Age, rage and ballet

by Aditha Dissanayake

If you are well past your seventh year on planet earth I am afraid it is now, a bit too late for you to become a ballet dancer. "Seven is the best age to begin" says R. Aluthweediyage, one of the few male ballet dancers around.

"Dancing is one of the most difficult, disciplined, and beautiful forms of art created by mankind. Ballet is truly the foundation of all dance. Ballet teaches self discipline, correct body placement, strength, and gracefulness. It is a full time occupation which needs a lot of disciplining and exercising, which most men, simply don't have".

What is ballet?

An important question, but one which Aluthweediyage says, is hard to define. But for the purpose of understanding and appreciating the form, the most important trait of ballet could be described as technique.

The technique of ballet, more so than modern dance, is precise. It is founded on a very specific vocabulary of basic steps and positions of the arms , you will see over and over again.

The style may change from role to role, depending on what a given movement sequence is supposed to convey, but the building blocks are clearly recognizable, even in contemporary works in which the vocabulary is mixed with other artistic principles.

Vocabulary?

Yes. Says Aluthweediyage, a student of Usha Saravanamuttu, who has dedicated his whole life to this form of dance.

"Ballet is a language. A traditional language that is internationally understood, with which a choreographer constructs a dance - ordering, adapting, even changing movements to suit the eye, the heart, and the individual performer's ability".

With the participation of around forty students he has used these features to produce a creation of his own. Calling it a mixture of drama and ballet, he has given it the title: "Fluttering Idols".

Watching Aluthweediyage at rehearsals, it becomes evident that to perform the more demanding routines, a ballet dancer must appear to defy gravity though he cannot, of course, escape its constraints.

A good knowledge of basic physics and the science of human perception would provide an insight into how this is accomplished. Knowing little or nothing in both these fields all I can comprehend is that when he hovers in mid air with his arms and legs extended he resembles a bird in flight.

When I focus on his face and the upper body he appears to float. It is hard not to gasp in amazement when he lifts each knee in succession with hips turned out, so that for a moment both feet are in the air at the same time, passing each other.

For a moment he seems to be suspended in air. "Ballet runs in my blood. I will never give it up" vows Aluthweediyage with determination.

Based on a dream, with witches and angels his production promises to be a breathtaking dance masterpiece.

'Fluttering Idols' will be staged at the Elphiniston Theatre on December 8, 2007 at 6.30 p.m.

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