He wrote only for drama and that drama was only for the stage where the literati of the day gathered to refresh their minds with the wonderful English that prevailed at the time.
It is surprising how audiences have come toaccept Shakespeare ballets over dramas. It is also surprising how Shakespeare inspired choreographers to mount ballets; how he rammed into the classical-music domain and literally dragged composers to score magnificent music for the Bard’s ballets and how every ballet company around the world boarded his plays. Vibrant and fascinating, they were danced later.
Wide choice
Choreographers have a wide choice from Shakespeare’s plays and perhaps the most danced tragedy is Romeo and Juliet. They encompass the poet’s youthful romances and invite ebullient scores from Tchaikovsky to the modern composer.
Originally, it was presumed that ballet in Shakespeare’s work could flop due to the absence of his powerful, enigmatic dialogue that audiences were used to but overnight this scenario changed for good. People started to appreciate Shakespeare ballets.
Ballets
They were not concerned about dialogue when they were mesmerised with ballet movements and story-value.Classical composers opted to score for ballet over concert-hall orchestrations and many were the iconic masters. So, Shakespeare the great playwright not only captivated and charmed dancers but also choreographers. Some such ballets are:-
Romeo and Juliet, Cleopatra, Hamlet Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Much ado about Nothing, The Tempest and Coriolanus.
These are twelve full length ballets of his thirty-eight plays that makes Shakespeare proud in the world of performing arts.
To place ballet as an art in its historical context is a rewarding exercise. The dance world texture conjures and reflexes the ages in which people live. For Shakespeare ballets to stand apart from classical, modern and contemporary ones, is in itself monumental.
The choreographers find this to be a tedious effort but the outcome is so triumphant, the reward is so high and mighty that for them to dwell in the eras that represent the Bard’s dramas can be tiresome and hassling. Yet the creative endeavour that goes into such ballets make the English proud of their playwright.
The three elements of ballet are melody, rhythm and harmony and in this concept, choreographers had to evolve music and movement to conform to ballet. Shakespeare’s drama was always very complicated especially when they were written with a historical backdrop withan enormous cast that can emerge from battle ground or street scenes, most of them are left out but of late, slide projections in the background help overcome this problem and they add authenticity to the particular story that unfolds in ballet.
In ballet unlike in drama, the time gap is essential and important but poses a problem. Once dancing commences on stage, it has to move on without a pause to meet the allotted timing for music.
Music
Whereas in drama, the actors can use their discretion and the stretch the time limit to the required length.Music is the expression in ballet while dialogue is the soul of drama and between the two, nothing can be compromised.
A convenient starting point for the beginning of Shakespeare ballet was the composition introduced by ballet-masters until the choreographers took over and modified the themes and stories to fit in.
Over the years we have witnessed the invention of composition and the musical notations falling in line with this specialised dancing.
The most noticeable advances during the beginning of these drama-dancing, was the freedom given by composers in their inspirational scores that enabled the choreographers to put every detail in place. Some attempted symbolism where dancing matched the text of Shakespeare’s tragedies is found in ballets such as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.