3 Triadic Ballet

Das triadisches Ballett (1922; “The Triadic Ballet”)—a ballet that he choreographed and for which he designed costumes. He named it “Triadic” to reflect the three acts, three dancers, and three colours (one for each act). The costumes he designed—based on cylinder, sphere, cone, and spiral shapes— were revolutionary.

Inspired in part by Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaireand his observations and experiences during the First World War, Oskar Schlemmer began to conceive of the human body as a new artistic medium.

He saw ballet and pantomime as free from the historical baggage of theatre and opera and thus able to present his ideas of choreographed geometry, man as dancer, transformed by costume, moving in space.

Schlemmer’s work in the arena and performance was both experimental and subversive. He broke free from the usual constraints and rules and theater and dance featured three dancers (two female, one male) performing 12 choreographies across three parts, with 18 costumes. He sought to break out of the classic ballet models of dualism and soloing, instead trying to emphasise a collective.

He saw the movement of puppets and marionettes as aesthetically superior to that of humans, as it emphasised that the medium of every art is artificial. This artifice could be expressed through stylised movements and the abstraction of the human body.

His consideration of the human form (the abstract geometry of the body e.g. a cylinder for the neck, a circle for head and eyes) led to the all important costume design, to create what he called his ‘figurine’. The music followed and finally the dance movements were decided.

Each act had a different colour and mood: The first scene is broken up into three which are against a lemon yellow background which comvey a cheerful and burlesqque mood.

The second scene, also known as the two middle scenes, are set on a pink stage which appear to show a mood of festivity and solemness.

The third scene, also known as the three final scenes, are set on black which the intent of being mystical and fantastic.

The movement of puppets was superior to that of humans, as it showed the medium of every art is superficial. It could be shown through moments and the abstraction of the human body.

Schlemmer starting considering the human body as shapes. Example: Cylinder for the neck and a circle for the head and eyes. Costumes are constructed out of materials such as barbed wire and wooden panels.

With his work The Triadic Ballet, Oskar Schlemmer pushed dance into the 20th century, using cartoonish costumes and bright colours in a bizarre exploration of modernity – and a new exhibition shows off his unique imagination. Costumes were also made out of strange materials such as barbed wire.

When dancers perform, they are exposed to the laws of cubic space, functional laws of the human body in relation to space, laws of motion of the human body and metaphysical forms of expressionism. The costume acts as a connecting element. Via the costume, the dancer is transformed into four different forms : A. walking architecture (following laws of cubic space, head, torso, arms, legs are transformed into cu- bical form), B. a marionette (using the laws of the human body in relation to space, bodily forms are stereotyped: an egg-shape head, vase-shaped torso, club-shaped arms and legs), C. a technical organism (emphasizing rotation, directionality, intersection of space: a spinning top, spiral, disk), or D. dematerialized (metaphysical forms of expression symbolize parts of the body: the cross of spine and shoulders, the ∞ sign of folded arms).