(photo taken from www.nureyev-medical.org)When the Cat was a little kitten, her Mother started crying one afternoon while watching TV.
Of course, that wasn't so unusual. What was unusual, was the fact that she afterwards went to the corridor, where a poster of a beautiful dancer was hanging from the wall. There, between sobs, she muttered: "Rudi died today".
"Was he a relative of ours, Mom?" asked the little Cat.
"In a way", she said. "In a way"...
As I mentioned before, the Cat was very little then. She did not understand who Rudolf Nureyev was, and why he was so great.
But as the years went by and the Cat started learning more about the world, she understood a bit. She discovered the pleasures and the pains of ballet in her late teens. Of course by then, it was too late to become anything remotely reminiscing her, the Goddess, Sylvie Guillem.
(photo taken from www.perverted-daisies.tumblr.com)But the Cat kept trying, clumsy and fat as she was. And that's not even the point of this post. The point is, the Cat fully appreciates now the breathtaking beauty of this thing called Ballet, the horrible pain that inflicts on the body and the strength of character it takes to look so cool and effortless while doing it. Mikhail Nicolaevich Baryshnicov, I love you.
(photo taken from www.bodybyballet.wordpress.com)Last year, the Cat had the honour to interview a great dancer, Richard Winsor, Matthew Bourne's leading Swan in the all-male Swan Lake. Apart from being a delightful and down to earth fellow, the Cat could help but notice how excruciatingly beautiful he was, his arms, his limbs ever so strong and yet gentle... OK, let's all take a deep breath here.
(photo taken from www.birminghammail.net)So, when the Cat first watched the Black Swan trailer, knew there wasn't a chance in hell to miss that movie. Although Natalie Portman is not a personal favorite (neither is Vincent Cassel, or even Daniel Aronofsly to that matter). She knew she was going to love the Black Swan movie.
(photo taken from www.fanpop.com)And you know what? The Cat was right. She is not a film critic so she won't bother telling you what a dark masterpiece it was, how great Natalie's performance was and why she thinks the direction was amazing. There are movie reviews for that (the Cat particularly loved the ones she read in Lifo http://tinyurl.com/5vmj8ah and in Critique.gr http://tinyurl.com/6bp9gb2 ).
But she will say this: there is madness in perfection.
In pursuing that fleeting moment of beauty.
In giving your whole life to this cause, hurting your body and breaking your spirit over and over again. In attacking life like a fouette, giving it all you got, just for a moment, a perfect moment when you will find balance.
Yes, there is madness in all that. But oh, how lovely a madness it is...
(photo taken from www.lauragrandefilm.blogspot.com)
