superioritea-complex

[superioritea-complex]

new ballets russes

ngl if i ever ended up with a ridiculous amount of money i'd probably found a ballet company, i'd wanna do something new and interesting like the ballets russes did back in the early 20th century- minus Diaghilev being a strange and quite frankly gross individual- I feel like so much of ballet has gotten repetitive, in the sense that we've focused to much on perfection we've forgotten that we are a performing art form- so often we get hung up on body proportions and things like hyper extension and body shape that we end up losing the emotion of the dance completely. I've recently watched dying swan- the og version with anna pavlova and now i can't help but feel newer versions are overly santized, like the concern is to look beautiful and not the real tragedy that is happening on stage. I think it's not only a disservice to audience members but to dancers as well as we are robbing them of developing their creative expression. That and it would also help with the fact that many ballets are quite frankly dated- for example the bolshoi black face scandal for their production of la bayadere (this happened in 2019 btw).

I would love to see a new fantastical adaptation with elaborate costumes, choreography, sets, and music- (bring back camp!!). Plus there are so many myths and cultural things to chose from a ballet could be done on Sappho's life, or on La Maupin (if you don't know who she is PLEASE look her up- she's unhinged and my hero), or even take from more myths like eros and psyche, or apollo and hyacinth, or a full length version of orpheus (i know balanchine did a short version with music by Stravinsky but imagine an entire set for the underworld- like fully fleshed out costumes for hades and persephone- it's actually a shame how minimalist balanchine's sets and costumes are given the inspo (bc they weren't originally!!- look at old apollo costumes vs the more recent ones- like bro HOW did we get here???) or we could start adapting Dostoevskyballet and Kafka like we've been adapting Shakespear (METAMORPHASIS BALLET GUYS- I MEAN COME. ON.) and these are just the ones off the top of my head.

I think now would be a good time to reinvigorate the artform especially with increased interest due to the overall ballet core trend- it could be a great way to bring in more people not only as those who take classes but also as viewers. Also ballet company's have shitty marketing- ofc if you only push the nutcracker for the entire year then you're only going to get people to watch the nutcracker and your other repertoire is gonna flop. duh. By investing a bit in marketing instead of lining the artistic director's pockets (be so fr do u really need a second vacation home?) the company would be more successful overall-( more people to come in and see shows, more artistic outreach, more outreach means more tickets means more money so hopefully better conditions for the dancers, etc. etc.)

tldr. people only say ballet is boring bc y'all have made ballet boring, the lack of artistic expression, lack of new creative sets and costumes, elitism, racism, homophobia, etc. etc. etc. are what have made people less engaged with the art form over the years NOT the actual style of dance itself.

[superioritea-complex]

[superioritea-complex]

the Giselle problem- pt2 Hilarion

I said I'd get on to Hilarion next. (for those of you that this is very out of context for pls see my first post on this ballet) I am sick and tired of seeing Hilarion apologists out here or hearing about justice for Hilarion when he was also icky. Hilarion was in love with Giselle but didn't respect that she was in a relationship and was not interested in him- peep the bit at the beginning of the ballet where he drops to his knees and grabs at her skirt begging for her to give him a chance while she's very uncomfortable- he feels entitled to Giselle's feelings (he's definitely a Nice Guy). Later when he finds proof that Albrecht has been lying and cheating on Giselle instead of telling her gently and alone he makes it a public spectacle and does it in front of the entire village not because he cares about Giselle (remember Giselle has a serious heart condition and can't get to worked up or she will die) but because he wants all of the glory in publically humiliating Albrecht so that Giselle will finally go out with him. He doesn't actually care about her as a person because if he had then we wouldn't have had the Mad Scene.

[superioritea-complex]

the Giselle problem

I think alot of people miss the point of Giselle and I still keep hearing points that Albretch should have suffered more or that the willi should have killed him- not to say that he didn't deserve it for lying to and betraying Giselle leading to her own demise. But the ballet isn't about him- it's about Giselle. Giselle chooses forgiveness because that will ultimately bring her peace not killing other people looking for vengeance. The Willi kill any man who walks into their forest not just the shitty ones or ones that have a connection to them- ie. they kill Hillarion (I'm not a Hillarion apologist- I'll get to him in another post) BEFORE Giselle rises from her grave to join the rest of the Willi. I don't know that Giselle is forgiving Albretch because she's romantically in love with him but rather because she refuses to become like the other Willi and let her spirit be corrupted and clouded by hurt and vengeance (bc once albretch is dead she's stuck as a Willi and has to dance other people to death). What I'm getting at is that she forgives not out of love for Albretch specifically but because of her love for humanity.

I know people want to see Albrecht get what's coming to him for hurting Giselle but what so many people fail to see is that he will- once the curtains close on the second act he's going to have to face the consequences of his actions- his fiance knows that she was being cheated on, his parents know that he was lying to them, his subjects hate him for being directly linked to the death of a young village girl and for his betrayal of her. And of course he has to deal with the fact that his betrayal effectively murdered the woman he loved.

Giselle's forgiveness of him had nothing to do with him- it wasn't going to bring her back to life, make everything better, or reverse anything but instead her forgiveness allowed for her to finally be at peace.

And so when Giselle slips behind the wings and Albrecht is showered in white lilies while the music swells and the theater lights glow a soft orange to show that the night is over, she is not the one I feel pity for.