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Narrative v. Non-narrative


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I hope I'm not bringing fire and brimstone raining down on my head, but this thread is about non-narrative ballets.

Correct me, but opera must have a story, otherwise it becomes another genre, so a non-narrative ballet is not ballet, it’s dance. I’m drawn to ballet because my background is in literature, theatre, and the visual arts, and frankly, I don’t know anything about the technicalities, but I know what I like.

I’m very familiar with that phrase from the art world, and I understand why folk prefer Pre-Raphaelite paintings to Marc Rothko’s, even though I don’t; even though I find a Rothko deeply emotive, I understand why they don’t. But exhibitions possibly hang a figurative painting from Rothko’s early work to show how he reached his abstract style, and maybe promote some understanding.

I know what I like in ballet i.e. I’m interested, I’ve watched quite a bit, I like the shapes and the colour and the stories, but I don’t really know a great deal about the technicalities, and I need some sort of guidance to initiate me into the mysteries of abstract dance.

I can, sort of, go along with the like of Ashton’s Rhapsody, with familiar music, and colourful costumes, but to someone who doesn’t dance, many of these pieces look identical. I wish companies who perform them could add a little more colour, fewer look-alike leotards and bare male torsos, it’s all down to "Differentiation", a plea for more identity, one dance piece from another.

 

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To some, any sort of movement can be ‘dance’ (see the Judson Church movement/ Judson Dance Theatre). Ballet is, in my eyes, a *way* of dancing rather than anything to do with narrative. There are many, many non-narrative ballets from the Romantic Pas de Quatre onwards (& possibly before too). Symphony in C, Concerto, Scenes de ballet etc. There are also narrative dances which are not ballets (or at least don’t use ballet technique) e.g. Appalachian Spring (Martha Graham). 

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Interesting post, RosiesDream! I suppose in classical musical terms it's like the difference between an orchestral or instrumental work and songs/opera where there are words/a story. But they're all classical music. Same with ballet - some ballets have 'words'/a story whereas others simply convey a mood or images. I agree that some abstract works can look similar if they're not very good or original, but the good ones are definitely distinctive.

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I started out watching contemporary dance in the mid 1970s so when I discovered ballet I also discovered that I love abstract ballets!  They are ballets though...

 

The thing about an abstract ballet for me is that you can either just enjoy the dancing or you can make up a story to suit the movement/music (even if the story in your mind is more emotion than a story with a beginning, middle & end).  

 

The duet in Concerto gets me every time and also George Balanchine's Serenade.  Balanchine's Symphony in 3 Movements is incredibly powerful and sends shivers down my spine. 

 

David Bintley's Take 5 is so full of joy.

 

And that is just a few that have sprung to mind!

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Following bridiem's very helpful musical analogy, one can go one step further and argue that the narrative and non-narrative distinction exists even within the categories of "instrumental pieces" or "choral pieces". For choral pieces we have operas (narrative) but also non-narrative pieces like Beethoven's 9th. While it may be harder to tell a story using only instruments, we do have instrumental pieces that bear some narratives, like Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht or Rimsky-Kirsakoff's Scheherazade. I wonder if you'd agree, RosiesDream, then, that the same can be said about ballet that it is not an art form defined by its content (whether or not narrative exists) but by its form.

 

On a more personal level, I do share your feeling that, for someone who has not been trained in ballet techniques, there can be details whose significance are harder to appreciate. The question then, I suppose, is how much that bothers you. If it keeps you up at night wondering what you're missing, I'd say it's never too late to read and learn about the technical sides of dance (which I have been trying to do through books and videos). If not, that's fine too. Those things you already like, the theatricality, narratives, and visual arts, are quite sufficient reasons to keep returning to the Opera House for.

Edited by KyleCheng
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The second movement of Concerto gets me most times as well! 
One of the very earliest performances I saw of this ballet was at an RBS students performance and Denise Nunn ( now in Australia) performed the duet in the second movement. I can’t remember her partner now may have been Michael Batchelor but this was such a moving performance and has stuck in my mind all these years. Must have been around 1974/5 as very soon after that she was plucked out of the corps to play the very first Vera in Month in the Country and that was 1976. I did so love  that very first cast!!  
For the OP ....Month in Country would come under a narrative ballet ( though it’s short) and Concerto is non narrative but it’s the same STYLE of dance as someone has already said here and that’s what makes it a Ballet or not because it’s in the Classical style whether it has a story or not. 

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Yes Agree! What a triple bill Dances at a Gathering, Month in the Country and Concerto would be ...my dream combination ❤️ 
In fact perfect for this narrative thread!! 


Month has a full on story with real fictional characters etc

Dances has no real characters or story but sort of leads you to form your own narrative  around the groups of dancers. 

And Concerto you just enjoy for both the wonderful choreography and music. 
 

 

 

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