Dialogue: It's about time ballet put on a modern face

By ISABEL FISH*

Bravo Marian McDermott. Her research is a breath of fresh air. People have been debating the good and bad sides of ballet for 100 years but it is timely that we looked at it anew.

We should consider the place of ballet in arts education and, in particular, its value in educating our young.

Most of us enjoy the positive benefits of dance in a variety of ways. We all have different ideas about classical ballet, modern dance and the role of dance in the education of young people.

Dance is both a sport and an art. It can be a wonderful motivation to help young people to learn about their bodies and to foster a creative spirit and self-discipline. However, our youngsters need to be given positive forms of motivation so they can find their wings and achieve their dreams and aspirations.

We must realise that some of our old, punitive, dictatorial ways no longer work. We see evidence of this when we hear of so many young people who feel they are failing. Children can easily be made to feel like failures. At worst, they become the martyrs in our society. They suffer as we cling to our biases and assumptions.

That much has been confirmed by Ms McDermott, whose survey of ballet teachers and dance schools found girls as young as 14 popping pills to stay thin, suffering feelings of worthlessness and low self-esteem and suffering at the mercy of ruthless mothers.

I stopped going to classical ballet years ago, after learning about its history. It is largely a superficial art form, with origins going back further than the autocratic court of King Louis XIV of France. Social dancing in that court was extremely formal. It involved a snobbery and social distinction that even today pervades ballet. Yet historical paintings suggest peasant dancers of the time enjoyed more spontaneous and natural movements.

Classical ballet seems to cling to the relics of that bygone age. Inherent in its culture is control, dominance, competition and hierarchy. Jump to attention. Do what we say or else fail.

Isadora Duncan, a Californian dancing legend who dressed in free-flowing Greek robes, said "the ballet filled me with horror. This method of dancing produces an artificial and mechanical movement not worthy of the soul."

She chose to discard the painfully bound toe-point shoes (handed down from the European ballet and the Chinese foot-binding culture of women) and danced in bare feet. This caused a revolution and sensation in dance at the dawn of the 20th century.

Historically, classical ballet dancers perform almost like mechanical puppets. They are usually trained to be more concerned with what they look like than what their bodies and minds are really doing.

Dancers are often taught to breathe incorrectly. In fact, much of ballet movement is completely unnatural. The dancers breathe into the upper chest and suck in the lower half of the body, in particular the stomach regions. Pelvic muscles are held in.

Tension is inherent in ballet. Often this tension is carried into the lives of those who pursue it as a career. Tension can lead to stress. Stress often leads to injuries. There are so many tales of ballet dancers who have bleeding feet, torn muscles, spinal pelvic injuries which can lead to hip replacement. Many experience problems at childbirth. Classically trained ballet dancers usually move unnaturally.

These deficiencies were recognised by other dance pioneers. Modern dance is different. Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham continued to pioneer the development of modern dance using more indigenous and ethnic principles.

In modern dance the centre of gravity has shifted to the solar plexus and from deep within the pelvic region.

It is noteworthy that, traditionally, indigenous peoples remain closer to nature, to the earth and to each other. Black, Polynesian and Eastern dancers move more easily and, in the main, their dance has stayed grounded and more natural over time.

Modern dance has incorporated a wider range of ethnic-indigenous techniques - and some of the best aspects of classical ballet.

How can we make young ballet dancers feel good about themselves and each other? Instead of knocking classical ballet teachers, we could advance their education. Some doubtless fear they will lose their hard-earned incomes. They cling to what has worked in the past.

Children, however, should not be stuck and glued into the past. Their needs should be placed first. They need understanding and freedom to express their uniqueness.

Punitive regimes come from the past. We see evidence all around us of youth suicide and feelings of failure. Let us help children's bodies, spirits and minds fly and dance. Dance can lift their spirits and make them feel they are in heaven on earth.

* Isabel Fish is director of an Auckland arts and performance company.