Kealiinohomoku

Ethnic qualities of ballet, as listed in "An Anthropologist Looks at Ballet as a Form of Ethnic Dance":

-proscenium stage
-3-part, 2-hour performance, curtain calls and applause
-French terminology
-Western customs enacted onstage
-romance, sorcery, mistaken identity, tragic misunderstanding
-biblical themes, Christian holidays, afterlife
-humans as animals, fairies, witches, step-parents, beautiful virgins
-bodies create long lines, legs revealed, slender bodies, airy quality
-set and props: horses and swans (not pigs, buffalo, eagles), grains and roses (not yams, coconuts, acorns)
-economic pursuits portrayed

This list in Kealiinohomoku's article reinforced for me that these are the kind of things that make study interesting for me. I've only seen a ballet once in my life, when I was invited by a friend to see The Nutcracker in elementary school, and the main thing I remember is being disappointed that there was no dialogue, so ballet has never been an interest of mine. But for a moment this list made it interesting because ballet was no longer a omnipresent high-toned blandness but a cultural artifact made up of myths, religion, and conditioned expectations. On this list, what most attracts me is the styling of human actors as animals, fairies, witches, beautiful virgins, and sorcerers.