quodlibet

terpsichore take-out

«no art, not even opera, is more clad in snobbery than ballet»

joan acocella jumps on the ballet bashing bandwagon. i mean really, that is a ridiculous statement. just look at theatre arts such as kabuki or think about the anti ballet snobbery of contemporary dance.

all art forms have some esoteric knowledge or context which the aficionados will know, but not the newcomer. it is not explicit snobbery, but information that is not vital to your enjoyment of the artwork.

if you want a toehold, go buy the dvd or do some research. but don’t blame the artform. for example, doug did not consider it salsa snobbery when he didn’t know how to listen to salsa music. nor did he suggest that every salsa event should have a «how to listen» segment.

yes, we can get pleasure from seeing and understanding the familiar. but that is only one route. should we be be given sheet music and mp3’s with our tickets before a classical music concert? do we expect prince to walk us through how he wrote a segment of a song so we can appreciate it more?

yes it is nice to know how it feels to do something, but it is not vital. doug makes an interesting marketing suggestion (teach the audience part of the choreography videos) … but i think the suggestion is unreasonable. what other artforms break down their artworks in such detail for the audience before they see the work?

i would rather see dance companies make a video of the work available. or at least a section (five minutes plus?). they could sell a dvd version and have a free online version. it might pan out like this:

• goto a dance listings website to see what is on
• check out the free videos
• see one i like and book tickets
• watch the video a few times at home
• go see the work
• buy the dvd if i enjoyed the show

extras on the dvd should include some footage of rehearsals, maybe some clips of other works (for the same company or other works by the choreographer/s). there should also be an audio commentary on the dance work by the choreographer / dancer / artistic director / critic (examples, not all of them). perhaps a feature on the scenography.

i’m sure there would be a good market for such dvd’s, at the very least within the educational dance sector. and if i saw a fantastic dance work in the theatre, and could by the dvd there and then … i would.

a few months back i was at a music concert, and there was a guest artist who did not appear on the playbill. the entire audience loved them … after the show the merchandisers were being asked if they had a cd of the guest. they didn’t.

dance is missing an opportunity, dvd’s will not reduce attendance. at least half of the dance concerts i have been to i saw the dvd first. music is accessible (to a point) because we can take it home and take our time over it. where is the takeaway dance? blog comments powered by Disqus