The human form is beautiful

I was swept up by the human form as portrayed by ballerinas, so much so that I'm doing a series of sketches of different poses to explore how ballet depicts the human body. I wanted to explore why I find certain poses beautiful. I will use this image that I recently sketched as an example to investigate why it resonated with me so much.

She has formed a straight line with her legs all the way to her toes. She attempts to bring her torso into that plane. However, her bicep forms a perfect 90 degree angle with that line. Then instead of having a free-flowing skirt, her tutu is stiff thereby accentuating the line.

What is interesting though is that she is not a box. In other words because she is human, the natural contours of her body provide the curvature necessary to soften the hardness of the lines. This can be seen in backside and in her toes. Furthermore, her back is not perfectly straight but is bent just slightly. The roundness of the head and the angle of the forearm add further shapes to the linear pose. Therefore, the rigidity of her pose is softened by her body.

The tension between maintaining the rigidity of the pose instead of letting the body revert to its natural relaxed position is also what makes this pose beautiful. However, the tension is underneath the surface, as her face appears restful and focused, making it look as though she could hold this pose forever. That this pose is her natural pose.

The other aspect of beauty lies in the the duality that comes through the lighting. As can be seen the left side of her is shadowed with the right side illuminated. This balance is similar to that between linear/curve and tension/relaxation described above.

Lastly, her body pose shows strength and power. This is accomplished by the slightly triangular nature of her body. A triangle in art signifies strength, authority, and power as the shape has been associated with such things as hierarchy (someone at the top) or might (pyramids both Egyptian and Cheer related). And there is something amazing that a ballerina can be strong not because of her muscles but because of her form.

Breaking these individual elements down allows me to appreciate the drawing and image, but as with everything the unconscious mind amalgamates all these elements into a single concept - beautiful.