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Shadowplay: The Life Of Antony Tudor
Antony Tudor was the creator of the psychological ballet: his haunting and dramatic dances, among them "Dark Elegies", "Pillar of Fire", "Jardin aux Lilas" and "Shadowplay" helped break the mould of classical ballet. Born to a poor East End family, Tudor turned away from the fables and abstractions of other choreographers to plumb his own ambivalence about himself and his often turbulent personal relationships. In this biography, the author illuminates Tudor's struggles with the greatest figures in 20th-century dance - DeMille, Robbins, Nureyev, Balanchine, Ashton, Kirkland and others - and his longtime romance with dancer Hugh Laning and their menage-a-trois with ballerina Diane Adams. She also explores and explains the dances themselves.
Hardcover
First published August 1, 2004
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October 5, 2014
Tudor was a choreographic innovator who brought a revolution to the conception of what a ballet could be. His concern was to shift dance from external athletic maneuvers and story enactment to bringing to the surface interior states of mind and emotion that belong to the schema of a situation. His driving force was to create artists from dancers, to have them answer with their bodies: "where does this impulse come from and why?"
Having seen most of Tudor's ballets I have always been struck with what I assumed his central concern might be: how to make ballets that reflect fine artistic judgement vs works based on expediency.
In any technical endeavor (and ballet is certainly in that category) there is the possibility for the seemingly infinite parts to be just reassembled in the most efficient ways, rather than the most artistic. Lack of time, or budget or just the sheer exhaustion of creation can make that so. But Tudor seemed to resist just giving in, and held his standards and inner vision throughout his career. It is a valuable lesson to see what happens as a result of that throughout his lifetime. It is not always accolades and cheer.
Perlmutter's book treats all of these topics in wonderful and insightful detail. Highly recommended!
Having seen most of Tudor's ballets I have always been struck with what I assumed his central concern might be: how to make ballets that reflect fine artistic judgement vs works based on expediency.
In any technical endeavor (and ballet is certainly in that category) there is the possibility for the seemingly infinite parts to be just reassembled in the most efficient ways, rather than the most artistic. Lack of time, or budget or just the sheer exhaustion of creation can make that so. But Tudor seemed to resist just giving in, and held his standards and inner vision throughout his career. It is a valuable lesson to see what happens as a result of that throughout his lifetime. It is not always accolades and cheer.
Perlmutter's book treats all of these topics in wonderful and insightful detail. Highly recommended!
Displaying 1 of 1 review