deliberately avoided watching rehearsals so that I could be hit with the full, finished impact of the ballet.  Was I hit!  Hit and bowled over, along with the rest of the audience.  The most exciting part of opening night, aside from the ballet itself, was the moment after the curtain fell, when the whole audience stood up, collectively, applauding with an overwhelming enthusiasm.  I don’t think there was any doubt in anyone’s mind that we had all just experienced something very powerful, very moving, very once-in-a-lifetime.

I went back Saturday night.  How could I not?  I had to see it again!  There was so much that I knew I had missed, so much I wanted to revisit.  On Saturday, however, having already seen it, I was looking for things.  I was sitting there knowing what was to come and waiting expectantly.  I was not let down.  But while the performances were consistent, my reaction was not.  Friday night I felt energized and empowered.  I was on a performance high from simply watching.  Saturday night was different.  I came away at peace.  Some part of me that had been unable to rest quieted, some part of me that had seemed wild was tamed.  Carmina is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a particularly calming work, either of music or of movement.  It is go-go-go right from the get-go. It is high-energy in even its softer moments.  And then, suddenly, Sadie Harris and Jon Upleger ran onstage and began their pas de deux.  It was beautiful, soft and slow and on Saturday night it lulled me into a sense of complete well-being.  I wasn’t worried where I stood with Lady Luck, because it didn’t matter.  There was such harmony being illustrated before me.

When I looked in the program afterwards, I discovered that the pas de deux was number 21:  Balanced Love.  What else could that have been?  What else could that dance have represented?  Nothing.  The perfect balance was achieved, however briefly.  And I said to myself, “If that is balanced love, sign me up.  I will wait as long as I must to experience a love that balanced, that radiates such equilibrium of mind and spirit.”

– EG

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Today, I got to be a ballerina at the Friends’ Spring Tea. A ballroom-size tea party for mothers and daughters with a princess theme, I appeared with three of my fellow trainees in tutus and full stage makeup — living, breathing princesses to the adorable, wide-eyed little girls who grew suddenly shy and timid in our presence. To these children we were the embodiment of ballerinas, in our costumes and pointe shoes, and with our elaborately made-up eyes, our hair slicked back in buns and crowned with tiaras. In other words, we looked the part. But I think that “ballerina” is a deceptive term, one the connotes all the glamour without any of the hard work. At Nutcracker, for example, my dad asked whether it felt glamorous to be doing this. Superficially, it is certainly glamorous. There is nothing so transformative as a costume, which was abundantly clear this afternoon as small hands tentatively stroked the tulle skirts. However, it takes so much physical work and sweat, and so many hours and hours of rehearsal, to get to that moment when you put on the costume and visually assume a role. Of course, a dancer strives to fully inhabit a role or character without any external assistance, but I think most of us would say that we feel different in costume under the stage lights. That is the magic of performance. But I digress. At the tea this afternoon, the performance was our attendance, and the magic was in the eyes of the children.

–EG

It’s interesting to imagine how one extreme can benefit the other. When you think of ballet, you think of graceful, perfectly-executed movements…a vertical line of action that uses the floor as a vehicle. 

And when you think of contemporary dance, you might think “Are they dancing, or are they on fire?”  With big movements and quick, sweeping limbs, dancers in a contemporary piece utilize the floor as part of their performance. They will jump, spin and swing across the room, only to be seemingly tethered to the ground through consistent rolls and dives. The feel is loose and more aggressive, but still elegant in its own right.

So how could one pursuing an education in dance profit from contemporary? I had the pleasure of speaking with Kathleen Spinazzola, contemporary dance instructor here at the School of Nashville Ballet (to be honest, we share an office, so I have the pleasure of speaking with her every five minutes or so), and she enlightened me as to what one could expect in taking a contemporary class.

Aside from the aforementioned difference of ballet’s defiance of gravity and contemporary’s proclivity for it, there is a marked distinction in physicality between the two as well.  A wider range of dynamics is emphasized, and the movements themselves are highlighted rather than lines and positions, as you would find in classical ballet. Also, contemporary is almost always performed in bare feet.

As different as these two styles may be, contemporary is a complement to ballet, in that it helps prep the dancer for classical work. Contemporary dance also offers a wealth of personal advantages, including improvements on posture and flexibility and better balance and coordination.

Ms. Spinazzola went on to explain how the School of Nashville Ballet recognizes the need for this essential training by offering contemporary classes for our Upper Division students.  Dancers in levels 4, 5, 6 and 7 all take weekly sessions and learn different aspects of contemporary – from developing different methods of elevation to looking at stronger ways of attacking certain movements.

It will definitely be exciting to see what our Upper Division has learned in contemporary this year at our end-of-semester performance. What they have been practicing is integral to their dance development, and it looks good too!

Thanks for all of your knowledge, Ms. Spinazzola.

Be sure to check in with us next week for more news and highlights on Nashville Ballet!

-Rachel Norfleet