Dance and gender: formalism and semiotics reconsidered

Abstract

The two starting points for our paper might hardly seem compatible, Ann Daly's analysis of the third Theme from Balanchine's The Four Temperaments (1946) in her article 'The Balanchine Woman', and the work of the choreographer Siobhan Davies.2 The latter is a leading British contemporary dance choreographer, one of the first generation of contemporary choreographers to emerge in Britain in the 1970s. But Daly's feminist analysis of The Four Temperaments, we found, suggested an interesting additional perspective for viewing Davies' work, and a consideration of that perspective reminded us of some fundamental issues inherent in reading art. Daly reads the third Theme of The Four Temperaments as an example of a man manipulating a powerless and vulnerable woman. It is a duet based on doublework, lifts and supports. Daly's view is that the goal of this joint venture is the display of the line of the woman's body, but that there are also violent, sadomasochistic undertones. The duet is an instance of ballet representing an ideology that denies women their own agency. Of course, it goes without saying that many other writers have seen very different things in this duet, and some have not seen any of what Daly saw. A few years ago, Jordan described Davies' duet form as