The two choreographers draw from stripping down classical movements by investing in the possibilities of what ballet can become. Classical ballet is founded on principles of the body. Some distinctive features include turnout of the outward rotation of the legs, positions of the feet with emphasis on flexibility and the point of the foot. Some of Balanchine’s innovations of classical ballet include the action of the extended foot, the extension of hands to the end of the fingertips, the tilting of the pelvis and inverted turns. Forsythe built on Balanchine’s baseline to further extend the boundaries of ballet. Forsythe surprised his audience by his ability to recreate ballet. Nearly fifty years after Balanchine’s turning point pieces Apollo
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Similar to Balanchine, flexibility and épaulement-placing of the upper body-are continually worked into Forsythe’s choreography, to present torsions and tilts of the body’s axis. Forsythe believes, “...épaulement is our secret weapon in ballet. It’s not really the positions, but the torsions of them, which comes from épaulement.” The classical ballet arms became sharp angles and the image of a graceful dancer transposed to being a powerful dancer. Forsythe’s port de bras, another term for carriage of the arms, was originated by Balanchine’s School of American Ballet. While teaching Balanchine said, “If you cannot control every single millimetre of these joints, you cannot dance. Because this is finally going to indicate the rotation of the upper arm, which forms a chain of muscular reaction, the angles of the head, the shoulders, the torso and the foot." Extension of the limbs incorporated with music, show strength of the physicality of the dancer. The intricate gestural drive propelled aesthetic of ballet. Forsythe describes his application as moving beside the traditional art form without dismissing it. Forsythe considers ballet the mother tongue that, “you can’t erase from your consciousness.” Given Forsythe’s intellectual interest in contemporary and radical momentum of movement, ballet is present but could not stay the
Similar to Balanchine, flexibility and épaulement-placing of the upper body-are continually worked into Forsythe’s choreography, to present torsions and tilts of the body’s axis. Forsythe believes, “...épaulement is our secret weapon in ballet. It’s not really the positions, but the torsions of them, which comes from épaulement.” The classical ballet arms became sharp angles and the image of a graceful dancer transposed to being a powerful dancer. Forsythe’s port de bras, another term for carriage of the arms, was originated by Balanchine’s School of American Ballet. While teaching Balanchine said, “If you cannot control every single millimetre of these joints, you cannot dance. Because this is finally going to indicate the rotation of the upper arm, which forms a chain of muscular reaction, the angles of the head, the shoulders, the torso and the foot." Extension of the limbs incorporated with music, show strength of the physicality of the dancer. The intricate gestural drive propelled aesthetic of ballet. Forsythe describes his application as moving beside the traditional art form without dismissing it. Forsythe considers ballet the mother tongue that, “you can’t erase from your consciousness.” Given Forsythe’s intellectual interest in contemporary and radical momentum of movement, ballet is present but could not stay the