The maths master looked at me rather curiously. “I hear that you’re going to the ballet” - pause - “legs and all that, eh Crisp?” My 13-year-old self was non-plussed. He obviously saw me as an apprentice roue, haunting the wings and ogling ballet girls, rather than getting on with maths homework. But he hit a nerve, one that became increasingly sensitive as going to the ballet developed first into an obsession and then a career.
Watching dancing, what does one see? The stage design establishes an immediate mood, the first look from the hotel window. The bodies start to move - and how they move - and their elegance of proportion speaks to us. In classical ballet it is legs and feet (mostly female) that help to decide one’s thoughts. I remember telling a great ballerina, “God gave you many gifts.” “Good legs and feet,” was the brisk rejoinder, and it is a significant truth.
