Tanzrecherche NRW: Classical Tradition / Modern Society by Mirjam Otten

PERFORMANCE ART
A ballet rendition poseses a unique tempo-spatial specificity. A
performance is bound in place and time as well as the uniqueness
with which it inhibits a body. Against this background, the act of
re-enactment in itself signifies a renewal and reinvention of the
original work in a new body-time-space construct that surpasses
any attempt at static preservation (Lepecki, 2010). Expressing this
idea In simpler terms, Peter Anastos expresses that ballet
manages to stay relevant by the very nature of dance being a
performed artform, presented by evolving bodies and techniques
that themselves evolve a production from its original version to a
contemporary presentation (Schnell, 2014). Costa agrees, pointing
out that the ongoing evolution of the physical abilities of dancers
offers a source of intrinsic renewal even without innovations in a
classical piece’s makeup and choreography. She advises that “to
keep (ballet) relevant, we have to keep allowing that athleticism
to shine through with keeping the heritage of the style”.
Andrew McNicol takes a different approach to ballet’s performed
nature, highlighting its temporal nature as a movement language.
He explains: ‘What I love about ballet is it's a language of the
present tense. There's nothing about it that says yesterday I did,
unless you start going into mime, but the actual language itself,
it's totally 100 percent in the present moment. So there is a
vibrancy and a liveliness to that, which I can't help but feel is,
relevant, compelling, exciting.’ Both of these bodies of thought
emphasize the embedded ‘contemporary’ nature of performance
art as a lived phenomenon. Tapping into this characteristic can
expand the excitement of a ballet performance McNicol speaks
about.
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