Mundane And Aesthetic

choreologist 


Bodily motion, coupled with human voice, both cardinal attributes complementing the complex entity that is a human being, with its entire array of phenomena.Gullet and gate may betray certain clues leading us to the character or temperament of an individual.Regarding somebody's gate – somebody upright and flawless in demeanor and dignified in their attitude could rather make one intuit a remarkable character or an accessible nature in that person.Such are the persons endowed with a natural good sense providing an outward mirror image of their beauty and distinction of inner gifts.Following these succinct wording, we think that many of our fellow humans are able – by observation and self-education – to perfect their tenure in walking; they could, thus, tread or walk in an upright fashion, arms loosely hanging near the trunk, even tread, slightly elongated neck, head raised from the chin upwards, all these seasoned, perhaps, with a condescending smile and a frank and as-genuine-as-possible look. Thus, to a certain extent, we may achieve an inner purification of our being… Aesthetes have ordered and classified arts in various ways: they have divided them into arts of space and arts of time, into those of seeing and those of hearing. They have distinguished two groups, each with similarities and close trademarks, but, also, with differentiations.The first group would include poetry, music and dance, i.e. ideas intimately related to movement, rhythm and succession; the next group, i.e. sculpture, painting and architecture are sensitive to concepts of order, proportion and synchronicity, which serve as points of reference to these forms of art.Now onto the highest expression of an aesthetic bodily movement, this subtle and sublime form of art: dance – its idiosyncratic modalities, approaches and options in expressing things.The instrument deployed by the artist-dancer which serves in expressing his/her own self is represented by their own body, subjected to long-wearing years of serious and perseverant study.At the end of (shall we say) 12 years of assiduous toil follows daily training, consistent and mandatory for the keeping in shape over the entire remaining career. The future professional is able to, via the "science of motion" compiled in the study of academic classical dance, acquire a technique over bodily performance in the confined perimeter of the stage.A genuine artist of dancing will, nonetheless, be one who holds the conviction that technique is but a means to reach the supreme goal of art. Such an artist will not be the slave of an acquired and engrained technique, but will be one who expresses inner truth and beauty.An exception from the rule shall be the staging of ballet acts at the Opera, be they of a classical, romantic or epic orientation, where the technical performance of male and female ballet dancers may turn into the most imaginative tours de force or into a spectacular acrobatic catch.Therefore, through study, motion becomes disciplined and firm. Equally, it comes down to the sensitivity and cleverness of an artist-dancer to give a knowledgeable overall expression to their instrument, to throw into relief the entire flow and thrill encapsulated in movement, experience, intenseness and… vibrating emotion.If music conquers by the inspired intermingling of sounds, by their accord and harmony, dance charms with the help of idea-evoking bodily movements, conjuring up meanings, feelings or special acts of relevance.Dance is a space-modeling act, with a flowing evolution of trajectories, executions and sinuous lines, in a concurrence of rhythmicized movements engendering all potential forms of spiritual energy to feed the space, in a soaring movement of the human instrument. The artist chooses and combines the ligatos, proportions and dimensions, therefore, all the forms in their potential soul-uplifting expression of creativeness.The artist's sensitivity conjures up an entire universe of plastic inventions in an idiosyncratic and unique language. The ideal performer would, as an artist, be lending his fantasies and visions a free and flowing movement, a guide to our imagination into the soaring heights of thought.Motion in dance conveys a multitude of impressions, candid innuendos and reflections in consonance and vibrating interference with other sibling forms of art.Dance – as a climactic expression of aesthetic movement– fabricates a host of psychological relationships between the creative artist and the spectator, whereas the word is supplanted by the never-ending array of visual incantation.  excerpt from Mundane and Aesthetic, România literară, no. 37, September 1990


by Mitiţă Dumitrescu