Having now explored some of her favourite narrative or ‘story ballets’, Katharine Harris is shining a light upon a different style of dance: the non-narrative work.

This is a ballet that doesn’t necessarily follow and support a narrative arc. There are dancers, but usually they aren’t playing a role of a specific character. Sometimes a story is outlined to you (how can it not be, once there are dancers on stage they are telling a story, don’t you think? Sometimes it’s more detailed than others, but it’s always a story), sometimes a mood is evoked. These types of dance have many names, including ‘mood ballet’ and ‘pure dance’ ballet.

It has been argued that the first ‘pure dance’ ballet was Michel Fokine’s Chopiniana. He choreographed it originally in 1907, set to a series of Chopin noctures. Two years later, in 1909, he tweaked the work somewhat and created Les Sylphides, which sparked a movement towards shorter ballets, generally one-act, and ones that had a vague narrative. Diaghilev picked up where Fokine had begun and began to create similar works. A few years later Balanchine began creating shorter ballets that weren’t restricted by the need for a complete (and complex) narrative and characters.

Typically, a ‘pure dance’ ballet is driven largely by the music it is set to, and is often named for the work in question – witness Symphony in C, Divertimento No 15, etc. The location is often somewhere neutral or non-specific. As mentioned, the dancers are often not specific characters but rather dancers, and, as the ‘pure dance’ ballet evolved, the costumes and sets became much more simple. Leotard Ballets, usually exemplified by Balanchine, were ‘pure dance’ ballets in which the costumes were simply leotards, tights and shoes for the dancers. The simplicity of the aesthetic, some felt, forced audience members to really watch the choreography and focus on the steps and the way they were executed, thus allowing the audience to really focus on the dance itself, not its ‘trimmings’. ‘Pure dance’ ballets can be as enticing as narrative works – sometimes more so, as you can decide for yourself what story is being told to you on stage.

One of my favourite ‘pure dance’ ballets is Désir, choreographed by James Kudelka. The work was created for Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montreal, when Kudelka was Resident Choreographer there. It has since been performed by Geneva Grand Theatre Ballet, Ballet Nacional de Mexico, Ballet Met, the Stuttgart Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada.

Désir is set to selections of Prokofiev’s music, some works taken from Cinderella, others from his opera War and Peace. The work takes place in an unspecified locale, though I read it as outside, because the dancers perform it under the glow of a giant, gorgeous moon. Seven couples make up Désir, and the series of pas de deux that Kudelka creates are breathtakingly beautiful.

The National Ballet describes the work as seven couples, “Celebrating passion and pleasure under the moon”, which I think is accurate. For a ballet that doesn’t concern itself with presenting a specific story, it does present a wealth of emotion. Watching Désir there is definitely passion and pleasure, along with longing, joy and also sadness. As an audience member, I would add to that list astonishment and enjoyment, as we get to watch the beauty of the movement of the dancers and listen to the sensual music

. Désir is a ballet that truly satisfies all my senses, and makes me realize anew the potential that raw beauty has to create an emotional reaction.