Semiotics of a ballet

"... They do not realize they are dead, I showed them the agony, my agony, the agony of living, but they are dead and could not feel ..." [1]

Antonin Artaud



Semiotics, the science-meaning-, derived from two main sources: the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), founder of the Anglo-Saxon, who named this very way, semiotics, and the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 -1913), one of the founders of the European tradition, who defined it as semiology.

Etymologically the word semiotics / semiology is constructed from the Greek root "sem", "weekly" or "semeion" and at first meant only the study of symptoms, and, for example, in ancient Greece the term applied Military art and medicine, primarily in the latter, so much so that today, the "medical study of the symptoms of the disease is called semiotics" [2] and can be summarized, that semiotics deals the study of signs, unifying this perspective, a whole Aseri guidelines and approaches to the analysis of culture.

For Saussure's semiotics is "the general science of all systems of signs, symbols, or, 'by which men communicate with one another" [3], which makes a social science and semiotics assumes that signs are in systems, thus accentuating the human and social nature of his doctrine.

Peirce defines semiotics as "almost necessary or formal doctrine of signs (...), and logic, in its general sense, is but another name for semiotic" [4], highlighting its formal logical character .



In short, semiotics, or semiology--addresses signs and events signical systems, communication processes, language functions, ie, semiotics is concerned with language understood as well as the ability to communicate, that as the exercise of that right, so is the science of signs / symbols and sign systems, and projects in three basic dimensions: syntactic rules-based operations between signs within a system of signs, the semantics - relations between signs and the world outside the system of signs, and pragmatics-evaluation of the sign system with respect to the object they represent and their users.

Throughout there is a transfer semiotic phenomenon, through a sign, some form of relationship that is in the mind of a producer to the performer, that is, there is a sign produced by an issuer, then interpreted by a receiver, what is explicit in a communication process in which there are multiple elements:

- The Code: A system of signs and rules for combining them. Metalinguistic function.

-The Channel: physical medium through which the communication is transmitted. Phatic function.

-The Issuer: subject responsible for transmitting the message from a process of encoding it. Emotive function.

- Receiver: person to whom the communication is addressed and that decodes the message. Conative function.

-The Message: what is being communicated and that is encoded by the Issuer and decoded by the receiver. Poetic function.

-Situational Context: the reference, the context in which the message is transmitted and contributes to its meaning. It is necessary for proper decoding of the message. Function Reference.

Throughout this process is of vital importance to sign as being instrumental in the semiotic process that is understood as a lake that is in place of something else not as a substitute, but as representing (according to Peirce) is an expression that points to content is outside the sign itself and has two functions: expression and content (Hjelmslev) it is psychic entity where the meaning has existence only in our mind and is independent of any external references and materials, where the signifier is also mental, it is the successor of the acoustic image, which is the image (Saussure).

The semiotic analysis of signs is of particular interest in the arts, and within this, the spectacular stage performance in the broadest sense (theater, opera, ballet, modern, contemporary and folk music, pantomime, puppetry, etc.), "is where the sign can be seen more richness, variety and density. The whole theater is a sign. It uses both auditory and visual signs. Take advantage of the system of signs for communication between men and those created by the need to artistic activity. It uses signs taken from everywhere "[5].

The Polish Tadeusz theoretical analysis Kowsar adopted Meaning Saussurean scheme (Content) and significant (Expression), and works at the sign from the classification that divides them into natural signs (there and are issued inadvertently) and artificial signs (created voluntarily to communicate with someone), also part of the premise that the "signs used by the theatrical art all belong to the category of artificial signs (...), issued voluntarily communicate fully aware of (...) are perfectly functional "[6], since although the signs of making theatrical nature and human behavior, when used gives them another dimension:" The spectacle transforms natural signs as artificial signs (...), artificialize has the power of signs "[7].

To Kowzan exist, in principle, 13 systems of signs that attempt to reconcile to some extent, the theoretical and practical objectives. These systems are:

- The Word: present in most of the drama, its role varies according to the dramatic and poetic genres of the creative staff, and worked here as a linguistic sign.

- Tone: concerning the word also analyzes the way it is pronounced by the voice (instrument) of the actor or performer, and includes elements such as rhythm, intensity, pitch, speed and accent.

- The Mime of the Face: kinesic signs belongs to the interpreter, and is the system that is more related to verbal expression.

- The gesture is, after the word, the most developed system of signs. It is a "motion or attitude of the hand, arm, leg, head, whole body, to create or communicate signs" [8], and include several categories: "those who replace an element of the set (. ..), an item of clothing accessory (...), (...), (...) etc feeling. "[9].

- The Scenic Movement interpreter, "covers the actor's movements and their positions within the stage space" [10] as well as its inputs and outputs and collective movements.

- Makeup: Highlight the value of the actor's face "with mime, contributes to the appearance of the character" [11].

- The Hairstyle: contributes, along with makeup and costumes, to make the character believable represented and provides key data for decoding the given sign.

- The Suit: is the most conventional to define man and "almost always linked to signs belonging to other systems" [12].

- The Accessory: autonomous system of signs located between the costumes and set.

- The Scenery: also called scenic or scenic apparatus and / or scenery, which denotes the location (geographic and / or social) and time (historical, station, time) of the dramatic action to develop.

- Lighting: system of signs that "show" the scene depicted and "valued" determined action, characters, settings, gestures, from the modeling performed by the light.

- Music: contributes to the embodiment of the interpreter and the dramatic realization of the work.

- Sound: here are considered the other noises, independent music, those caused by human behavior and nature.

Theorist Roland Barthes for his part, also spoke about the systems of signs in the theater, and, for example, stated, referring to the theater:

"What is theater? A kind of cybernetic machine. When you are at rest, the machine is hidden by a curtain. When he gets up the machine starts sending in our direction a series of messages (signals). The originality of these messages is flowing simultaneously but at different rates. At times the show we received six or seven messages simultaneously (emanating from the scenery, costumes, lights, the space in which actors are distributed, his gestures and words, his mimicry). Some of these messages are stable (the set, for example), while others last only a moment (words, gestures). In this way, we are dealing with a real Information polyphony. This is precisely the theatricality: density and saturation of signs, (in comparison with the literature unilinearism) "[13].

Both definitions address the concept of performing arts from the whole notion of polyphony that combines different signs, which in turn emit various coded signals: Kowzan makes a distinction between different sign systems, as mentioned before, 'and Barthes's organically interrelated.

Barthes concept becomes much more viable when it comes to a semiological analysis of the show premiered in Paris danzario in 1997, Ballet for Life, by Maurice Béjart, singer-book tribute to Freddie Mercury and Jorge Donn, dancer-the latter company, both dead at the same age, forty-five, to AIDS-although semiotic analysis to be established then be used interchangeably both ways to see and face the fact stage.

The ballet, also known as Le Presbytère ...!, mysterious title taken from a quote by Gaston Leroux which delighted the Surrealists' n'a rien perdu Le Presbytère de son charme or garden you are éclat " -o "The presbytery has lost nothing of its charm nor the garden of his splendor" - has no particular meaning beyond its poetic beauty, as suggested by the same Béjart. Is a book that proposes an encounter with life, youth and hope, a choreography with a high degree of lyricism, offering a proposal that combines contemporary dance company postmodern codes with the technological resources, from a refreshing and surprising language for their freshness.

If we implement the analysis model proposed by Kowzan, from the 13 systems signs he outlined, which could be summarized in three macrosystems:

- Those that involve the work and person of the actor / dancer (mime, gesture and movement on stage).

- Signs involving the visual from stage design (sets, costumes, lights).

- Those working sound (speech, music and other sounds, called by Kowzan "other noises"),

be a fairly complete and coherent analysis, taking into account as a last resort, the figure of the recipient or receiver and the conative function inherent to it.

Based on this analysis, and beginning with the third group macrosígnico-jointed choreography from compositions of the English group Queen, sung by Freddie Mercury,-as part of the tribute which makes this unique Béjart and extravagant character, that as Jorge Donn,-who was with Mercury and Versace inspiration for choreographer-had the same passion for life and a highly extroverted personality, 'and some compositions for piano and instrumental pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who also died young, was 35-years-and whose projection work, temporary, relatively speaking, in a manner similar to that of Freddie and Donn.

Musical compositions used,-Queen and Mozart rather than icon-signs are clearly recognizable by the impact they were and that allows extrapolation of identification and immediately senses, beyond language barriers, temporary and / or cultural . From the "Queen" is used compositions are major successes of the group's recording career, as Let me live, Heaven for everyone, A Kind of Magic, Radio Ga Ga, Let me go and The show must go on,-composition the latter that provides the axis around which the last act of this unique ballet and postulates the poetic essence of the choreography, the show must go-articulated hits, from the perspective of Béjart, the proposed kinetic dancers.

In another sense, the work virtually no inroads in the other examples are the macro-models, but two sentences, issued by two dancers in specific moments in the choreography, one in English, 'Oh, Yes! - With all the emphasis of the words is, and which provides the reason for chaining two acoustically actional moments of incredible strength by linking the first lines of ballet with the second scene, thus presenting one of the main characters of "story" Death; the other phrase, made in French, much more expressive, and speaks on her amour, is much more signic, since the issue is precisely who the dancer who plays Death, as a paradoxical irony is clear where the idea that that being dark, ruthless and evil, after all, "not as bad as it looks."

In the second group of signs-those involving the visual from the design stage, enables the recreation of a show worked brilliantly from the most modern technical resources, with a clearly minimalist and conceptual language, where the scenery is minimal and is pointed to by signical geometrical structures formed by cubic forms on the sides of the stage, forming the "legs" and "streets" of the space of representation, using them a monochrome color,-all experienced from the different shades of white-out the idea that all-embracing, while divergent, the leitmotiv of the work: the apology to life.

The lighting design, worked for Clément Cayrol, provides and emphasizes the dramatic atmosphere elucidative every moment of the work, clarifying the different scenes from the use of symbols, universal-, color, supporting each passage of the work sign-using a set of codes that illustrate the scene, that "hits" and dramatically visual recipient, the recipient of a conscious and can easily decode proceeds as choreography. The colors used are mostly on the range of the cold, especially the different shades of blue, but at certain times, achieved a warmth reveals the dramatic essence outlined by the choreographer.



The costumes, extravagant and erotic, is Gianni Versace and part of the same assumptions minimalist set design, working from the ambivalence and complementarity of white and black, as signs that make a particular code and preset signals emitted by preentendidas perceiver-as well as with the scenery, but at a more significant because it is who is directly responsible, along with makeup and hair, to express the character's psychology-, using visual signs that articulate the intertextual Function of the Message and Poetics from the interplay of meaning that is established with the chain of signifiers, especially as regards the character already outlined above,-Death-with the symbolic use of black and implied meaning several categories of representation:

The black: death / dark / ominous / evil / creepy / Unknown / painful / infernal

and

The target:

pure / perfect / transparent / happy / calm / balanced / untouched / immortal / live / pristine

where the reference is immediately referred to symbols convention in the history of culture, especially Western, although the significance of these icons white / black, recurs also in cultures without European ancestry, such as the Asian, African and primitive cultures in America. In the choreography are used in addition to other nuances that also respond to the conventional iconography and rhetoric, such as the use of red, with the multiplicity of readings that the use of this color leads to:

blood / love / life / fire / hell / love / illness / death / imbalance / jealousy /

tear / injure / smother / destroy / remove / agony / disorders / possession

intertextually contrasting meanings, and working a metaphorical universe from organic use of signs, scenic denotantes of a will that promotes the visual as part of his speech iconic.

Finally be missing briefly analyze this set of signs that involve the work and person of the actor / dancer, and whose projection is centered on mime, gesture and stage movement of the performer, in short, your kinesis and the role it occupies in the drama of the work.

In this ballet dancers took the life of several generations, as Gil-Roman-endowed all of these exceptional qualities that the work flowed naturally, without effort in appearances, in choreography that dealt with the ephemeral nature of life, love and the immeasurable power of death, but especially on youth and hope.

The choreographer used the references, Freddie, Donn and Versace, and personal imagination as sources of inspiration, projecting a decontextualized talk about a specific place or time worked as a totality of individual essences aunadora, reaching transformation of realism advocated common gestural overlap of images and discourses,-intertextuality-where the scoop, 'and the primacy-the movement has in all its forms,-mime, gesture, gestures, spatial projection, achieving simultaneously the staging and the performers have their own language and they talk to each other.

Thus, repeated characters, signs throughout the representation, and revealing the dramatic crux of the play dance company - Passion, Love, Disease, Death, Hope, Time, Seduction, homoeroticism, the Gay Aesthetic - operate in a framework clearly defined from one language to contemporary conceptualist clearly where there is a central story around which revolves around the ballet, which allows the insertion of parallel fables that also function as appoggiatura signic to the axis of the play sets legendary.

The icons Freddie Mercury and Jorge Donn, are recreated in various stages of the work and are personified from the personal stamp of certain dancers who embody that spirit and pleasures of life eager to cast both icons in their particular fields of action - music and contemporary dance, and whose images, presentations, concerts and stage-are used as is for Béjart Ballet in select scenes, relying always on the soundtrack and articulating a very particular poetic.

Ultimately Ballet for Life is an iconographic eulogy real world, where life continues in spite of Death, Pain and Love, posing as a song of hope and life and taking as signs exemplary figures of Mercury Freddie and the Gift of George, despite everything and all, assuming chaotic as an aesthetics of representation and projection to the world, extrapolating what happens in the symbolic space of the scene to the world that opposes him, facing a visuality of the beholder and it reflected in a mirror, so that symbolic decoding ends with the words of an irreverent Queen, words spoken in an interview days before his physical death, his ceasing to be and to exist, way to final topic:

"Empty spaces, what we live? Places abandoned, I think we know what it is. Go ahead, does anyone know what we're looking for? Behind the curtain, sustaining, does anyone want to move forward? The show must go on. Inside my heart breaks, it breaks my makeup, but my smile still (...) Go ahead, does anyone know what we are living? I think I'm learning. Soon I will turn the corner. dawns outside, but inside, in the dark, painful struggle to be free . My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies. I can fly, my friends. The show must go on. He will face with a smile, I will not surrender. I'll be the first in the list. I will find the willpower to keep going . The show must go on. "



REFERENCES: A.

1. Barthes, Roland, Elements of Semiology. Ed A. Heart, Madrid. 1971.

2. Eco, Umberto. "The visual codes." The structure absent. Pp 217-235 19 ....

3. Kowzan, Tadeusz. "The sign at the theater. Introduction to the Semiology of the performing arts." Semiology and theater. Compilation of Dr. Magaly Muguercia. Editorial People and Education. 1988.

4. Www.archivo-semiotica.com

5. Www.ar.groups.yahoo.com / group / semioticians



[1] Lopez, Ruben. Towards a psychoanalytic aesthetics. RAMP Editors. Medellin, 2000. P. 24.

[2] Kowzan, Tadeusz. "The sign at the theater. Introduction to the Semiology of the performing arts." Semiology and theater. Compilation of Dr. Magaly Muguercia. Editorial People and Education. 1988. P.10.

[3] Ibid. P.10.

[4] Ibid. P.11.



[5] Ibid. P.15.

[6] Ibid. P.19.

[7] Ibid. P.19.

[8] Ibid. P.24.

[9] Ibid. P.24.

[10] Ibid. P.25.

[11] Ibid. P.26.

[12] Ibid. P.26.

[13] Ibid. P.48.

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