Lessons from ballet : Allowing room for interpretation

The world premiere for The Australian Ballet’s Spartacus was recently in Melbourne. I was very lucky to watch the last dress rehearsal the night before and had a few insights that I wanted to share about Spartacus in particular and about the Australian Ballet in general. The first insight relates to when to allow room for interpretation.

Firstly, go watch Spartacus

The ballet is fascinating. The history of this ballet is fascinating. Lucas Jervies, the choreographer, has interpreted it in a wonderfully confronting way and as always our national ballet company have danced the daylights out of it. It runs in Melbourne till the 29th of September and then in Sydney from the 9th to 24th of November.

When to allow room for interpretation

About two years ago, I had been on a behind the scenes tour of the ballet company production centre in Altona. During the tour we saw a scale model of a Spartacus set. This mock set was an incredible depiction of the living quarters and training area of the Roman slaves.

Jervies’ retelling does not use the same visual imagery. So when the curtains went up I was confused by the difference between my expectation and my experience. This was entirely my own fault as the program had the choreographer’s notes on set selection. After reading his notes, I immediately understood the intent and was filled with admiration for the bold choice made. To be fair, more experienced ballet aficionados probably got there without the notes, but I am new to this.

Art does not have to be overly didactic – in fact, it may be better if it isn’t. Personal interpretation allows every observer the opportunity to walk away with something different. Even after reading the notes, there was still room for me to watch and take my own individual experience from the night. That thrill of “getting it” is part of the art, appreciating the many layers and themes that are creatively thread through a masterpiece.

Typically, corporate communication does not benefit from this approach. When presenting information to an audience, we want every person to get the same message. This takes time and effort, taking care to do things such as crafting a message that is understood, identifying where content may be misconstrued and ensuring that the communication medium suits the audience. That in itself is a bit of an art, but I believe well worth the investment.

Notes: If you would like to have the opportunity to get behinds the scenes access, The Australian Ballet provides fantastic opportunities to Patrons and Ballet Ambassadors. I never thought watching ballet is something I would do regularly, yet now I go to every performance in Sydney – our national ballet company is a cultural asset we should all be very proud of.

Learn about the Ambassador program