I watched Billy Elliot on Sky this week, mainly because my channel-hopping finger was too tired to move. It led me to wonder why ballet routinely fails to show its ‘muscularity’, instead appearing as some airy-fairy undertaking with slips of girls prancing around in net curtains*. I suspect this is partly because it is a bit of a minority interest to see it live, and as a rule it doesn’t translate at all well to tv.
We’re back to my obsession with this live performance thing aren’t we? Although I haven’t seen a huge amount of traditional ballet, those productions I have seen have always been a seriously physical experience, none of which comes across unless you are actually there. The one exception that I can think of is the Matthew Bourne Swan Lake, where you can actually see all those muscles working, even on the telly, and I love, love, love it for the combination of muscles and music.
Of course, this is what is chosen for Billy Elliot. Much as I enjoyed it, I found myself wondering whether it would have been braver to show Billy in a different production, or whether that particular ballet is the only one which doesn’t have a shorthand implication of campness? Of course, this is a nonsense, as the Matthew Bourne version abandons the traditional story for that of a doomed gay love affair. I then got myself tangled up in what this meant for Billy Elliot (are we supposed to take the meaning that ballet is or isn’t just for girls and gays?) and I disappeared in a puff of gender confusion...... Actually, I just went to bed.
*As a small girl, one of my fantasies was to be a ballerina in miles of tulle, despite the fact that I had the co-ordination of a fairy elephant. Nowadays my fantasies would probably involve the male dancers and less prancing.
** I hope that the puns will stop when I 'mature' as a blogger. Until then, sorry!
2 comments:
Ah, yes, this is one of the puzzles of my life, actually. Have these people actually seen a male ballet dancer in action? They're what my brother likes to call "stacked", and regularly carry a minimum of seven stone around a stage. A ballet like Mayerling, for example, has a male protagonist who dances a terrifying eight or nine pas de deux with six different women, and is onstage from start to finish. The stamina of rugby players, basically. I certainly wouldn't like to meet one in a dark alley - at least, not in that way, I wouldn't mind meeting Carlos Acosta or Edward Watson in a dark alley for a different reason, har har har.
And the little floaty things are bloody fit too, of course.
I think recordings can show the power, but maybe that's because I've already seen them live? Who knows. Incidentally, did you watch the Royal Ballet Romeo and Juliet that was on at Christmas? Absolutely brilliant, and two clips on youtube... Anyway, this usually silences most doubters - in fact, anything Carlos Acosta dances. *lovelorn sigh*
Thanks for dropping by Semaphore.
As you say, these men are seriously fit, in every sense of the word... I did see R&J, and you certainly got some sense of the power, but I still spent most of my time wishing I'd seen it live as that way I would have been able to *feel* it.
I hadn't seen that clip on you-tube, but that's exactly what I mean by a muscular dancer - fantastic!
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