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February 27, 2010
Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, provide inspiration to Washington Ballet's production of 'The Great Gatsby' at Kennedy Center
By Liz Clarke, Washington Post
Neither Tiger Woods nor Roger Federer is listed among the credits for The Washington Ballet's current production of "The Great Gatsby."
And if the world's best golfer or No. 1 tennis player attended a performance at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater, which runs through Sunday, neither would imagine that he served as an inspiration for the dance that opens Act II.
The duet, between the characters Nick Caraway and Jordan Baker, accounts for just three minutes of the full-length ballet, created and choreographed by the company's artistic director, Septime Webre.
But it serves an important role in the telling of F. Scott Fitzgerald's narrative. And from an artistic perspective, it represents the common terrain between athletes and dancers, according to Webre, who studied footage of both Woods and Federer in developing the dance.
"They are both fluid and graceful and confident in their movement," Webre said. "Assuredness in one's own coordination and grace is an important building-block of ballet, and it's certainly part of Roger Federer's and Woods's approach."
Webre initially envisioned the scene as a tennis date between the characters. He rationalized that because Jordan is a professional golfer in the novel (representing the modern, independent woman of the early 1920s), she and Nick wouldn't play golf on a date because she'd crush him. So he settled on tennis as a backdrop for Jordan telling Nick the back story of the romance between Jay Gatsby and her friend Daisy Buchanan.
Webre turned to Mark Ein, owner of the city's World TeamTennis squad, the Washington Kastles, for advice on choreographing a tennis match. Ein suggested he study footage of Federer, regarded as peerless in his on-court grace.
So Webre immersed himself in YouTube footage of the Swiss champion.
"You could see what Federer is doing is really dancing," Webre said. "The directional changes are lickety-split. You want both changes in level, both up and down, and changes in lateral direction. Swift changes of direction and a mercurial kind of approach to the physicality make for an interesting dance phrase."
Former tennis pro Patrick McEnroe, captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team, routinely refers to Federer as "Baryshnikov in sneakers." So he wasn't surprised to learn that he served as a choreographer's muse.
"Part of the reason Federer has had this consistency over the years is because of the way he moves and his economy of movement," McEnroe said. "Even when he's out of balance on full stretch, he appears to be in perfect balance."
Three weeks before opening night, Webre had a change of heart, worried that a tennis match might confuse audience members who knew that Fitzgerald's Jordan was a golfer.
So he asked the composer of the sequence's music to drop the wood blocks simulating the sound of a tennis ball being struck and reworked the dance to one in which Jordan teaches Nick to golf.
And it was back to YouTube -- this time, to study Woods, the golfer's well-established artistry trumping any taint from the scandal surrounding his personal life.
Webre said his goal in adapting sport to music was not to mimic or pantomime a golf stroke.
"The movements become distilled and are used as a point of departure to extrapolate this dance between two individuals," Webre said.
It begins with Jordan taking a practice swing (one that, if intended as pantomime, cries out for a golf pro's intervention) and demonstrating the proper stance. Then it quickly moves into a muscular duet in which the dancers use the golf club as a prop, much like Fred Astaire might use a cane.
Webre isn't the first choreographer to draw inspiration from sports.
Twyla Tharp trained as a boxer to choreograph her 1983 boxing-based dance, "Fait Accompli," created for the Los Angeles Olympics.
The muse has worked in reverse fashion, as well, with seasoned athletes trying their hands (and feet) at dance.
Sugar Ray Robinson, considered by many the greatest boxer in history, did both at once, according to veteran boxing promoter and matchmaker Don Elbaum.
"He was incredible on his feet," Elbaum said. "He could move you out of the way and slip a punch by a tenth of an inch."
Today it's not uncommon for college football players to take classical dance -- not just for an easy credit, but in pursuit of the balance and coordination it hones.
And in the realm of pop culture, professional athletes have routed the field on "Dancing With the Stars." For some athletes donning dancing shoes, grace has been the bigger challenge. But the essential task of getting the body to perform at an ethereal level is familiar ground.
Among the jocks to win the television show's crown for their foxtrots, tangos and Paso Dobles (which imitates bullfighting) are former NFL running back Emmitt Smith, speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno, figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi and gymnast Shawn Johnson.
The realms are hardly worlds apart, Webre said.
Dancers at The Washington Ballet approach their lives like athletes, dancing five days a week from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Each day begins with 90 minutes of stretching. A physical therapist is on site twice weekly. And dancers are treated by sports doctors for their injuries.
"What we're doing on stage is presenting for audience members their idealized self, saying, 'Look: This is how grand a human being can be!' " Webre said. "That's what Federer and Woods do when they're playing. And we watch them and cheer them on and are inspired by them because it is inspirational to know that humans can achieve such heights with such grace and beauty."
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