Only a few brave souls have tackled the ballet body in the visual arts world. Eleanor Antin began the trend in 1986 with her work Recollections of my Life with Diaghilev, featuring a fictional persona, Eleanora Antinova, a dancer with Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes. The exhibit featured photographs of Antin’s enchanting ballerina persona starring in various productions: Pocahontas, The Hebrews, Prisoner of Persia, L’Esclave and Before the Revolution.

Eleanor Antin. Pocahontas from Recollections of My Life with Diaghilev 1919-1929, 1977-1978. Courtesy: Ronald Feldman Fine Arts.

In this show, Antin’s prima ballerina Antinova mocks the glistening, sylph-like dancer in all of her glamorous glory. Antin pokes fun at the ballet ideal using her less than ideal ballet figure. Antin’s deliciously curvy physique and full facial features, though lusted after in contemporary society, are the ultimate “no no” in the ballet world. The ballet, to this day, is noted for its sylph-like women with ballet buns and legs for miles. Thus, Antin, or Antinova rather, infiltrates the dance world, challenging the typical dancing body and its impact on feminine ideals. Classic.

Eleanor Antin, The Hebrews from Recollections of My Life with Diaghilev1919-1929, 1977-1978. Courtesy: Ronald Feldman Fine Arts.

But there’s a new girl in town, and she’s depicting the ballet in a whole new light. Meghann Snow, a grad student at Parsons The New School for Design, shatters the typical depiction of the dancing body like a hammer to fine china, forcing the viewer to explore the moving female body with honesty rather than idealized societal expectations, to examine body in a grittier, more realistic manner.

Meghann Snow, The Ballet Finger, 2008. 5′x10′, acrylic house paint, oil slick, caulking on wood panel. Courtesy: Meghann Snow.

At first glance, Snow’s featured painting, The Ballet Finger, appears to be a pink, pulsing organ-perhaps a pancreas or a pair of kidneys. But when viewed with a critical eye, it becomes apparent that this work, oil on canvas, is a pointer finger,a small, but very important element in ballet technique. Snow selects certain body parts, fingers and feet, zooms in on these body parts and dissects them, revealing both the beautiful and grotesque elements of the female body. This examination lends to a sort of internal duel, a tug of war between the aesthetically appealing and the bodily blemishes.

Meghann Snow, Size 7, dimensions variable. Courtesy: Parsons The New School for Design, Department of Fine Arts.

Though not on view at The Kitchen, Snow’s work Size 7 kicks the typical ballet shoe up a notch. Snow wraps bare feet in various colorful industrial materials. They’re wrapped sort of messily in canary yellows and navy blues, patches of lime green and magenta. This messiness depicts the wear and tear of the dancing foot, the wear and tear of the dancing body and mind, the lack of glamour, the blood, sweat and tears wrapped up in one tiny shoe. Size 7 is winking with dualism: the sweet fervor of the dance world combined with the twinges of physical and emotional pain that sometimes exhaust the joy of movement.

Both Antin and Snow reveal the restrictive nature of the moving body, as well as the restrictive nature of feminine beauty ideals in general. These female artists, though from different generations, are challenging women to do away with perfection, and reclaim the beauty in those infamous measurements: 36-24-36.

Check out Snow’s work at her open studio at Parsons on Monday, May 12th from 6-8 pm! (25 E. 13th Street, Studio 31)

Free speech: some of us utilize it more than others, babbling faster than the speed of light. While others, meek as mice, prefer to keep our words to the bare minimum. But, Pia Lindman, a New York-based performance and installation artist, has boldly reorganized the way that we think about free speech in her Soapbox Event, granting each participant only one minute to speak.

Overhead view.  Pia Lindman: Soapbox Event, Reinventing Forms of Free Speech.  Federal Hall National Memorial, 26 Wall Street, New York City.  April 5, 2008.  Photo: Pia Lindman.  Courtesy: Pia Lindman.

Lindman received her MFA from Finland’s Academy of Fine arts, and received a second masters degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Over the years, Lindman has experimented with social and public space, challenging social, political and economic issues facing human beings globally. She has explored her interest in human masses, space and architecture through projects such as Three Cities, Rivers, Monuments (2002/2006) and Fascia (2006).

In her Soapbox Event, Lindman uses historical public spaces as venues for her art. She grants each participant a soapbox to stand on and sets her handy dandy timer for one minute. Participants can share just about anything in the time allotted; poetry, stories, monologues, movement sequences or articles. But there’s a catch: participants may form coalitions, stacking their soapboxes to create a higher podium. One minute is added to each coalition’s speaking time for each extra soapbox stacked. Now, this is a woman who understands the meaning of teamwork!

Side view.  Pia Lindman: Soapbox Event, Reinventing Forms of Free Speech.  Federal Hall National Memorial, 26 Wall Street, New York City.  April 5, 2008.  Photo: Pia Lindman.  Courtesy: Pia Lindman.

Lindman’s Soapbox Event is about more than getting your chat on. Lindman’s work forces participants to be conscious of one another, to share space, to communicate and listen. Her work is much more than a blab-fest: it challenges those involved to become more aware of their bodies in space, how bodies and voices relate to other bodies, how bodies and voices have the potential to affect the world.

The Soapbox Event is an ongoing project, taking place in public locations throughout New York City. The last event, held at the Federal Hall National Memorial in the Financial District reeled in 41 participants, a great success. Past Soapbox Events have taken place at Cooper Union, Yale School of Art and several other acclaimed venues.  To learn more about Pia Lindman’s upcoming events and her fascinating, thought provoking body of work visit the Soapbox Event Blog or check out Pia Lindman’s bio. Learn how to get involved and exercise your right to free speech.

Sure, chocolate covered strawberries and steamy kisses are nice. And I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a sucker for those sugary treats with cute sayings like “Be Mine” and “You’re Sweet.” But this February 14, why not become part of a global movement? V-Day!

Eve Ensler is practically a household name thanks to her V-Day movement, which supports consciousness raising awareness events and workshops that respond to the impact of violence against women worldwide. Beginning in 1998, Ensler sought to raise awareness and money to support women who are victims of violent crimes such as sexual assault, rape and harassment. Now, in 2008, the supporters of the V-Day movement have raised more than 30 million dollars worldwide and educated just as many.

So what does this infamous “V” stand for? Valentine, Victory, and of course Vagina. Three symbols that Ensler embraces with pride. Events on V-Day include the re-staging of Ensler’s ground-breaking, Obie-award winning production The Vagina Monologues. Past Vagina Monologues productions have included many talented artists, activists, and performers such as Kirstie Alley, Linda Ellerby, Claire Danes, Robin Givens and Glenn Close, among others.

The Big Apple is a host to a handful of Vagina Monologues performances taking place at colleges and universities, and The New School and New York University are just two of the many colleges participating in this worthwhile event.

Get involved and don’t miss out on the show this week. For more information on V-day performances, or to find out how to get involved, visit the V-Day website.