In a Washington Post article today, a man left a comment ridiculing ballet. I am all for the history of the classics being preserved in ballet, which is why it is included in my screenplay of La Sylphide. But I can understand why some people can’t get involved with the classics today (and might enjoy Balanchine or Robbins or some ultra contemporary pieces), and find little that is viable in the presentation of classical ballet that refers only to history and rigid tradition.
What such people, and the Washington Post commentator need, are a little dose of story telling relevant for today, and I mean a new version that comes winging in on the successes of Dancing with the Stars and Superstars of Dance, and, in a whole new realm of story telling adventure: films like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Batman Returns, Spiderman, and other quest epics.
Retelling fairy tales and ballet stories is something I enjoy and new experiences with them help to enlighten us about what we may be doing on this planet. These tales, as volunteers at New York City Ballet can attest, also allow us to entertain a new outlook on life. They enable those struggling with crises in their lives or seeking clues to life’s mystery, to find in make-believe, imagination, and the Soul/Sylphide not merely flights of fancy presented here, or in fantasy literature, but anchors of hope and divined destiny.
In ballet, these meditations and experiences are presented not in words but through symbol, and in the best cases in a sort of kinesthetic response via an engaging of the senses so profound that it is akin to a spiritual awakening, a restorative, or at best, to being transported as though by aliens to another planet, where the language of dance is telepathically conveyed.
Ballet is. As an “isness” vehicle, it can take us to the next incarnation of Indiana Jones, and in case you don’t realize it, that’s you and I cubed, or empowered by the mastery of story telling.
Conveying this dramatic and emotional “isness” is a challenge to be posed to our newest league of dance wizards: Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon, Melissa Barak, Benjamin Millepied, Edward Liang, Marie Chouinard, and others who are picking up their magic wands (a form of baton) from current wizarding teachers such as William Forsythe, Twyla Tharp, Jiri Kylian, Pina Bausch and others.
La Sylphide can be called many things:
- a quest
- a saga
- a soap opera
- a fairy tale
- a JEDI Master tale in which the Force is with and inside each participant in the experience and must be felt and connected with inside in order to move in a way most resonant with eliciting a response from opponents, allies, and participants in the story.
It is also about a near-death experience, with which the ballet in most incarnations, ends. In the Romantic Era, the hero, James Reuben, grieves and suffers, his “soul” dying with the sylph. In some versions, James dies himself. If viewers (kinesthetic participants) go backward from that end to review the entire story, what will each discover?
Ballet is an allegorical medium. It speaks in metaphor as the Bible and many sacred books speak. As Jesus spoke. This allows for interpretation by many kinds of people from diverse backgrounds. It also allows for spiritual renewal, divining, sanctuary, and hope.
Someday soon I will reveal how this ballet is a personal legend or metaphor for me, legend as described by a wise king who speaks about it in Paul Coehlo’s book, The Alchemist. As my personal legend, La Sylphide is also a quest. I personally resonate with viewing literature and life as quests. If you love ballet, a quest’s story that traditional and abstract ballets present may well be a way for you to “crack the code” to your life.
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The following online game has been adapted from THE BOOK OF RUNE CARDS, Sacred Play for Self-Discovery, published by of all things, Oracle Books/St. Martin’s Press, with commentary by Ralph Blum.
Dying Time.
A time of reflection. A time when the body leaves earth destined to return to earth (as in burial). A time when the soul or spirit is separated from the body. Does consciousness go on?
To play this game with La Sylphide and yourself, consider:
- the way you have lived your life thus far
- What has been most difficult for you–how is it like James’, Mage, the sylphide’s, Gurn’s or Effie’s journey?
- What do you do best? How is this like what any of the characters in La Sylphide do best?
- What or whom do you love most? Again, reflect on the story line of La Sylphide. Without judgment, who does James love most? Who does the sylph love most?
- Does either character take a wrong turn? As in, do they move away in some fashion from who they love most?
- If they do not take a wrong turn in your mind, what is gained by their pursuing the one they love?
- Is something lost in this pursuit?
- Who is/are your enemy(ies)? Are there enemies in La Sylphide? If you see enemies in this story, how do you define enemies for yourself? How does the choreographer of the particular version(s) you have seen define them?
If you have followed this far, you may wish to receive entry into the fairy realms where the sylphs abide and where in the classic version, James temporarily gains entry. How is this realm evoked on earth in this ballet? (if you think woods, glades, water, nature, sacred beings you’re on the right track.) What are metaphors or symbols for this realm in your life?
I tend to update my blogs on Sundays, Mondays, and Fridays. If you have enjoyed reading and playing today, please stop back, subscribe to the RSS feed, or e-mail me to gain entry to the Field of Dreams via my entertainment channel. You can also follow me on Facebook or Twitter.
While I believe I will continue to write about La Sylphide here, I may be led astray by an alchemist like Madge, and find myself writing about The Grail, Avalon, the standing stones, or how we internalize a “havingness quotient.*”
–inscribed virtually today by The Crystal-Sylph, Weaver of Yarns & POFFF Master
http://melaniestinson.com – about the blogger from several perspectives.
Bringing in the dance of the sylphs: the sacred feminine
*Quote from this book by Diane Stein: Women in Flight to Joy
Tools for your quest
Sacred Flight Cues
, by focusing on the energetic part of ourselves, affects all other levels of ourselves. This happens because this energy travels fast, and via the crystalline network of grids inside and outside the body, it can fly.
