Lecture 2/3: Frankenstein: Ballet & Literature - Ballet’s First Homosexual Pas de Deux & Death3/22/2024 *Trigger Warning: 5:28-5:33 (Gun sound & Suicide)* The Creature says, “No sympathy may I ever find. When I first sought it, it was the love of virtue, the feelings of happiness and affection with which my whole being overflowed, that I wished to be participated. But now, that virtue has become to me a shadow, and that happiness and affection are turned into bitter and loathing despair, in what should I seek for sympathy?” (166), just moments before his death. In the novel, the reader is able to solidify the malice and evil that the Creature has committed himself to, sending the reader to view the Creature as the monster that he literally portrays. In reading the novel, the reader does get an understanding of the Creature’s child-likeness, as well as how he is also a victim in this story. However, in the ballet this interpretation is taken to another level… The ballet’s ideology, which is an exact mirror of Scarlett’s ideology, comes clear in the last 6.5 minutes of the entire ballet. While revenge on the Creature’s part happens, it is also shown in relation to his deep regrets and sadness, whereas the Creature’s character in the novel comes across as more strong and resilient in the end, claiming that sympathy is not needed. In this lecture, I discuss these themes stated here, as well as how the movement literally represents Victor and the Creature’s similarities to one another, despite their reciprocal hatred that the novel illustrates, as well as the significance of the last scenes including ballet’s first ever homosexual pas de deux.
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In the ballet, Frankenstein, by Liam Scarlett, the audience is immediately drawn into the process of creating this Creature. The scene that I show in this lecture is the first real glimpse that the audience gets of the Creature as his own character and it truly is the birth of the Creature, as well as the start to a terrible chain of events. There are lots of similarities in the text and the ballet, but what makes this visual representation through dance so powerful is our ability to get a taste of thematic elements and interpretive units of the story handed to us right as the story unfolds, especially from the Creature’s point of view. In the opening scenes, we understand right away that Victor is repulsed by the Creature, saying that, “disgust filled [his] heart” (38). However, what we do not fully grasp until much later is the immediate needs of the Creature following his birth. As are the crucial moments after the birth of a child, the moments following the birth of the Creature are also crucial, however, are easily neglected in Victor’s narration of events in the text. We see the confusion, agony, needs, and longing in the Creature’s reaching out to his creator, which is the first thing he does upon becoming more lucid. In the text, the Creature’s perspective of being born is not as clear as it is in the ballet, as in the ballet, the innocence, naivety, and vulnerability is seen right from the start. In my opinion, the ballet leads the reader to be more sympathetic to the Creature in this beginning scene, leading to less of a focus on Victor’s mental state and panic, and instead, a deeper understanding of the Creature’s youthful characteristics.
I decided to choose to do a dance to Brathwaite’s reading of his Caliban poem, because the rhythm by which he spoke related directly to movement. The dance in my video is my own improvisation, but I structure it around movements from Horton training. Horton technique is a Caribbean-based movement style, which is primarily taught through the Alvin Ailey school and company in New York City. I thought that this was the most relevant style to use because of its origins, and how it allows me to accentuate the rhythms of Brathwaite’s voice. The movements are more structural, and stand out against the fluidity of separate parts of the dance.
While this was improv, I based certain movements around landmarks in the poem, to represent different ideas in my dancing. The concept of the limbo is most repeated in the poem, and so my movements on those phrases are the biggest, drawing importance to the concept. They are all tall and expansive movements, based on Brathwaite’s explanation on how the limbo is made to represent and honor the slave ships, but also how the people came out on the other side. My movement also directly parallels specific lines, leaning back on “down down down where the silence lies” to represent the extremeness of that description. The biggest continuity throughout my movement is that I move specifically on the beats where Brathwaite speaks, drawing attention to his specific pauses and accents in the poem. Dance: https://youtu.be/zmZc9mhQHNY
(Poem is in the description as well) Poem: My Safety versus Hungry Eyes I saw the way He looks at me With hungry eyes Enough to murder me. I want to hide Even with Prospero by my side I... Nevermind. It has almost happened once before Once… Before... I shivered in fright On that dreadful night Helpless Lost Confused Prospero has plans for me That I am oblivious, too But I am sure Caliban is and was… not of their invention I saw Caliban as a brother Once That is When I was naive Illogical Innocent And I was so close to letting my innocence go Not by my fault I never should have let him close Taught him the language Allowed him to curse A part of me feels… Grave and I Unfortunately I Lie awake Terrified What is to come of tomorrow? If he peoples Prospero’s island with Calibans? If he succeeds It is my fault If he peoples Prospero’s island with Calibans, I will... Die Of shame Of embarrassment Of ignorance And labor I wouldn’t be able to bear it. At least Prospero Sees. Protects. Plans. And now, Caliban is Done. Doomed. Destroyed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analysis: (There are so many things I can talk about for meaning and such so I apologize if not all is covered and it was hard to choose what to talk about) My poem is mainly inspired by from lines 1.2.412-46 from The Tempest where Prospero and Caliban are bickering and Miranda joins to show her anger at Caliban. I chose to write my poem from Miranda’s point of view because I wanted to create a better insight into her true inner fears and emotions that hide behind her seeming strength in lines 1.2.422-36, where Miranda is undeniably angry and bitter about Caliban’s attempt at raping her and his current verbiage/stance. Most importantly, she is able to express those feelings/lash out at Caliban because Prospero is right by her and Miranda knows he has power over Caliban (Thus, he is “Done. Doomed. Destroyed” in the end because he is controlled by Prospero). However, being almost raped has its consequences and Miranda was not always so powerful and brave after it. She is is still emotionally distraught on the inside. In my poem, she questions her feelings. When I write, “Grave and I / Unfortunately / I / Lie awake / Terrified”, not only does she feel those feelings but, the first letter of every first line spells out guilt and she cannot escape it. Although she subconsciously knows it isn’t her fault, “Not by my fault”, for the most part, she is afraid that seeing Caliban as a brother, treating him well, and teaching him language at a certain point, lead her to be vulnerable and enabled Caliban to act the way he did. As such, she is confused, terrified of Caliban, and in a way, feels regretful of her previous interactions, believing that it is somehow her fault that she almost lost her innocence. She is somehow afraid that Caliban will overpower Prospero or that Prospero will falter (peoples Prospero’s island with Calibans), because it has almost happened once before, and worries about the future, even though she knows that Prospero does have complete control over the entirety of the island, hence “Prospero’s island” and “Prospero has plans for me / That I am oblivious too”. The “too” is also not a grammar mistake. It represents that neither she nor anyone else (like Caliban) knows of Prospero’s plans yet, she feels comfort in them, while Caliban does not. My dance is actually, mostly an improv (few moments were thought out) and it just happened that that was the way my emotions flowed to the poem. I think part of letting it be an improv with parts being thought about ‘in the moment’ really corresponds with and reflects the poem as Miranda doesn’t plan her emotional reactions. And, parts of the dance aren’t perfected and clean, just like Miranda’s situation which adds a dimension of reality. There were parts of the dance where it looked like I was thinking and I feel that it actually contributes to the dance and is meant to show Miranda thinking and contemplating her situation. I must admit that several of the movements corresponded quite well and were obvious to the poem, like the “I saw the way he looks at me” and “ I want to hide / even with Prospero by my side” because I did a hand motions that resembled watching, hiding, and then someone by my side. When I said that I “almost let my innocence go”, I added an action that opened me up and made me seem vulnerable until I hugged myself, which showed an effort to preserve the innocence and the fight to keep it. A less obvious hand motion is when I move my hand up and down to represent tiny Calibans all around me given that the fear or rape came true and Caliban succeeded and a less obvious idea is that I kept going onto the floor to show vulnerability. I also tried to keep a worried face that was often intermixed with a childish like innocence when Miranda is reminiscing about the good in her life, while still being tense and perplexed about her emotional state. The one thing that I think has a great effect is the ending, “Done. / Doomed. / Destroyed,” because Miranda (whom I play) makes a cross with her arms that not only shows that she rejects and despises Caliban, but it also shows her empowerment that she was able to stand up to him (with Prospero’s help). Though she is still iffy with her inner emotions, she is able to show strength in regards to Caliban and connects back to the original lines of The Tempest where she is angry and ‘powerful’ in her lines. It is the conclusion-al uprising. Though Miranda lost some of her confidence and power throughout most of my interpretation, Miranda gains a new dimension of reality and contemplative emotion full of worry that exposes her personal thoughts and feelings that were not so explored in The Tempest. I learned that there is so much more going on internally for Miranda than the play lead on and it is important to read into the scenarios of the character in any situation. The piece I have created is based off Caliban’s struggle to overcome those on the island who suppress his natural qualities and demote his effort to adapt to a new culture. Specifically, I have chosen Caliban’s speech in Act One Scene Two, lines 482 to 490, to influence the creation of my movement. In his speech to Prospero, Caliban not only shows the true abandonment he feels toward Prospero, but his battle to juggle between two unfulfilling identities.
For my piece, I chose to have the music resemble the various characters who attempt to guide Caliban away from his unsophisticated way of life and towards what the characters view as “acceptable” and proper behavior. The music I chose has one person singing in the background who has an almost hypnotizing effect. In the music, there are commanding words such as “machine,” “dance,” and “camouflage.” When I heard these words, I felt like they were very similar to what Caliban might have been told to do on the island by the other characters. Realizing this, I acted as Caliban, initially performing all the commands through movement, and trying to disguise myself as someone else. As the dance continues, the artist in the song says “there’s nothing to worry about.” I felt like this line represented how Caliban might have felt when he was first introduced to Prospero–a man he felt was of fatherly stature, and who convinced him that learning the English language would make him accepted by society. During this part of the music, I let myself completely submit to the voice and guide me in a different direction, only to realize at the end that there was something from my past that would never be let behind. This made me stop and change my path, leaving me halfway between two identities just as Caliban was when he learned the English language but still retained some parts of his past identity such as his physical appearance and behavioral mannerisms. This symbolized the anger Caliban felt while giving the speech I decided to focus on in Act One Scene Two. Caliban most likely believed that, by following Prospero’s advice, he would be inducted into a world that finally accepted him. Instead, he was caught between two identities–one that would never be accepted by any of the characters on the island, and another that poorly mimicked a person of high class and sophistication. Furious, Caliban states that he wishes that he could use all of his mothers “charms” against Prospero, but Prospero is able to suppress his confidence and make Caliban return to slave like chores. This influenced me to act as if I were trying to gather up power to fight against the voices in the song while the lyrics sang “vast and limitless.” I believe the repetition of this phrase over and over nicely symbolized Caliban’s belief that he could beat Prospero, versus his inability to do so in reality. At the end of my piece, just like Caliban, I realize that overcoming Prospero’s power is a futile act. I therefore begin to break down to my natural state, ready to complete the tasks that lie ahead. |
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