Saturday, March 20, 2010

Sylvie Guillem, Icarus and extreme beauty of dance, said Princess Haiku

I am musing about the absolute beauty of dance and the sacrifice that it requires. In Sylvie Guillem's art we can imagine the dangerous flight of Icarus, beauty and the capability of the human spirit to soar.





Icarus
Son of Daedalus who dared to fly too near the sun on wings of feathers and wax. Daedalus had been imprisoned by King Minos of Crete within the walls of his own invention, the Labyrinth. But the great craftsman's genius would not suffer captivity. He made two pairs of wings by adhering feathers to a wooden frame with wax. Giving one pair to his son, he cautioned him that flying too near the sun would cause the wax to melt. But Icarus became ecstatic with the ability to fly and forgot his father's warning. The feathers came loose and Icarus plunged to his death in the sea.

How far to the edge of the human experience can artistic beauty go?


Sylvie Guillem
Diva. Rebel. Perfectionist. And the most dynamic dancer of her era. Tim Adams meets the radical ballerina.

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