Here is an image of my contribution to ArtWalk 2011, my piece, “Ballet Learning Table”.

The table top is a separate piece that when presented alone is called “Ballet Learning”. This part is created from my handmade paper and employs many of the French ballet terms a student encounters. Measurable objectives surround the table edge. “Ballet Learning” was presented in an earlier show (Art of Dance) on its own and hung on a wall. I re-edged the top, reflecting the words to help the piece be more flexible. While I aim for flexible interactive design in my art, I find there are one or two variables to take into account that I needed experience to forsee. This is in keeping with the constant flux that our world is in. Instead of demolishing or throwing away a complete piece, we can take care to recycle or reuse parts. It is my process of working. While many can say, reduce, reuse, recycle; few really take it seriously.

The legs of the table are ballerina legs and wooden legs. The ballet slippers were my worn out slippers from ballet lessons that I took as a mature adult. While that is not the best time in a person’s life to take ballet, I love the shoes knowing that they represent not feeling too old to learn anything new despite common beliefs. The constant rubbing of soft leather ballet slippers on a floor causes a dancer to go through many slippers. The soft leather enables flexibility for toe and foot posturing and the toe will rip and tear after a week of constant work illustrating the work a student puts in.

I knit the leg warmers — the softness of French Angora suits the linguistics of the piece and works well to illustrate the softness that dancers work hard to achieve.

It requires much flexibility and strength to truly achieve the most elegant physical lines. Dancers use their body as an interactive drawing tool much like an artist. Like a filmmaker or musician, a dancer will time and present the lines to fill space and make and emphasize their statements, writing a story or showing emotion by controlling their movement. The feet on this table rotate to present the different positions.

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