The Weight of Ribbons

I apologize, for once again making this about ballet. I'll broaden my horizons next week maybe...

So, a friend of mine recently was chosen as one of four Americans to be allowed the privilege to compete and participate in the Prix de Lausanne. This is an international classical/neo-classical ballet competition in which only the best of many many applicants are even allowed to compete. From the 80 that are chosen, only 20 are passed onto the finals, and from there, seven this year were awarded the prize: a scholarship to a school of their choice, or for the older competitors, an apprenticeship to a company of their choice. All told, this is a very prestigious competition held only for the elite few, and even that my friend was allowed the honor to compete was a triumph. Fortunately, due to the fact that she is a truly amazing dancer, she went onto the finals, however, was not chosen for one of the awards.

These awards, now. I wouldn't have a problem with the way they dealt their prizes, generally speaking. I am a strong believer in the wisdom of a diverse panel of judges, like the Prix had, and typically trust that their persuasion as to whom the prize should be awarded is sound. But something happened in this particular competition that rather unsettled me. The girl who was awarded the 1st place prize was the same girl whose ribbons had come undone earlier and caused her to go off stage before resuming her performance. It's very human for this to happen, however, it is also cause for professionals to be fired and dancers to be shunned within their own community. It's bad. It's unprofessional and looks horrendous. Any dancer knows this, and, with that knowledge, they take the necessary precautions: hairspray on the knot, sewing the knot to the other ribbons and sometimes the tights, taping the knot, clear nail polish on the knot, I mean, the list of new and inventive ways to prevent this from happening is never-ending. I don't say this to bash on the dancer, understand. It happens, and has to every ballerina who's ever danced. Absolutely human. I've had it happen during class, and once during a dress rehearsal. I mean, it's not unheard of, but it certainly is unprofessional; I don't care that her ribbons came out, but I am a little suspicious of the events that followed.

So she goes off stage, reties her ribbons, and then enters again, seemingly undisturbed (as she should seem, in a performance). She proceeds to perform beautifully; not phenomenally, but certainly not bad. I'd seen better performances in the duration of the show. But then, she won. The whole shabang, in her pocket.

My congratulations go out to her, she was an accomplished dancer, performer, and did a remarkable job at maintaining composure when the going got tough. But the judges' performance, I question. It seems dubious that they would pick her over others when there were others that presented, in my opinion, a superior performance. I'm afraid that they picked her as the first place winner not because of her dancing but because of her sustained composure. Which would have been impressive, had it been a composure-competition, but it wasn't. It was a ballet competition and in that category, I don't think that she would have won. But from the judges' standpoint, I believe they found it impressive that she could lose something so eyebrow-raising and then come back on stage, and I think that swayed their decision. I prepose that they were more preoccupied with how she could leave the stage and then return full-force than with her dancing. I prepose that they were distracted. Distracted from their ultimate goal: choosing the greatest dancer in the lot.

This is all speculation, albeit extremely critical speculation at that. But I don't believe that had her ribbons not come out and had she not proven that she could deliver a good performance after that, she would not have won.

I don't know really. I guess I'm rambling at this point. But it's a weird dance-related moral issue that's at the forefront of my thoughts. My congratulations goes out to that girl though, as well as the other winners and finalists.

Maybe someday I can be one of them. Hmm. :).