Visceral Response

The ballet dancer moves seamlessly and effortlessly aross the stage, creating perfect art in motion. While every pose, every turn, evey leap seems to be a natural movement for the dancer, the art comes from pain. And from that pain comes immense strength and beauty.

My first introduction to design was dance. When I was very little, I took dance classes and I remember being mesmerized when I would watch the older girls perform ballet. I was fascinated with the costume designs, and how they complimented the movement of the dancer and the feeling the dancer was projecting. The dancers didn't look human; they looked like perfect, ethereal creatures who created shapes with their arms and legs to tell a story. Even at a young age, I noticed the line and bevel of the foot during an arabesque, or the perfect arc of a grande leap. Add in the music and I would get emotional, even when I was very small. When I watch ballet today, I am moved in the same way, and even more so now because I know behind the smile or the I-am-kind-of-bored look a ballerina wears is an individual who is in physical pain for her art. Ballerinas may look delicate, but they are strong on the inside with physical and mental discipline.

I love the arcs and flow of the lines in this photo except for the lack of bevel of the
foot in arabesque. I am way too picky, I know.

So, when I found this music video that a fan had created of Florence + The Machine's song called "Blinding," I was in love with the dance scenes. The next level of this song is that I discovered it when I was going through my divorce after being with my husband ten years. The dancers juxtapose their movement with fluid and almost sneaky flow into a sharp and shaky rhythm. Well, that lead me to think the dancers are telling the story of a crappy relationship through movement. There are parts of the video that blatantly show what the video is about, but the abstract elements are what moved me.  The song is pretty powerful, too. It is one of those that I would do that really annoying thing and play it on repeat over and over and over again.

To make sure I had found the right video, I watch it again tonight. Even after four years, I still have the same response I did the first time I watched it.