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Article: The wondrous nonslip slipper. (ballets that can be considered classics)(Column)
- Article from:
- Dance Magazine
- Article date:
- October 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Dance Magazine, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In ballet, we use the term classic with profligate carelessness. We even call ballet itself--to distinguish it from other forms of theatrical and social dance--"classic" ballet, and say, rather meaninglessly, that it employs a "classic" technique. Our concept of a ballet "classic" is just about as amorphously vague. But just what is a classic?
A useful enough kind of dictionary definition of a classic, or of classic art, might be either something possessing a high quality that is universally recognized and unquestioned--although what quality can ever be totally safe in its recognition, faced with the carping questioning of the occasional critic?--or something ...