If only narrative intention and content is recognised, the ballet
classroom work from an expressive point of view becomes problematic. The
technical execution of the vocabulary can often be clearly defined, while the
expression in it is elusive. Teaching needs concepts and words for the qualities
inherent in the vocabulary. If the classroom work is emphasising learning the
vocabulary as a basic technique on which the later artistic intention (probably
dramatic) is added, the dancer may not become aware of the potential
expressiveness in the vocabulary itself. The lack of qualitative intentionality in
the classroom practice leads to the attitude that formal dance material is to be
performed ‘impeccably’, and that the range of choices is narrow (Salosaari 2001: 31).
What I find rather amusing is this is a topic quite dear to my heart. There's a definite fitting-ness, so to speak, to my studying this. I've always been the musical one, the dancer who plays with the music and finds working with the music to be one of the most interesting parts of dancing. That being said, how I hear music has always been slightly different than most of my teachers' ideas, and I have only found one person who hears it the same way I do--one professor, in university. Now, as a teacher, I'm firmly convinced that a mainstay of what we call artistry has to do with this idea of form as content, how a dancer uses the simplicity of technique in conjunction with music (or other sounds/silence), but it's a very difficult concept to teach and to communicate its important to students who, in my experience thus far, seem mainly focused on form as form.
I've already got some ideas percolating about how to move forward with this, but it will have to wait until I've gotten some sleep! In the meantime, I would love to hear any thoughts from others on anything surrounding this topic, even if tangentially related.
Hannah. Musicality. I feel music a language with all its ebbs and flows, pauses, emphasis etc. Some children can sing, some can't hold the pitch or keep in time or recognize when the musical phrase is about to end. I asked my family when recalling past memories do they recall a smell, a vision, the moment of touch or sound? Are our musical learners the one's able to hold on to music in their memory with ease? In the same way as some dancers are able to pick up familiar steps quicker tapping into their muscle memory? Perhaps repetition for the less musically aware is of necessity. But, interestingly a deaf child will feel the vibrations of the music and still tune in to it so there is the addition of feeling the music through our other senses depending on what is available to us. Don't know if this helps?
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a lot of interesting thoughts. I think the memory thing doesn't quite explain it though, since plenty of people can interpret music beautifully that they've never heard before... hm. I've always been curious how deaf children manage to feel the music's vibrations. It's such a fascinating concept to me!
DeleteYes thats true. Some children seem to be naturally musical, but their sense of timing is also mixed with the knowledge of how long their movement will take to complete. Aren't we clever!! Language and people around them, the influences and environment may well play a part. Perhaps their mother has a voice that inflects and rises and falls but then not all children in the same family can sing or are musically in sync are they? I suppose it just comes down to how the music stirs our senses and how our senses respond to music. Some of us must just be more sensitively aware, but why?
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