I thought this seasonal article with two Royal Ballet dancers talking about the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy might be of interest.
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/feature/0,,1965110,00.html
Full Version: Sugar Plums with Royal Ballet
This may be OT and mods please re direct this comment.
One line stood out for me in the review, and perhaps others might comment. The dancer said that she enters at the end of the ballet without having the benefit of an established relationship with the audience.
On the face, this makes perfect sense because her part is a new character which the audience has not seen until her entrance. And I understand that performance art, such as ballet are for an audience.. which shows its appreciation at the conclusion in curtain calls, bravos etc. But how does a dancer feel the audience and the "relationship" from a silent house who sits there absorbing the ballet? In the mind of the audience THEY may empathize or feel a relationship to a character... just as when we sit in the movie house and react to the characters on the screen. (They of course are off doing something else and completely unaware of the impact of their performance on the audience in their cinema).
The orchestra plays a different role in the dance... as they ARE providing lots to the dancers and there is a relationship... but the audience-dancer relationship seems more like what you have in the cinema with the exception that the audience can and often does react with applause after a particular piece.. such as a pas de deux.
I often wonder how the dancers "feel" about this. On the one hand they surely appreciate the response along the way in a piece, but on the other hand it may cut the flow of energy and turn a piece into a series of vignettes of punctuated virtuosity.
An orchestral piece with several movements / sections is rarely interrupted (in my experience) by the audience. This seems to be more common in opera and ballet.
This raises several issues for both the ballet audience and the performers. As an audience member do you feel that intermittent approval adds or detracts to the overall entire performance... does it inspire (add) or detract from the dancer's performance and concentration in their role?
For the former dancers and other performers on BT... what are your thoughts about audience reactions in the course of a performance?
One line stood out for me in the review, and perhaps others might comment. The dancer said that she enters at the end of the ballet without having the benefit of an established relationship with the audience.
On the face, this makes perfect sense because her part is a new character which the audience has not seen until her entrance. And I understand that performance art, such as ballet are for an audience.. which shows its appreciation at the conclusion in curtain calls, bravos etc. But how does a dancer feel the audience and the "relationship" from a silent house who sits there absorbing the ballet? In the mind of the audience THEY may empathize or feel a relationship to a character... just as when we sit in the movie house and react to the characters on the screen. (They of course are off doing something else and completely unaware of the impact of their performance on the audience in their cinema).
The orchestra plays a different role in the dance... as they ARE providing lots to the dancers and there is a relationship... but the audience-dancer relationship seems more like what you have in the cinema with the exception that the audience can and often does react with applause after a particular piece.. such as a pas de deux.
I often wonder how the dancers "feel" about this. On the one hand they surely appreciate the response along the way in a piece, but on the other hand it may cut the flow of energy and turn a piece into a series of vignettes of punctuated virtuosity.
An orchestral piece with several movements / sections is rarely interrupted (in my experience) by the audience. This seems to be more common in opera and ballet.
This raises several issues for both the ballet audience and the performers. As an audience member do you feel that intermittent approval adds or detracts to the overall entire performance... does it inspire (add) or detract from the dancer's performance and concentration in their role?
For the former dancers and other performers on BT... what are your thoughts about audience reactions in the course of a performance?
QUOTE (SanderO @ Dec 9 2006, 03:14 AM) 
One line stood out for me in the review, and perhaps others might comment. The dancer said that she enters at the end of the ballet without having the benefit of an established relationship with the audience.
In Balanchine's original version of the Nutcracker, the Sugar Plum Fairy made her first dancing entrance at the start of the Pas de Deux, with the variation immediately following. Maria Tallchief, who was the original SPF, later related that after the tumultuous response to Tanaquil LeClerq's Dewdrop in the "Waltz of the Flowers" immediately preceeding her entrance, she was nervous about following that tour de force. (The variation was later changed to the beginning of Act II, after the SPF greets the angels.)
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