Ballet with Edward Villella

[Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] we are dancers from the New York City Ballet preparing for performance we are professionals and ballet is our work we want to show you why it is also an art and a great joy ballet requires subtle physical coordination an intrinsic timing of the body which must turn adhere to the demands of musical timing it requires immense muscular power too but not in one area alone not in just one set of muscles watch these dancers warming [Music] up the power thrust down through the leg is different from the power holding the hand and arm in delicate extension every part of the body must be working in separate yet connecting ways with different degrees of energy expended still all for the same result that discipline enables us to ride on the music to move on it above it and in our own way reveal it to you it takes a lot of practice to make all of this happen this is Jonna Kirkland at 19 she is one of our most promising young dancers Jonna describes herself as a high school dropout as a child she used to ride and ice skate but she gave that up along with her studies in order to Dance full time [Music] Mr did you read the it's Mony Morris agrees that life as a dancer takes almost all her time she's been dancing seriously since she was 15 and now at 23 is a featured dancer of the company but she still occasionally finds time to cook or go to the movies H Steven Carris a soccer player in his New Jersey high school until someone persuaded him to try out for a part and the School production of Brigadoon he's been dancing ever since and now is in his second season with the New York City Ballet Company these young dancers seem like other young people their age with one big difference they have tremendous interest in and dedication to dance and as dancers they have extended themselves physically far beyond the limits of most people and where do they begin we begin with a concern for form and line and this means first thinking about the placement of the body each part of a dancer's body has to be arranged and placed for instance even when he is simply standing even a slight movement of the muscles can change the look and line of the body from here we begin to train and tone the muscles of our body a special kind of training using exercises based on the principles of line form and placement they're different from the exercises of the boxer a little like the high jumper more like the training of a gymnast they involve stretching and pulling the muscles rather than developing brute strength and tension based on this kind of training with an understanding of placement and form with disciplined in tone muscles we can really begin to dance [Music] oh [Music] let's look at one moment out of that dance what the still photograph shows is exactly what we have been talking about up until now technique line and form but this to us is not yet dancing it's only a few photographs what goes on between them is dance in a sense the dancer moves from picture to picture from position to position but the real quality and excitement of dance is in the movement between in order to do that leap every part of the foot has to be working it can't be bound it can't be in a sneaker for instance or in a boxer shoe it must be literally gloved in flexible material to allow every part of it to be moved this is particularly true of the male dancer who must feel the floor he must be able to push down in into the floor in order to gather power for a bravour performance this is my partner Patricia McBride for the ballerina there is the same concern with placement with discipline training the same coordination and timing of each part of the body but to different effect look at my shoes for instance they are designed to help me stand on point on my toes like Eddie shoes mine must fit like a glove respond perfectly to the movements of my feet and yet give support as well they are made by hand and no two pairs are alike I can't just put on a new pair and dance I work with them feel my feet inside the shoes a pair of shoes lasts about an hour or less and I can go through a pair of shoes in an evening's performance and it's invent in the 19th century opened a whole new world of choreographic possibilities [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the toou enables the ballerina to turn more times than a man to move with great swiftness and lightness but at the same time this freedom and delicate balance requires assistance and support from the man she needs a partner as in this excerpt from the chaikovsky pader choreographed by George balentin [Music] for [Music] for [Music] [Applause] you [Music] [Music] it looks easy doesn't it that's what we tried to accomplish let's go back and look at the work which went into it the only trouble with that is we did it nice and slow we don't have music the whole thing is faster the tempo is quicker it has to go it has to go smoothly you know what happens I always do this s and I like I missed the position here from here here and my arm should go through here right before I turn yeah that was good is that better yeah it's much better you know when it's when it's right over you know if my if my hand is is placed makes a difference and your your phone there we go no problem I'll try and do it try and do it yeah I'll just step up time we develop a rapport as we work it's an experience as satisfying in its own way as the total freedom of the solo dancer we become sensitive to each other to partner demands constant awareness your mind can't be tired must be right there every minute anticipating and being slightly ahead of her every move once more we've just seen a work by a 19th Century composer chaikovsky choreographed by a 20th century choreographer George bingin an interesting combination however to really understand the 19th century romantic style the ballet jaelle is more to the point here its challenges are more formalized more of a mime challenge more posturing more posing in that sense to tell a dance story for instance we have the gestures I you love I swear or I'm sad I'm in despair where are you stop the story of Jazelle a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart when she learns that Al who in reality is a prince and who has been cting her and posing as a present uh is a perfect example of this older 19th century tradition Al's entrance in the second act when he's looking for gizelle's grave illustrates this point [Music] those magnificent gestures of power satisfaction of understanding open the B Apollo by the remarkable choreographer George balentin their perfect example of the 20th Century neoclassic style here the approach is more technically challenging because we use dance images using dance techniques instead of MIM and posing how does one approach portraying the role of a god well balin's marvelous images of eagles and matadors were built into the choreography to establish the elegant youthful viral figure of a god even using the incredible fascinating images which have no literal connotations at all simply the feeling of power pulsing through the body and hands for me as a dancer such abstract images have more to say and more power in depth than the established gestures involved in portraying a 19th century title role now Apollo [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] a choreographer can't sit down and write a series of steps as a playwright puts down the words of his play he has to have a vision but he also has to have the live bodies of his dancers to work with to make his thoughts become realities most choreography once created is literally preserved and passed down from dancer to dancer from mind to mind through generations the only alternative is an elaborate form of notation the actual Living Traditions of ballet belong to the dancers and it's in their minds that it is essentially preserved this is more true now that dance gestures have become Freer and both choreographer and performer are no longer bound by the formal traditions of an earlier century and finally there is a special quality of beauty and motion which a dancer learns only through rigid discipline the discipline with which we began only this can give him in the end the total control which enables him to seem and to feel so completely free that's the Paradox of dance total control and total freedom and it's the most fantastic experience a dancer has to know that he has that control can then give in to that total freedom and hour a section of George balin's rubies with music by Stravinsky [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh oh in the end though the really marvelous thing about balet is not that it's just something solemn and complicated that you have to know a great deal about to enjoy for us there's great wit to it there's great fun and most of all it's tremendously exciting for us to perform and we hope for you to view [Music] [Applause] [Music] 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