Beautiful Ballet as Art and Dance Therapy for Women's History Month
Genoveva Uzunova, M.D., Ph.D.
Physician -Scientist Studying and Developing Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Treatments for Psychiatric, Neurologic, Immunologic, Rare Disorders, Artist, Ballerina, Art Therapist, Positive Psychiatry Enthusiast
For March being Women’s History Month, this issue of my LinkedIn newsletter, The Biomedical Artist, will focus on the connection between ballet and women. It will be from different viewpoints, artistic and biomedical.
George Balanchine famously remarked that “ballet is a woman”. Ironically, ballet was created by men and King Louis IV was instrumental in creating ballet and the different ballet positions. Initially, men danced ballet. Women, for a long time, however, are the center figures of many ballets such as Giselle, Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Lady of the Camellias, to name a few. The women dancers are supported in their elaborate dancing by the men. Only women dance with pointe shoes to perform beautiful elaborate movements and to be more graceful. Ballet teaches women to be graceful, connects to their intuition, and develops empathy. Of course, these are qualities that also men have, but are especially attributed to women. When dancing ballet, I love the movements, dresses, makeup, stories, and beautiful music. It is also great for having a healthy and toned physique, with the danger of being too thin. It is feminine and therefore, for this reason, it reduces stress when I dance it.
Ballet helps me to connect with my feminine side, because the biomedical science workplace is goal-oriented, competitive, and focused on achievement, and therefore can disconnect a woman from her feminine side. The essence of femininity is in being, feeling instead of doing, and competition, which ballet helps to achieve.
This is an introduction to dancing ballet for health and happiness, in which I discuss how ballet helps to manage stress, be happy, and connect to one’s feminine side.
Following, I wish to share a ballet that I danced this March, in which most of the dancers (twenty-four) are women in beautiful pink, lavender, and champagne-colored dresses, “Walpurgisnacht Ballet”. It was originally choreographed by George Balanchine and the beautiful classical music is by Charles Gounod. The ballet is originally from Act I of the Opera Faust, and it is inspired by the holiday Walpurgishnacht on April 30-May 1, when it is believed that dancing and music drive away the winter spirits, witchcraft, and welcome spring. I am dancing as one of the women dancers! ?The dancing and ballet are very joyous. I included at the end of my video a link to another video with a brief introduction to the history of the holiday Walpurgisnacht. I think that dancing ballet perfectly corresponds to the purpose of the holiday to greet spring, drive away evil (witchcraft) energies and depressive winter feelings by embodying your energy, and bring happiness.
In summary, I would like to note that my ballets are a form of healthy exercise, dance and art therapy, and stress management, which are also fun, out of the ordinary, and educational. They are especially suitable for women who wish to manage stress, promote mental and physical health and to exercise. I found when dancing that many girls who see me dancing ballet want me to teach them.
In the second part of this newsletter, I would like to highlight biomedical aspects of ballet. More specifically, I wish to highlight that dancing ballet develops the brain, keeps the brain and body plastic, stimulates learning, stimulates neurogenesis via BDNF, and develops functional brain networks.
Perhaps because of these effects on functional brain networks, ballet is found to be useful in females with multiple sclerosis (MS):
So many women suffer from this debilitating autoimmune neurological disorder and treatments are hard to find. I had a friend as a graduate student, Eva, a pathologist, and a mother of two children, who succumbed to remitting MS in her late forties. She tried many new experimental therapies without any effect.
I speculate, that because ballet is a form of dance and supports the healthy functioning of the immune system, maybe another reason why it is beneficial in females with MS, which is a disorder of the immune system, when it attacks its own myelin.
One day this month, I danced Helena from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" ballet and did some barre and center leg strengthening pointe exercises. As I was practicing leg strength and turnout using a barre (chair in my case), there was a toddler in a baby walker with his Mom in the clubroom where I danced. It occurred to me that I am just like a toddler, using support to enhance my motor skills, coordination, and balance!
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This is why ballet is great, you keep learning as an adult, consciously paying attention to your movements and learning new movements. As adults, we get accustomed to our ordinary walking without paying attention. And of course, learning ballet movements leaves its mark on brain structure, cortical thickness, functional networks, and immune cells in the brain and body! It is necessary to pay attention to your breathing and posture. When you jump, all of a sudden your heart starts beating faster.
?As a conclusion, for Women’s History Month, I would like to share a beautiful ballet from the International Ballet Competition in Varna (IBC), Bulgaria. This is the first ballet competition in the world, formed in 1964 that has launched the careers of many notable ballet dancers. One such talented female dancer is Bianca Scudamore who dances in the Paris National Opera ballet. Here she is dancing “Le Corsaire Pas de Deux” with Francesco Mura. It is evident how the male dancer skillfully supports the dancing of the female dancer! I was born in the city of Varna and when I studied in an English Language High School as a teenager, I loved attending the ballet competition performances in the summer, which are held in a garden open theater. The Varna IBC has given rise to other similar ballet competitions such as the well-known Prix De Lausanne.
Varna is a beautiful seaside resort city on the Black Sea Coast with a Sea Garden, which is a perfect setting for an open theater international ballet competition.
“The Varna International Ballet Competition’s mission is to strengthen the position of and to popularize the art of ballet, to discover and promote young ballet talents, future stars on the world’s stages, ambassadors of beauty, grace, youth and nobleness.”
For this March Women’s History Month’s edition of the Biomedical Artist, I would like to share the talented ballerina Bianca Scudamore:
This is her excellent and beautiful performance at the Prix de Lausanne ballet competition:
“People come to see beauty and ballerinas give it to them" ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ~ Judith Jamison?
#ballet #dance #dancetherapy #stressmanagement #art #artherapy #ballerina #movementismedicine #creativity #health #mentalhealth #physicalhealth #soul
?#brain #BDNF #neurplasticity #learning #demyelinating disorder #neurology #psychiatry #immunesystem #womenshistorymonth #multiplesclerosis #spring