Ballet Florida Comes to the Broward Center for the Performing Arts

    FORT LAUDERDALE, October 27, 2008 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Given the chance to see a performance of Cinderella in the Amaturo theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, I pondered the cultural aspects of such an evening after losing the argument with my girlfriend as to whether we would attend. For all the reluctance expressed prior to attending, it is safe to say that it was one dispute I am glad to have given in to.

To me the ballet is something that sneers at the basic delights of life with contempt for us average Joes who happen to enjoy the human body as it moves in competitive action against other bodies while both wear uniforms depicting allegiance to different teams of like-minded athletes. The general movement of the human body is also, on occasion, marveled at while accompanied by contemporary music and judges and crowds and an entire cultural construction that becomes competition between the dancers. The media presentations of those who "think they can dance" are delivered directly to my living room, so why should I be concerned with the classical arts? It may be that the giant on whose shoulders our contemporary dream-granting television programming stands should be experienced. To help keep things in perspective, at least.

If you have not yet been to the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, I recommend it. They host a large amount of performances ranging from contemporary music to classical arts, children's shows to theater, so you can find something that suits you. A splendid interior of wood ceilings, gold banisters, stucco walls featuring fine works of art and lovely exterior of the Peck Courtyard complete with bar, flowers and Johnson Fountain make for an earthy, yet decadent feel. That collision of seemingly opposite notions is what makes for an enjoyable live cultural artistic experience, and lends itself to the question of the value of art within a society.

Art may raise a person to levels of philosophical discourse that rivals the great thinkers of the past with inspired visions of the feats and techniques of human artistry. In most instances, though, artists are doing what they can to raise funds to continue doing that which they love. Perhaps it is that love from the artists which inspires many to levels of thought and critical view of performance, or to donate. Whatever the case may be it is simply a matter of preference when it comes to arts, and from my experience there are two general practices of art in our current American society. That of Academics and that of Organics.

Academics are those who attend school to study various arts and usually rack up immense student loans to learn one specific set of artistic abilities, developed to professional performance degrees that they must apply to their actions in life in order to pay back those student loans and, perhaps, afford other luxuries like food.

Then there are the Organics who may or may not attend school beyond the eighth grade but do have a natural affinity for a specific type of performed ability that captivates the attentions of many of their contemporaries. Many of these types provide the music at the small restaurants and venues frequented by other people. Our own culture is full of these Organics, and, it could be argued, our pop culture and counter culture would not exist without them.

The general consensus seems to be that Academics resent Organics for their easy income potential and Organics resent Academics for their learned precision of performance. Whether or not both types have any awareness of their place in the history of humanity's artistic endeavors is dependent on their individual set of circumstances, as the Organics are really just contemporary versions of the intuitive artistry studied by the Academics.

The performance of the ballet, Cinderella, to music by Sergei Prokofiev and choreographed by Vicente Nebrada, is definitely in the column classical art, and thus was performed by what could be called Academic artists. Being an artist of the Organic type, and having spent my day locating a venue at which my band could perform, I decided to keep an open mind and perhaps gaze on the performance by Ballet Florida as though they deserve at least the same kind of respect I would want audience members to give my band when it plays at places like Dada's in Delray Beach or Daisy Dukes in Pembroke Pines.

So I put on the three piece suit, slicked back my hair and offered my arm to my lady. We entered the theater and sat in the front row.

The story was easy to see, as clich as it is, and the subtle nuances of the performers are what made the classical art palatable from the start. The awkward and jerky mannerisms of the stepsisters and stepmother coupled with the fact that all three roles were played by men eased me with comedy into the more elegant presentation. Somewhere between wondering if one of the stepsisters had intentionally stepped on a piece of clothing during one of the routines and noticing that Cinderella's pet was a live parakeet on stage, I began to see the organic nature of the art form.

These people on stage were controlling their bodies in sublime rhythm with the music in a manner that is well beyond what I could do. The notion of the physical strain they were going through was augmented by the fact that their facial expressions continued to portray their character's emotions. I, for one, could not balance myself on one leg as I bent forward at the waist with one arm above my head and keep a full toothed grin on my face while doing such. It is that ability of the dancers, to maintain composure of the character expressed through their face while using their bodies in beautiful movements that makes the lunacy of human performance become a spectacle worthy of attention.
It is, after all, art.

So while the notion of the fourth wall being erected to pull the audience into the world of the story told is tempting to mention in detail, it is important to simply tell you, the readers, that the skill of this group of performers was well developed enough to cultivate sympathy from the audience for the predictable feelings of the characters.

The question to ask, then, is: Is it the art form itself that evokes the feeling in the audience, or is it the group of performers?

Perhaps it was the fact that one of the strongest dancers in the ballet was rumored to have injured his back in rehearsal that made the human drama evident on stage. Perhaps it was the point in act two when the dancers created a spectacle of human physical performance so incredibly beautiful that it overshadowed the comedy elements of the show, sent a chill down my neck and convinced me that I was, indeed, spending my time witnessing high art as humanity has created it.

The grandiose attributes of modern theatrics (the pyrotechnics and smoke machine) helped to enhance the experience, but the beautiful scenery and costumes still captured the essence of the familiar story. The honed skills of the performers permeated the story outward into our reality, and to feel the fantasy of the tale become part of our world through the talent of the dancers was an enlivening experience that heightened my own appreciation, not merely of Ballet Florida and its production, but all works of beauty humans have endeavored to create. I felt. And that is what good art does; it makes us feel.

With minutes to go in the final act, a couple in the audience left the theater through the exit to the right of the stage. I thought that was incredibly rude of them to do. Their action prompted me to write this informal review. The arts, as we know them, are present in our world to engage us with human performances we do not encounter in our everyday lives. The arts are meant to inspire us and intrigue us, challenge us to points of higher thinking and remind us to cherish and celebrate every moment of our brief time alive. The couple that left before the very end seemed to me to be the epitome of consumerism. When people are spoon fed their implicit cultural education through home based entertainment mediums, they become capable of walking out of a theater with no more thought than is involved in changing the channel. The brilliance of performance, as it occurs live before our own eyes, must be valued for what it is: reality TV without the TV.

I constantly tell people to venture out to their local bars and coffee houses to see some local artists as they create new ways of spending our time through the pleasure of music and poetry. I convey the importance of visiting museums because images splayed with paint or carved in stone cause us to think those thoughts that would otherwise be commandeered by clever marketing devices as we watch our favorite, or second favorite, sports teams. But now I think there may be something to the pomp and frills of experiencing the classical theatrical arts such as ballet, because I do not want to become the kind of person who, while in the midst of other humans performing with grace and exactitude those acts of beauty so difficult that they must study how to make it look natural, walks out before the performance is through.

I really should not hold it against that rude couple, though. Maybe they just had to be home before midnight.

About Joseph Leutz
Joseph Leutz is a writer who experiences the world and then writes about it.

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