George Balanchine: A Positive or Negative Influence on American Ballet?

The ballet world has been developed and influenced throughout history by many dance geniuses that have had the desire to revolutionize and enhance this art form. America was one of the later countries to cultivate and flourish ballet. Ballet masters came from other countries to the United States to help the growth of ballet in this land of opportunity. One of the ballet masters of extraordinary intellect and talent that influenced and continues to influence American ballet was George Balanchine. He was said to be the backbone of American ballet and the Russian born genius set a standard for his work that has left imprints in dance even today. His standard of aesthetics, choreography, and presentation has been a positive and negative influence on American Ballet today. Balanchine has moved on, but his influence still resonates. Balanchine left Russia to find opportunity and novelty in order to create his vision of aesthetics with the human body and movement. His new vision in ballet required athletic girls and bodies. He saw the United States as the perfect location to create his vision because to him, America was a vast continentits girls were not sylphides. They were basketball champions, queens of the tennis courts. The drum majorettes, the cheerleaders of the high school football team (Ashley xxii). Balanchine wanted to work with the body in a different way than one of the many great Russian choreographers, Marius Petipa. As it says in Mindy Aloffs article The Company He Kept, the Petipa dancer is, for all intents and purposes, divided at the waist. The expression and emotion was conveyed on top, where the heart resides, while the technical steps were executed below, a separate event (5). Balanchine on the other hand felt that the lower half of the body was just as capable of movement and expression as the upper. He believed that the legs could still emote and speak with the audience and the arms could be just as powerful as the legs. He had new ideas, and new standards. Balanchine had in mind the perfect ballet body. She needed to be, long-legged, small-boned, and high breasted, with a small head and a strong back (Walsh 3). He expected the dancers to be skinny enough that ones sternum was visible, and yet strong enough to execute quick movement. His standard of body type in his mind was necessary for the correct lines and picture to be created, but it left no opportunity for other dancers with differing body types to perform with him. Balanchine was successful in creating a company and school with dancers that fit his standard of body type. The dancers were able to execute the steps that he desired as well as created a uniform, beautiful look in his ballets, but did anything else good come from his standard of body type? Many dancers, even today have been denied from companies because of

body shape. Balanchine has created an image that is imprinted in many dancers minds as being the only watchable body type. It doesnt matter if she can dance if her body is wide where it should be narrow, or fleshy where it should be boney. Unfortunately this focus on bodies has led to many eating disorders and mental issues with dancers. Clearly, eating disorders can be developed by many other factors but dancers often are involved with some kind of an eating disorder because of the influence of their director and teacher. Because the perfect body type has been found supposedly, dancers and teachers use that as a standard to measure up to. Dancers then go to extremes to achieve the closest body to that image. Balanchines first requirement was a skinny, small boned body and this led many of his dancers to have an eating disorder. As much as dancers and teachers try to be open-minded and love each body type, the shadow of the perfect body is always in the back of the mind. That image must be left behind completely, and dancers cannot be pressured into becoming tiny bodied movers. All teachers must be mindful of what comments are made relating to the body, and all dancers need to be included in choreography and dancing opportunities regardless of body type. Not every dancer is blessed with a perfect body but is blessed with talent. It does not seem fair that after only a few looks at a dancer, even without seeing her dance a full class a director can know if she is accepted or not into the company. In Merril Ashleys book Dancing for Balanchine an audition at Balanchines School of American Ballet was described by Antonina Tumkovsky who was conducting the audition and she said, I looked at her feet, I had her do a few steps, battement tendu, assemble. I thought, nice
figure, perfect proportions. I want her! (xxiii)

Its understandable that Balanchine had a vision, and a

certain body type fulfilled that vision in his mind. It needs to be considered though that a dancer with a different body type who was a beautiful mover and performed his choreography well, could have fulfilled his vision. It is not accurate to state that all directors have the same standard with body types as Balanchine did, but it still resonates in the back of many directors minds. It is a breath of fresh air when a prestigious company like Pacific Northwest Ballet has dancers with larger chests performing large roles. Companies are slowly looking past perfect body images and are appreciating the movement of the dancer. It is needed that ballet continue to embrace all body types and be happy and willing to work with them even in the large companies. Balanchine created the athletic ballerina, which opened the door to a new look and feel in choreography, but it should not close the door to differing body types that are capable of executing the same steps as those with Balanchines ideal body.

Balanchine also had a new idea for choreographic styles and his bravery to try something new has influenced choreography of today. He was considered to be one of the first neoclassical choreographers; stepping away from story ballets and wanting to create dance in a purer form that connected more with reality. The artistic director of Carolina Ballet, Robert Weiss said this about Balanchine, Balanchine made ballet an art form that could stand on its own; it doesnt need the trappings of story. He did not reduce, but created contemporary lines and changed the dynamics of the technique (Burke 4). He created choreography that was very technical, but he did not want his dancers to focus only on the technique. He was drawn to the dancers that were able to let go and be free in their movement. He wanted it all to start from within and radiate from the dancer. He understood that sometimes the audience would understand the emotion and movement, and other times they would not and that was okay. In summary on page 26 in Moira Shearers book Balletmaster it says, Balanchine first started as a musician and was deeply inspired by his music for his choreography. To some, his choreography seemed emotionless, but every movement was inspired and had deeper meaning that wasnt displayed as obviously as other ballets had been in the past. Terry Teachout in her book All in the Dances said, Balanchine will be remembered not as its last giant but its first, the founding father who took the rudimentary steps of classical ballet and transformed them into a modern language capable of expressing feelings of the utmost subtlety and complexity (172). His choreography required emotion but it was displayed in a different manner. In the line of choreographers that have ballets which continue to be set on companies, there arent many that follow Balanchine. His ballets continue to be danced and remembered. He has been said to be the Shakespeare of choreography. Many large companies perform at least one of his ballets per year. Articles about Balanchines choreography include the opinions of artistic directors which are both positive and negative. Some directors feel that he has opened the door to contemporary ballet, while others feel that his choreography closes the door to diversity in dance. Balanchine took the chance to create a new look, in a new country, and without fear. Despite directors opinions, Balanchine broke away from classical ballets and entered into a more abstract presentation of dance. His actions expanded the choreographic world of ballet and invited new ideas to submerge, influencing American Ballet in a positive manner. Balanchines choreography was also challenging to the dancers, raising the bar of excellence. His dancers not only needed to be aerobically fit, they needed to be quick, strong, and beautiful in their movement. He also left the choreography open for interpretation and

expected the dancers to develop it emotionally. His dancers were pushed to their limits physically as well as emotionally. Ballet was no longer fluff, and fairies. Balanchine continues to influence choreography today because dancers must be versatile in all dance forms and must be capable of athletic movement. Also, many times companies work together on pieces, exchanging ideas, emotions, and personal experiences to choreograph. Balanchine is one of the pioneers that has pushed ballet dancers to create, and execute difficult choreography. Most of Balanchines choreography has had a positive impact on American ballet, but some directors feel that he has influenced it negatively as well. In the article Are We Overdosing on Balanchine? by Siobhan Burke some directors shared their opinions and believe that there is too much focus on Balanchine and that because companies continue to perform his work, he is stifling imagination and creativity. Other directors have said that it is good to include Balanchines work into companies repertoire but to also remember to find their own stories. The trick is to follow his spirit, but to not get caught up in worshipping his work. His choreography can continue to be a great influence if we use it correctly and remember to learn from it. Along with a standard in body type and choreography, Balanchine had a vision for the presentation of his dancers and choreographic creations. The new contemporary lines that his dancers created to his novel movement, needed to be complimented with appropriate costuming and sets. Balanchine did not want the usual costumes and sets that were used in the story ballets. He wanted to step away from large extravagance, and instead focus on pure movement. Michael Walsh said in his article The Joy of Pure Movement, In such revolutionary works as Concerto Barocco and The Four Temperaments, Balanchine reveled in the joy of pure movement, unencumbered by sets, costumes, or plot (1). Many of his ballets did not include a set, and the costumes were generally simple tights, leotard, and sometimes a skirt for the women. While the men just wore black tights with a white shirt. He kept it very simple and clean so that the focus was on the dancers strong and energetic limbs. He was not concerned with creating a big, frilly ballet with costumes and set that engaged the audience. Instead he focused on allowing the dancer to create the mood and beauty through ones pure beautiful movement. In Don McDonaghs book George Balanchine it was said of him, The essence of balletic tradition for him is the expressiveness of disciplined movement to challenging music (170). Because the movement was so disciplined he did not want it to be inhibited by large costumes.

Balanchine again opened the door to new ideas for presentation in ballet. A good ballet could be simple. It opened the choreographic and presentation world up to a new level of imagination in a different form. Instead of filling the stage with sets, the dancers had to fill it with movement, and beautiful formations. This required that the choreographer think of new ways throughout the creation process, not focusing on costumes or set instead on the movement. This has influenced and challenged choreographers as well as dancers in American Ballet. Balanchines vision of presentation has mostly had a positive effect on American ballet. He kept the presentation simple when it was appropriate, and for ballets where a more developed set was needed he included it, like in The Nutcracker. Balanchines vision has carried on to many companies when performing contemporary pieces. Many choose costumes that are simple such as unitards to show the dancers lines, but there is no silent or unwritten law confining the presentation to this. Much contemporary choreography and other neoclassical choreography have also included more developed costumes and sets and are still considered beautiful art. Other genres such as modern dance are a great example of using creativity and sets to embellish the contemporary presentation. Modern dance ranges from the use of simple sets, to the intrinsic use of ropes, rice, light, etc to create a piece. It is the same situation with Balanchines choreographic vision as with his vision of presentation. The world can learn from it, and appreciate it but then new ideas must be developed and used. He is merely an example that had the courage to move away from what was normal and we just need to learn from him and continue to move forward. George Balanchine was an incredible man. He was considered worldwide to be one of the greatest choreographers of the twentieth century. He influenced American ballet in many ways and he continues to do so. His vision of using athletic thin bodies, to create a uniform look was made real. He used these bodies to create his new contemporary choreography that was very technical and quick. With these two visions he also had one of how it should all be presented. His clear, simple, beautiful ballets have lived on. How many studios continue to perform the Nutcracker every year? How many companies perform at least one of his short ballets as part of their repertoire? His ideas have carried on even to today. Balanchine was mostly a positive influence on American ballet and Americans should be proud of him. We can learn from his genius ideas of choreography and presentation as well as learn from his mistake of only having one watchable body type. There have been many geniuses that have lived before the

geniuses of today, and it would be smart to learn from every ballet master that comes into the dance world. They all have influences to offer, it just lies in the hands of the dancers to choose. Works Cited Aloff, Mindy. The Company He Kept; What George Balanchine Knew About Feeling and Form, and What His Heirs Don't. New Republic 211:5. 1994. 31-40. Print. Burke, Siobhan, Crabb, Michael, Hanlon, Khara, Johnson, Tamara. Are We Overdosing on Balanchine? Dance Magazine 84:1. 2010. 82-90. Print. McDonagh, Don. George Balanchine. Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers, 1983. Print. Merrill, Ashley. Dancing for Balanchine. New York: E P Dutton, Inc. 1984. Print. Shearer, Moira. Balletmaster: A Dancers View of George Balanchine. New York: G P Putnams Sons. 1987. Print. Teachout, Terry. All in the Dances: A Brief Life of George Balanchine. US: Harcourt, Inc. 2004. Print. Walsh, Michael. The Joy of Pure Movement. Time 121:19. 1983. 93. Print.