The Intersection of Aesthetics and Health (blog 1 of series)
Why Aesthetics, Why Health?
Our perception of both our own bodies and those of others is shaped by many factors—such as gender and age, cultural, educational, and familial backgrounds, as well as our health and possible presence of illness or injury.
These influences shape not only how we see bodies in general, but also how we approach the relationship between appearance and well being.
With a background in dance, this is of particular interest to me and has sparked a desire to probe the intersection of aesthetics and health. When do these two things diverge and when are they inextricably entwined? What about all the grey areas in between?
The intersection of aesthetics and health is a fascinating and increasingly important area that bridges well-being, beauty, and self-perception. It explores how the pursuit of beauty can align with—or sometimes conflict with—physical, mental, and social health
I will be expanding and elaborating on the these ideas over the next few months - Ann
My Approach
I have not set an outline of how to approach this blog systematically. I’m trying to write about things I have never written about before. I have thought about them, but never really tried to put them into words. It will be a process for me. I will give myself the time to stop and question, to get side tracked and to get carried away with my own thoughts. This may not prove to be a super well structured dive into the above mentioned theme, but it will be an honest exploration of the topic.
Discovering the Language of Dance
I want to start way back from the beginning of my life, the influences that brought me to dance and ultimately to my life long relationship with the body, art and health. One of my earliest memories is of my mother singing and moving gracefully across the kitchen as she carried out her daily tasks. Here movements were so alluring and soothing. My mother had spent many of her teenage years studying dance at the Martha Graham studio in New York City. After her 4 children were grown enough that she could start to focus on her own interests again, she started to look for a place where she could take Contemporary Dance classes. We no longer lived in New York City, but in upstate New York where it was cold as the dickens and there was easily up to a meter of snow throughout much of the winter. My mother used to say that we lived far away from “civilisation,” but there was good work for my father and a good school for us children.
Initially she started taking classes again at a community center about 40 km away. She did this for some time and then asked me if I wanted to join her in the classes. I was 5 years old and I would stand behind my mother and follow along trying to make sense of the movements and the music. My mother soon saw that I loved to dance and that I loved music, so she enrolled me in a children’s ballet lesson in a community college also 40 km from where we lived. That was the beginning of an era of my life that lasted about ten years; my mother driving sometimes up to 2 hours a day 4 or 5 times a week to take me to dance class.
I remember standing at the ballet barre, riveted by the teacher, and dreaming my way through the exercises as if the music had carried me away to some fairy island. I remember figuring out the space around me — at the barre there were directions: front (devant), side (à la seconde), back (en arrière), down (plié), up (relevé). At the centre floor, there were even more directions: croisé devant, croisé derrière, écarté derrière, écarté devant — and my body was at the center of it all. It was my body, my space, and my place in the world.
Ballet was a language that gave a structure to what the body did to move, where the body moved in space, and when the body moved (to music). Ballet gave my body direction and purpose in the universe. It was so exhilarating to feel my body move through space expressing myself in this new language.
Some Languages Have Their Disadvantages
As you develop as a dancer, you begin to recognise that some movements cause pain when performed in a certain way. Most teachers luckily guide you through the movement correctly; how to turn out properly from the hip sockets, taking an anatomical approach to the movement. Occasionally however, you meet a teacher who does not recognise your anatomical limitations or any anatomical limitations at all. They push you to your extreme to achieve an aesthetic goal. At some point as a dancer you realise the body can adapt to such extremes, so you push yourself (and your reflection in the mirror) to achieve the aesthetics of the art form.
As you progress and are introduced to multiple dance techniques, Contemporary, Jazz, Flamenco, you realise each technique has its own aesthetics and therefore each body is challenged in different ways. For example, moving from ballet to Contemporary Dance techniques where the importance of a perfect 180 degree turnout is not essential to the technique, you begin to appreciate that different techniques have different approaches to the body. You may not have the turn out to perform ballet, but you may be “sufficient” to perform Contemporary Dance techniques.
to be continued next month…
Sylvie Guillem changed the expectations of ballet dancers’ extensions. Photo by Nina Alovert, courtesy of Dance Magazine Archives (taken from dance-teacher.com)
Trends in dance
Times have changed dramatically since I studied dance as a little girl. The almost absurd athleticism of ballet is seen by many dancers as a perversion of classical ballet.
Young dancers are being injured copying extreme overstretching exercises they have seen online. Images of dancers overstretching their legs and hips have flooded Instagram and YouTube, in positions called the "scorpion" and "over split leg mount,” which forces the leg behind the head.
Intense competition drives young dancers to extremes, pushing their bodies beyond their physical limits, resulting in serious injuries of the hips, knees and back.