WRITING

One of the most important lessons that Saarinen took away from his experience with butoh is a sense of respect for his own history. He quotes his teacher, Kazuo Ohno, one of the foremost butoh practitioners as saying, “I am dancing on top of my ancestors.” This respect for tradition and personal history manifests not just in Saarinen’s dancing, but also in his choreography. After his expeditions into other dance traditions, Saarinen returned to Finland and founded Tero Saarinen Company in 1996.

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In the year 2000, the National Football League (NFL) mandated that there could be no excessive celebration. This mandate established policies that restricted celebratory dances in the endzone or displays of bragging on the field. The NFL believed that such displays are time wasting and inflammatory. I argue that endzone dances extend a tradition of African American improvisational dance practices. Swaggering and non-verbal bragging are inherent in the form of endzone dancing, similar to the posturing that happened in early days of breaking and continues in hip-hop dance today. Just as the innovative solo tap or hip-hop performer works to have a unique style and series of movements, the endzone dance is unique to each player.

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In this essay, I explore two contemporary ballet productions of Romeo and Juliet, Clug’s Radio and Juliet (2005) and Joëlle Bouvier’s Romeo and Juliet (2009). I argue that contemporary ballet versions of Romeo and Juliet both allude to and elude the conventions of classical ballet: narratively, choreographically, and in the dancing itself. Certainly, part of the success of contemporary dance versions lies in the sheer number of traditionally danced Romeo and Juliets, as well as the audience’s familiarity with the Shakespearean play. An analysis of the dances themselves demonstrates the mediation of textual elements by the dancing bodies and addresses the ways in which meaning can be made through choreographed action.

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