This chapter explor the tensn at the tersectn of classil ballet and gay cultur. Central to the study is a crique of ballet’s exclnary heterocentrism—“the ballet closet”—exemplified by the image of the classil ballet...
Contents:
- PK FEATHERS THE BALLET CLOSET: THREE GAY REMAK OF SWAN LAKE
- NOT THE GAY SWAN LAKE
- DANCE; 'SWAN LAKE': IS IT THEATER OR DANCE, GAY OR STRAIGHT?
- A MORN GAY’S GUI
- HOW A GROUP OF GAY MALE BALLET DANCERS IS RETHKG MASCULY
PK FEATHERS THE BALLET CLOSET: THREE GAY REMAK OF SWAN LAKE
Back at the Ahmanson, the transformatn of Tchaikovsky's ballet to a gay romance still electrifi wh heartfelt drama and spectacular dancg. * gay ballet swan lake *
Bourne created the work at a time when a law agast promotg homosexualy still existed England. It’s gone now, but you n see how the swans stroyg one of their own — and his male, human lover — speaks to the homophobic vlence that still exists almost Thursday, the lightg sign of Ple Constable ma Lez Brotherston’s faiar sets and stum look better than ever — though Dunn McLean’s bleary swan-projectns need to be rensired. Siegied, however, is gay, and Masilo's homophobic South Ai unable to be wh Odile, the man he lov.
NOT THE GAY SWAN LAKE
Wh the terms of this society, neher "heroe" nor "villa" n have the man they love.Any gay readg of Swan Lake evably v parison wh Matthew Bourne's productn, yet Masilo's is like no other I've seen. You are here: Home / dance / Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake: mutatns, vls and homosexualySwan Lake, Marisky Theatre, 1895.
DANCE; 'SWAN LAKE': IS IT THEATER OR DANCE, GAY OR STRAIGHT?
So was wh happs that he disvered, aged 14, that his olr brother was also gay (to the horror of Most's tw brother, Anatoly) and he wrote his unfished tobgraphy, (which has never been published):. His scribblgs have appeared var publitns om Woman's Weekly to Gay Tim, and he wrote the ‘Danza Italia' lumn for Dancg Tim magaze. It was not an openly homophobic environment, but s nservatism and heterocentrism, rooted an orientatn to the past, prented extra plexi to navigate for a young gay man g to terms wh his sexualy.
A MORN GAY’S GUI
My experience wh this environment felt ntrast to the seismic soc-polil shifts I was wnsg through my engagement wh gay male subcultural art, polics and social spac. Cght between the two ntexts, I felt at once stuck the past, while also propelled forward by a wave of progrsive chapter trac my journey through the tensns, navigatg a relatnship to masculi and sir through a queer readg of ballet culture proposed by three key choreographic works that rpond to the polemics of gay sire ballet. I argue that the works were created rponse to ballet’s excln of gay men; the way each work addrs gayns, masculy, and shame reflect some of the soc-polil and cultural tensns of this particular moment Gay Swan LakThe aforementned works are three “gay remak” of the classil ballet Swan Lake.
HOW A GROUP OF GAY MALE BALLET DANCERS IS RETHKG MASCULY
I have labelled them lightly as “gay remak” based on two creria: one, bee the choreographer of each of the works intifi himself as gay; and two, the central romantic uple—the Prce and the Swan—is performed by two men. I argue the versns of the classil ballet were created at a time of shiftg gay polics, both wh and outsi the world of ballet, and they perform the polemics of this moment, each different ways.
I have stctured my analysis of the works, not only the orr I enuntered them, but also the way they reflect my own journey of navigatg the plexi of the gay male body ballet.