Classical vs. Character Dancer
THE CURRENT TRUTH BEHIND THE RUSSIAN BALLET COMPANY.
As a kid, I remember watching ballet footage and reading about interviews with dancers and choreographers. There was in France a great monthly newspaper called “Danser, Le magazine de la danse” and it was with excitement that I was waiting for it to arrive in my mailbox.
I remember hearing about this question many times: "Who is your favorite dancer is ?". As it would be expected, I should have answered a female name, probably French, having very little knowledge at this period about the vast ballet world and dreaming only about the Paris Opera Ballet like any French little ballerina.
Even though the name that came to mind was Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Baryshnikov inspired me and so many generations of dancers, and he was an idol not only as a masculine figure but also for the feminine pole.
Apart from his beauty, I always admire in him, the ability to dance so easily, as if it didn’t cost any power or struggle, and also to dance everything so brightly.
“To dance everything so greatly” was for me, and this is still today's highest exam. If a dancer is great, he/she is great at everything. If you understand your body and master it, then you can learn and dance everything.
This idea has remained with me all the way along, and I still believe in it today, no matter what I see around me.
So what about this division in Russian Ballet about Character and Classical Dance ?
In most companies in the world, we find dancers that dance for the ensemble (corps de ballet) and dancers that dance solos.
In the Mariinsky Theater, everything is a little different. We find here another kind of division between classical and character solos, and it seems like two different professions, one on pointe and the other on character shoes.
Being an old company, there are specific traditions and unique ballet choreographies.
Most of the classical repertoire of the Mariinsky Theater has both types of solos.
When I arrived in the company and in the following years, apart from working as a corps member, I was given more and more solo characters.
I nearly dance everything in character now, and I feel grateful for having the opportunity to dance solos on this old stage.
A character dancer is a completely different profession, which means the musicality, the temperament, and the use of the legs and upper body have their own specificities.
Imagine how much time and energy it takes to become great in a character style, considering that it's the same work to be put into a classical style.
You can also notice that the costumes are usually longer and heavier. The whole style is enhanced with accessories, like jewels, hats, and gloves.
I recently started working on classical solos with Yulia Makhalina and I acknowledge that I need to move differently.
Each time I pass from classical to character, as it would be for modern, I need to switch my way of moving, as the flow inside (energy) also circulates differently.
The dynamics are completely different, though no less beautiful and deep.
“Character or Classical ?”
This is actually a subject with different points of view; I know it. From what I heard around me, there is the idea of “emploi” which means that you are great for a certain type of role or ballet and that a specific repertoire is made that fits and reveals your skills at their best. To some extent, I share this vision. A beautiful swan queen is rarely compatible with an impulsive and energetic Kitri. But this idea creates only more limited beliefs and preconceived ideas. There are more often that we believe exceptions to the rule, exceptions that struggle grandly due to these social limitations.
If we share this idea of dividing the repertoire and roles depending on the natural character and physical ability of a dancer, how can you decide who fits better with character than classical ? (or the contrary)
Sometimes it happened to me that the main reason was the shape: “she is a beautiful artist, BUT for classical requirements, her feet, her technique, her proportion… are not enough”.
Nevertheless, when I watched the surrounding shapes, I realized that it’s not always the case.
Then there is the idea that if you are not good enough at classical, then let’s put you in character. I found this idea terribly sad, knowing that probably half of the solos in the ballet at the Mariinsky Theater, for example, are of character style.
I wish Character would be valued not as a parallel choice but more as a complementary choice.
Why ?
I think that no matter what you dance, from the moment it’s new and unexplored, as well as modern, it will open in you, a new way of moving, new knowledge, and new ability, which will make you a better dancer, and one category in which you do greatly is not supposed to limit you but to open new possibilities in your future.
“Your arms and hands are free to express anything, your nationality, your character, your era, or mood.”
Maya Plisetskaya’s words show us the importance of understanding the diversity of nuances of character that manifest themselves mainly through the arms and which will play a key role in the veracity of the story unfolding on stage.
And these qualities are given in Character dance, which shows the importance of Character Dance, not as a secondary choice but as a complementary discipline for classical dancers to grow and excel in their discipline.
In the academy, this discipline is followed by each student; strangely, in the theater, it becomes a specificity of only a few dancers, dancers that then will rarely have the chance again to dance Classical.
