Dance and movement have been used throughout human history as a means of establishing connection, releasing pent-up tension, achieving altered states of consciousness, and personal transformation in diverse cultures.
The healing potential of dance and its harmonizing effect on individual and group consciousness have been known since prehistoric times. In virtually all world cultures, dance, along with special breathing techniques, singing, and the use of psychedelics, has been woven into rituals and everyday life. As part of rituals, dance served as a bridge between "chaos and cosmos," embodying the unity and diversity of relationships between individuals, communities, and the environment. This idea found its most complete expression in the Indian mythology of the existence of the world in the Divine Dance of Shiva (a reflection of this religious idea found its embodiment in a real bodywork technique developed by the Kyiv yoga teacher A. Lappa, which involves working with the body in three-dimensional space, a characteristic of the plastic language of contemporary dance choreographers).
In her work "Philosophical Problems of Dance Criticism," American philosopher Julia van Camp devoted approximately 30 pages to various definitions of dance, each time convincingly arguing that these definitions cannot fully capture the essence of the phenomenon.Of dance, one can say, in the words of St. Augustine, paraphrasing his statement about time: "When I am not asked what 'dance' is,' I know; when I am asked, I know nothing." Perhaps this inability to grasp and exhaust the essence of dance is primarily due to its processual nature and high degree of integration. Like time and consciousness, movement cannot be perceived as an object; it must be considered only as a multifaceted, changing process. Therefore, as a cultural phenomenon, dance is best described as a continuum of meanings and qualities associated with the life of the human body, and in which we find it easier to identify accents and connections than to provide clear definitions.
The famous American dance innovator, choreographer Merce Cunningham, said that “dance is what we call dance”.Twentieth-century culture is characterized by a turn toward the body, a profound interest in corporeality in its various manifestations — both in everyday life and in art. It was in the 20th century that dance became part of the contemporary art process, a means of artistically and plastically interpreting the mental, physical, sociocultural, and political metamorphoses that beset humanity in the modern world.
In contrast to the "ideal body" of classical ballet, contemporary dance represents a new understanding of the body and a multitude of models of corporeality—from the physical presence of the body "here and now" to its digitalization and virtualization.Postmodernism, rejecting the canons of classical and modern dance, asserted that any movement can be dance, and that anyone can dance. Postmodern ballet explorations are characterized by a focus on the philosophical nature of dance as a synthesis of the spiritual and the physical, the natural and the artificial, the past and the present. The focus of today's choreographers and their companies is primarily on the individual and their sense of self. In search of adequate expression, they turned to the means of bodily language developed by individual peoples over the course of their historical development.The result of this search was the creation of a new movement—danztheater—a complex system of thinking and feeling that absorbed the leading ideas and methods of postmodernism, with its endless irony, self-irony, deconstruction, and the transgression of all boundaries.
The credit for coining the term "danztheater" goes to Kurt Jooss (slide), a student of Rudolf Laban (slide). In 1927, he founded the dance department at the Essen Conservatory (the Folkwangschule), which became the center of modern dance in Germany and nurtured a galaxy of talented choreographers, including Pina Bausch (slide), who graduated from this school in 1958. It was she who developed her teacher's ideas and created the world's first dance theater in the German city of Wuppertal.An important characteristic of dance theater is the use of non-dance vocabulary (not symbolic, codified steps, as in classical ballet) and everyday movements taken from everyday life. Interpreted by the choreographer (or director), these movements become characteristics of the image, repeated many times or combined with text and singing. As in dramatic theater, in dance theater, a choreographic performance is created based on a dramatic or musical work in accordance with the director's concept and under his or her supervision through the joint efforts of the choreographer, actors, designer, and costume designer.It is precisely the flexible form of dance theater, which lacks rigid boundaries, unlike the forms of academic ballet, that is becoming the leading form among the countless modern dance trends of this period, directly or indirectly influencing contemporary dance, transforming it, and enriching it with new elements. More and more choreographers are turning to dance theater as the most versatile tool for expressing human inner states, capable of conveying the subtlest nuances of human psychological processes.Portuguese-born choreographer Artur Pita also used elements of dance theater in his production of "Methamorphosis," based on the story of the same name by Czech writer Franz Kafka.
Artur Pita's adaptation of Franz Kafka's story originally premiered at the Linbury Studio Theatre of London's Royal Opera House in 2011. The music was written and performed by the young contemporary composer Frank Moon, the set design was by Simon Dawe, and the lighting design was by Guy Hoare. "Metamorphosis" runs only 80 minutes (without intermission). Pita expands and deepens the psychological component of the story, demonstrating his involvement in the events on stage, empathizing with the protagonist, and the development of all the characters. Unlike Kafka, he adds an emotional layer. Thus, the viewer, rather than a detached observer, becomes a participant in the metamorphosis of both the protagonist and all members of his family, who change under the influence of the current situation.
This production has a number of features that elevate it beyond even contemporary ballet and allow it to be classified as dance theater, or plastic theater.Unlike the standard theater stage we are accustomed to, where there is a clear boundary between audience and performer, this production was not staged at the Royal Opera House, but at a studio theater or drama theater. The stage here is located in the center of the auditorium, arranged like an amphitheater, thus providing a three-dimensional view of the action. The mobile sets were created with this in mind. Simon Dawe's design divides the stage into two platforms with a narrow bridge between them. Both spaces are immaculately white, with an imaginary wall between them. Spotlights, positioned at specific angles, focus the viewer's attention alternately on one room and then the other.
A large, extended preamble, an introduction to the main action, that precedes the actual transformation significantly differentiates Pita's production from the literary source. Much of the story is told in mime; Pita adds short dialogues in Czech. The words and urban sounds of the surrounding world (alarm clocks, train whistles, shouts, and conversations) become part of Frank Moon's score, which blends various musical styles: folk, swing, and Eastern European lounge. The stage design and sound components detail the events of each day, creating the effect of a film, a video sequence.
The entire performance is a single flow, without the usual division into numbers, but within this continuous structure, individual meaningful scenes, choreographic duets, solos, and ensembles are distinguished.
The role of Gregor Samsa was performed by Edward Watson, a principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, and this role was created entirely with the dancer's physical and technical capabilities in mind, meaning it was tailored to a specific individual. The protagonist's movement was constructed on the principle of inverse. The dancer's body, trained and conditioned by classical ballet, allows for incredible flexibility; his remarkably tenacious, long toes, with their individual articulations, are in constant motion, writhing like insect antennae. According to Watson himself, at the beginning of the performance, he and the choreographer strove to demonstrate the most familiar, everyday human movement possible, so that there would then be a contrasting transition to "non-human" movement, in which all movements accessible to the normal human body were eliminated. Extreme twists, joint rotations, intertwining of arms and legs—we see before us not a human, but some other creature. A dark brown, thick liquid, which gradually spreads throughout the initially perfectly clean space of his room, is used periodically for certain movements—gliding, pulling—and becomes practically a prop, part of the performance. In Kafka's story, it's unclear whether Gregor has physically transformed into an insect or whether the daily toil and hardships have caused him to suffer a mental breakdown. Pita's production skillfully maintains this ambiguity: the physical transformation could reflect the behavior of a giant insect or the abnormal behavior of a mind out of control. From this perspective, what happens to him can be seen as a psychological process of internal struggle with his "demons." And they do indeed appear on stage—three black figures in latex suits who smear Gregor from head to toe in a black, sticky liquid. If we draw a parallel with human psychological or spiritual states, this could be seen as a descent into depression or profound mental disorder, a struggle with one's dark side.
Here, it's worth turning to another of the most pressing, emerging themes of contemporary ballet. After all, it is precisely the art of the body that so sensitively reflects the leading trends of the surrounding world. The theme of inclusivity, the "otherness" of the physical body, a body limited in its capabilities—something that is currently receiving so much attention in society—is also addressed in choreographic productions. It's worth recalling Marie Schaunard and her dancers in pointe shoes on crutches, or Dimitris Papaioannou with his experiments on the human body (visually "removing" limbs by bending them, simulating disability). From this perspective, Pita's production can be seen as the story of a man who suddenly falls seriously ill and his family, who are trying to accept and cope with this fact. And in the process of experiencing this situation, all family members transform.
The final scene demonstrates that Gregor has not lost the most important thing—human consciousness and the ability to think and feel. He understands that everyone has turned their backs on him, and he has no choice but to die, freeing his family from a heavy burden. This ending radically changes the meaning of the entire plot. In Pita's production, Gregor's death is a personal, conscious choice, achieved through prolonged suffering and reflection, while in Kafka, the hero dies by chance. Kafka's story doesn't evoke tears. The ending of Pita's production compels us to empathize with the hero, to put ourselves in his shoes, and to reflect on the plot, as a similar situation (illness, injury) could happen to anyone.
Music plays a major role in this production as a means of explicating the hero's psychological and internal states of mind. Thus, the music reflects the hero's inner thoughts and experiences that physical gestures cannot express. It is an emotional counterpoint, explaining through melodic and sonic means what is happening in the characters' souls. In other words, the musical score carries psychological meaning, complementing and conveying what choreography alone cannot. At the same time, the approach to the creation and use of musical scores differs significantly from that of dramatic theatre and even dance theatre.Music's independence is not a background, and if it were removed from the production, the entire psychological component would be lost, and the integrity of the performance would be compromised.
In modern times, the human body is being re-evaluated. The practice of psychoanalysis turns people inward. Contemporary theater is significantly dependent on the transformations of the historical and cultural landscape that occurred throughout the 20th century and were driven by the search for a new value-aesthetic, semantic, and technological paradigm, including the paradigm of "new art." The historical and aesthetic development of dance in the 20th century is characterized by a radical shift in the understanding of the body and, accordingly, in the forms of bodily expressiveness. It is apparently too early to draw any definitive conclusions about this process, but its logic nevertheless reveals itself in contemporary aesthetic culture with a certain degree of clarity. In contemporary productions, the normative mechanisms that shape the dancer's body are giving way to new choreographic practices that articulate a plurality of bodies and modes of bodily expression. The stage is filled with dancers from whom audiences are accustomed to turning away, or, conversely, those whom they are accustomed to staring at, assuring themselves of their normality: "I'm not like that." It would be a mistake, however, to assume that contemporary dance has completely freed itself from the canons of academic beauty. Rather, the very standards of representation of the body in society have changed. A beautiful body on stage is now just one element in the extremely broad toolkit of contemporary dance. Because the very concept of beauty and its perception is changing (and contemporary ballet, in this regard, is merely a mirror of the processes unfolding in the world of fashion and society).
In terms of genre, A. Pita's production "Metamorphoses" under consideration is not a ballet in the classical sense. This is a contemporary dance, a dramatic performance, a musical performance, or, even more accurately, a visual performance. It is closest in genre to a musical drama, yet still maintains an emphasis on choreography. We see the choreographer employing artistic devices related to dramatic theater: pantomime, extras, props, facial expressions, words, everyday gestures and movements, while skillfully integrating them into the overall choreographic score. The music in this production acts as a partner to the choreography, complementing and even "explaining" the action on stage and serving as a self-sufficient element of the performance.
Thus, it can be noted that today's ballet draws on many forms of choreography. New forms of choreographic art are being created, among which dance theater emerges as a new (sometimes radical) way of working with the body in space, suggesting a rethinking of corporeality and the relationship to the body itself in dance.
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