The lost art of épaulement
Alla Shelest was virtually unknown in the West, but she was an eminent dancer in the USSR during the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Here she is trying to teach a younger dancer what’s known as épaulement, which is “the nuanced positioning of the head, shoulders, and neck” which makes dancing “better, richer, and more artistic.” Shelest’s efforts here to convey her own knowledge are somewhat in vain. And this is a while back; today’s dancers tend to be even more deficient in épaulement. In this video, it is the older yet luminous Shelest to whom the viewer’s eyes are drawn rather than to the soloist she’s coaching.
Serious questions: 1) Why are today’s dancers lacking in the art that Shelest is trying to inculcate? Deficiencies in their early training/coaching? Changes in height and weight in the population of ballet students? Other factors? 2) Is there a difference between female and male dancers in épaulement? I just watched a Baryshnikov video (from the 1980s), and he appears to have the “nuanced positioning of the head, shoulders, and neck” that Shelest is modeling for a female dancer, even though his neck and shoulder musculature is obviously that of a male. It’s fascinating to watch the carriage of his upper body rather than focusing on his dramatic high leaps and turns.
PA Cat:
I think it’s because of the huge emphasis on greater technical achievement at the expense of all else. Multiple turns, longer balances, higher extensions – and the nuances of what makes dance dance start dropping out. Then, as they drop out more and more, fewer teachers even know how to teach them.
Thanks, Neo– that explanation makes sense. Watching older videos (of many different dancers) makes it clear to me how much has been lost.
Loved it.
If you can do it, uncouple your eyes and watch both women simultaneously to see the rather stark difference.
Neo: Curious as to your opinion of Cyd Charrise’s control in the same area.
You already know my infatuation.
I think there’s also the higher emphasis on ‘me’ instead of ‘the piece’.
Looking at other entertainment talents, it’s easily seen spotted.
As I recall from the Pilsetskaya video on hands, the feet and legs are limited in their expressiveness due to their primary duty to support the body as it moves.
However, the hands, arms and shoulders are free for expression and should be used for such.
épaulement … a beautiful word.
It’s French, you know. It can also mean
* Retaining wall.
* Bulwark of protection against enemy fire.
Those instructions went right over that young girl’s head! She’s got a hole in her mitt!
“Why are today’s dancers lacking…”
That would seem to be a grand generalization; but, indeed, might one wonder if this is a reason—THE reason?—to bemoan (a la Putin?) the breakup of the Soviet Union…? OTOH, there would seem to be no reason why the tradition couldn’t have continued in Russia proper…though it may well have been a question of a funding deficit, IOW drastic post-USSR budget cuts…(the money going in other directions and/or pockets).
As Oligonicella points out, Shelest’s pupil is not doing what Shelest is demonstrating. It’s sad to watch, really — the pupil is almost klutzy compared to her tutor.
It is quite beautiful to watch her. There are bellydancers who do sonething like this. Ill try to find an example.
Oh my, oh my, what have we here??
Why…it’s the lost art of common sense!
(Might want to sit down before reading this baby…)
Surprise!!
“New York Times Columnist: It’s A ‘Problem’ For U.S. If ‘Elites’ Censor Speech”—
https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-times-columnist-its-a-problem-for-u-s-if-elites-censor-speech
H/T Instapundit.
– – – – – – – –
And Holy Malarkey, when it rains, it pours…
“Sleazy Is As Sleazy Does: NYT Columnist Rips Biden For Refusing To Acknowledge His Granddaughter”—
https://blazingcatfur.ca/2023/07/09/sleazy-is-as-sleazy-does-nyt-columnist-rips-biden-for-refusing-to-acknowledge-his-granddaughter/
Have the Helots truly decided that it’s time to behead the King?
I immediately thought of Plisetskaya throwing her head back in those clips from Don Quixote and Faust…. and her convincingly youthful wonderment in the Raymonda scarf dance. How much of that was rehearsed, how much spontaneous? My guess is it’s a bit of both, like jazz performance.
What happened in gymnastics is happening in ballet: technical “wowing” over moving gracefully. Moving faster, bigger, more impressively, and to hell with line and lyrical movements.
Prior to 1976, gymnastics was a LOT more graceful. Though in 1972, Olga Korbut was not nearly as “graceful” as gymnasts prior to then. But in 1976, we had the Nadia Commenci perfect 10s. Her execution may have been perfect, but in the “between” movements, there was no grace. Prior to then, gymnasts did worry about a degree of epaulement, though they may not have called it that.
Can epaulement even be explained verbally? Described, maybe, but…throwing one’s head back, doing….just right with the arms….?
Perhaps it can be demonstrated by a master, but how does it feel when a student does it to her own…neck, shoulders, so forth?
Maybe you just have the ability built in,,. and then work it and work it and work it, which wouldn’t work without the inborn gift?
Richard Aubrey:
Some people are more gifted at it than others, but it definitely can be taught and there are principles to it. They have to do with working head and shoulders in opposition to create certain lines and impressions. Here’s a nice short explanation of an aspect of it. Here’s a scene from “The Turning Point,” a movie in which I was an extra.
Neo,
How to make a mechanical–you should excuse the term–movement look inhumanly graceful.
I get the need to display exaggerates the turning, including the lifting of the chin and tilting the head away from the potential audience.
A lot to think about. The display movement is…artificial. People will see your necklace. They’ll see your earrings. It’s unnecessary, but the thought leads to the movement.
Never in my life have I wanted to or been told to be graceful. None of the physical issues I’ve learned included that requirement. I suppose that certain athletic movements, if run in quite slow motion, might look graceful.
Some of fencing–perhaps limited to foil–might look graceful but I suspect that’s because it’s been assigned that quality.
Geez. Wish I’d kept up on my physical therapy. Might try the neck thing in the mirror.
I think it’s because of the huge emphasis on greater technical achievement at the expense of all else.
–neo
I’m reminded of something I observed at my recent university lectures:
Everything is a checkbox to be ticked off.
No time to notice how things connect or the graceful ways in which they might connect. Or the bigger picture for it all.
Just Techniques A, B, C… While the instructor keeps a close eye on the time and the PowerPoint list for that day of the course.