Reading Between the Lines

Alonzo King Lines Ballet is more than just a pretty face. Beyond the innovative choreography and super-human dancers, the company are renowned for their ability to connect with audiences on an emotional level.

In the view of King, the company’s visionary artistic director and sole choreographer, the movements of dance are symbols: a pairing of sign and meaning. However, ‘western classical dance’, including ballet, has isolated the sign from its meaning. This can be seen clearly in many ballet companies, in which the majority of dancers strive for perfect technique but neglect to develop their expressiveness. Similarly, many audiences enjoy ballet because it looks pretty or is technically astounding, but don’t expect anything beyond that. King isn’t happy with this situation

He strives to focus beyond the steps and really express something. King begins the choreographic process with an idea — “usually something that words are powerless to describe”—but rather than have the dancers actually act (or dance) it out, he lets its feeling guide his choreography. In this respect, “the choreographic works are thought structures, and treatises on life and living,” usually dealing with some aspect of "the vast quandary of the human condition."

When watching King’s work it is easy to sense his concern with the universals of being human. Hence, his ability to collaborate with artists from around the world. Rasa, one of the two Lines pieces, uses music written and performed live on stage by master tabla player Zakir Hussain, fusing western and eastern art forms. Tabla music has long been tied to dance, but hadn’t been paired with ‘western classical dance’ until King and Hussain created Rasa three years ago. Both art forms require utter concentration and precise technique, but result in joyful performances whose soaring quality belies their integral supporting structure.

King also enjoys a strong collaborative relationship with his dancers, who share equal responsibility for imbuing dance with meaning. “The dancer must be an impeccable story teller. The dancing artist has to embody a living idea, so that it lives.” King means that his ideas, and the resulting movements, are not set in stone: the dancers are expected to infuse the choreography with their own interpretation, with whatever they are feeling on the day of the performance.

Although King and the dancers place so much importance on the meaning behind dance, they certainly don’t neglect the movement itself. The company aim to "relentlessly exploit the endless potentialities of dance art" applies as much to their physicality as to what it can express. Rooted in a strong classical base the works feature innovative, contemporary movements: twisting, spiralling, counter-balancing — a far cry from square, centred classical ballet.

King and his dancers’ desire to explore and improve has certainly paid off: no fewer than six Lines dancers have received the coveted Princess Grace Award, and King has received, among others awards, the Jacob’s Pillow Creativity Award for "moving ballet in a very 21st-century direction."

But don’t simply accept the word of judges and critics. As King reminds, "nothing is truly known unless it is directly experienced." So while Lines is here, go see this ground-breaking company, whose equal devotion to movement and meaning make their performances a truly unique, greatly satisfying experience.