If you have a chance to see this short documentary you should do so. Agnes De Mille is considered one of the masters and innovators of American choreography. Primarily devoted to ballet, she is also known as a choreographer in musical theater, beginning with Oklahoma in 1943 and more than a dozen other Broadway shows including, Carousel, Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, so when she tries to explain a dancer's world to us, we are wise to listen.
She is seen preparing her makeup and costume for a performance and with this beginning she explains the role of preparation in the creation of art. She is already 63 years old by this time so she is not really going out to dance, but she looks good enough that she might have. She is primarily trying to make the case that ballet truly is an art. Her point is that art requires tremendous preparation and discipline but that sufficient preparation and discipline leads to "freedom" because the personality finally merges with the art.
She ends with a quotation from Saint-John Perse, the winner of the 1960 Noble Prize for Literature, that, "(art is) the privilege of the instant, but you have so little time to be born to the instant."
This takes place against the backdrop of her dancers performing in a practice studio and the dancers drive the point home by being disciplined, graceful and sublime. I thought it was inspirational.
She is seen preparing her makeup and costume for a performance and with this beginning she explains the role of preparation in the creation of art. She is already 63 years old by this time so she is not really going out to dance, but she looks good enough that she might have. She is primarily trying to make the case that ballet truly is an art. Her point is that art requires tremendous preparation and discipline but that sufficient preparation and discipline leads to "freedom" because the personality finally merges with the art.
She ends with a quotation from Saint-John Perse, the winner of the 1960 Noble Prize for Literature, that, "(art is) the privilege of the instant, but you have so little time to be born to the instant."
This takes place against the backdrop of her dancers performing in a practice studio and the dancers drive the point home by being disciplined, graceful and sublime. I thought it was inspirational.