TribLIVE: If the only thing you associate ballet with is the old-school version of “Swan Lake,” take note: Barak Ballet founder and New York City Ballet alum Melissa Barak is bucking the idea that being en pointe can never be cutting edge. Ballet in the 21st century is becoming more collaborative, she says. From hip-hop to comedy, it's creative prowess is bound only by the limits of the imagination.
3 comments:
If there is one thing I love, it's classic art forms being updated to include modern sensibilities. Classics exist for a reason, and there will always be something jaw-droppingly beautiful about a perfectly executed Swan Lake, or a perfect cello piece or a perfectly rendered renaissance painting. That said, these art forms were the pinnacle of centuries of honing and work, paid off in sweat until they were so transcendental that they could be called classics and live forever. Dance had to continue to grow, and to change in order to become the stunning skill that it is today. I love modern interpretations of ballet because art is not about repeating the past. It is about using what is past to make a more beautiful and artistic future. There is a certain "golden age thinking" about the arts, which means that people resist change because they idolize the past. Luckily there are people like Melissa Barak to help push these golden agers out of the past and into the new and innovative furture.
*future
Olivia I completely agree. While I think it's incredibly important to have respect for where an art form began and what its journey has been it is also necessary for the next generation of performers to further that story and give 100% to whatever may be next for that particular form. I feel like this industry has a very black and white mentality when it comes to modern versus classic art. It can be difficult to find examples of these two styles really interacting and complementing each other and these terms are often used as all encompassing labels instead of ways to better understand and appreciate the art. For as much as artists tend to be openminded, we sure do like our own classification systems. I strongly believe that both modern and classic art are necessary for furthering the exploration into art and that one is not more valid than the other.
Post a Comment