Extreme Physicality is All the Dance Article in Backstage May 5-11 2011 Issue

This article, by Lisa Jo Sagolla, ljsagolia@juno.com, points out to the balance needed between artistry/aesthetics and physicality/technicality/ability in dance. She is right on the money. She writes about some of the pros and cons in the increased agility of dancers. This agility is partly due to more practicing in ballet, other dance, Pilates, etc. Dancers often wow us with what they do, but sometimes try to one up the other, as in television reality shows, and lose the flow, creativity and artistry of the dance, and sometimes even the idea/message the choreography is trying to relay. Lynn Taylor-Corbett, choreographer of Broadway's Chess, Titanic and the film Footloose said. Joe Lanteri, executive director of the New York City Dance Alliance said that there are just many more well-trained dancers today, and that it is possible to have artistry with tricks. He says this is why choreography today is not as predictable as it once was. He does advise dancers not to incorporate anything too crazy into their routine unless they can perform it the required amount of times per week on stage, like the usual eight times a week on Broadway.

One of the reasons I like Martha Graham choreography so much is that both the difficulty and artistry/message are there.