Opera, Dance, or Juggling: Making it look easy
You know, I think I’ve got a new definition of the word virtuoso. It comes from a couple of recent pieces I’ve read – one in the business blog "Slow Leadership", and one in Greg Sandow’s ArtsJournal blog on the future of classical music.
He writes of hearing an opera singer – not just any opera singer, but a name – sing at a party:
…heard in a living room, this soprano was just about mesmerizing. Somehow the pianist and singers got started on The Sound of Music. A lyric soprano sang the title song. And then the Tosca soprano sang "Edelweiss." All at once, anyone could hear what it means to have a major voice, and an equally major ability to use it. The size of the sound, the richness, the control, the focus, the commitment — these were stunning (and all the more so because it all sounded so easy). You knew you were hearing someone who knows how to sing, someone with a voice you won’t forget…
It was that part about making it sound easy that reminded me of Carmine Coyote’s post about simplicity. Too often we forget that the struggle for simplicity comes not necessarily by making the tasks easier – but rather, by doing difficult tasks so well that it looks simple. Victor Kee, the master juggler for Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion, does this. His moves are so smooth, so polished, they look like he’s doing them almost as an afterthought. Of course, it’s not – it’s years of practice, and rigorous attention to his craft.
Still…it would be nice, someday, to do something with that kind of thoughtless grace.
Tags: cirque du soleil, metropolitan opera, slow leadership, juggling, victor kee
Comments Off