CultureMap Houston: As much as I dislike the name for Houston Ballet’s second program of the upcoming season, Women@Art, I can’t wait to see the show. If you were lucky enough to see Twyla Tharp’s Come Fly With Me at the Hobby Center in April, you’ll be even more dazzled by this brilliant choreographer’s peculiar take on classicism, The Brahms-Haydn Variations. I remember feeling dizzy from the density and details when American Ballet Theatre premiered it 12 years ago.
4 comments:
I have always been interested in ballet. I mean dance in general takes an obscene amount of dedication, discipline, and talent. But ballet has always had more of a draw for me, maybe because I couldn't do ballet to save my life. Anyway, I think this exhibition is going to be incredibly entertaining due to the cast of characters participating. Though I do agree with the writer's comment on how the title leaves a little more to be desired, I was surprised by the sneaky little rant at the bottom. Now I do not know a lot about the specifics in dance regarding sexism and the like but it just seemed to kind of undermine the article. I understand what she is saying about integrating 'women's' pieces with the general programming, but maybe they didn't do that this year because they wanted to showcase Tharp and Barton separately. I just felt the 'men, only men' comment was a cheap way to end an article written about great upcoming work.
Like Sonia, I feel that I maybe don't know enough about the gender politics of dance, but the author's stance seems too extreme. I'm unsure why he seems so bitter. I highly doubt that anyone is "worried" about integrating women's choreography into the general program. I also don't think the title does a disservice to the piece, though this article certainly does. I would be interested to see a show of the work of only female choreographers in the same way that I love the all male production of Swan Lake. That isn't sexism. Perhaps the author has a point in his description of the rest of the season being all (or at least mostly) the work of male choreographers, but there really is not enough information in the article to prove that this show being its own entity is some act of sexism.
Although I don’t know much about the ballet world I am fascinated by it. So I agree that it takes an incredible amount of dedication. Stereo typically when I think of the ballet world I think of women so I was sort of suppressing the way the article seemed to say that women were considered to not be fully on the same level as man. I agree with the author that these women should not be held up as great choreographers for women but as good choreographers period. I agree with what has been said before that I do not have enough information to fully pass judgment on these event.
The ballet world is intense and demanding, requiring precision and dedication from performers and choreographers alike. It is a shame to see women placed on a completely different level than the men in this profession, especially since it is such a high-level occupation. I have had the pleasure of working with several extraordinarily talented woman choreographers, it seems almost unreal that there should be discrimination against such capable people. I will not judge, however, since the whole story is definitely not presented here, but I surely hope that such a title is not meant to be as degrading and unprofessional as it sounds.
Post a Comment