Comments on: The real balance needed for ballet http://www.tomandcandice.com/the-real-balance-needed-for-ballet We're pretty awesome. Sun, 01 Aug 2010 10:27:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: catherine http://www.tomandcandice.com/the-real-balance-needed-for-ballet/comment-page-1#comment-602 catherine Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:00:32 +0000 http://www.tomandcandice.com/?p=170#comment-602 I share the already-posted admiration and can only add 'if you love what you do, then do what you love.' (loose translation of another French proverb!) I share the already-posted admiration and can only add ‘if you love what you do, then do what you love.’ (loose translation of another French proverb!)

]]> By: Heather http://www.tomandcandice.com/the-real-balance-needed-for-ballet/comment-page-1#comment-598 Heather Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:56:29 +0000 http://www.tomandcandice.com/?p=170#comment-598 What a terrific speech! I loved reading it. I bet it was hard for you to stop at three minutes. I'm sure there is a lot more you wanted to say on that topic. I think you already have a good title but I won't be surprised if it changes before you give the speech. Great work as usual. Mom What a terrific speech! I loved reading it. I bet it was hard for you to stop at three minutes. I’m sure there is a lot more you wanted to say on that topic. I think you already have a good title but I won’t be surprised if it changes before you give the speech. Great work as usual.

Mom

]]> By: Ann Daly http://www.tomandcandice.com/the-real-balance-needed-for-ballet/comment-page-1#comment-597 Ann Daly Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:45:25 +0000 http://www.tomandcandice.com/?p=170#comment-597 I am so gratified that there are scholars like yourself continuing the inquiry! But I feel compelled to point out that you misunderstand the point of the analyses (Daly, Foster, et al) that you describe. The critique was not about individual dancers, it was about the impact of ballet as a representational system, as a bearer of culture. It's not a matter of respecting or disrespecting ballet! I still treasure Balanchine ballets as the best I've ever seen. It doesn't mean that their representational systems are not patriarchal or that I can't have a variety of responses to them. Again, the inquiry is deeper. It's not bad/good, either/or. We need less of that simplistic thinking and more rigorous questioning. For example, why is 40-something-year-old Valerie Bertinelli on the cover of People magazine in a bikini? What does that say about the cultural moment? It is *precisely* the complexity of situation (eg, why does beauty systematically require women to take on a certain body image?) that makes it worth studying! Best of luck, Ann Daly I am so gratified that there are scholars like yourself continuing the inquiry!

But I feel compelled to point out that you misunderstand the point of the analyses (Daly, Foster, et al) that you describe. The critique was not about individual dancers, it was about the impact of ballet as a representational system, as a bearer of culture.

It’s not a matter of respecting or disrespecting ballet! I still treasure Balanchine ballets as the best I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t mean that their representational systems are not patriarchal or that I can’t have a variety of responses to them. Again, the inquiry is deeper. It’s not bad/good, either/or. We need less of that simplistic thinking and more rigorous questioning. For example, why is 40-something-year-old Valerie Bertinelli on the cover of People magazine in a bikini? What does that say about the cultural moment?

It is *precisely* the complexity of situation (eg, why does beauty systematically require women to take on a certain body image?) that makes it worth studying!

Best of luck,
Ann Daly

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