Ballophrastic poetry: defining verbal conduits to the dance

Although there are longstanding connections between poetry and dance, relatively little attention has been given to ekphrastic poetry about dance. Cassandra Atherton has coined the terms ballophrasis and ballophrastic poetry to refer to ekphrastic poems that address a specific dance or dance performance, and we primarily focus on ballophrastic poetry's characteristics and problematics, referring to Jack Anderson's statement that poetry is ‘an almost dematerialized art of words … while dance is an inescapably material art involving solid hunks of flesh' (Anderson, Jack. 2010. “On the Move: Poetry and Dance.” Dance Chronicle 33 (2): 251). We explore, too, whether ballophrastic poetry is best understood in James A.W. Heffernan's terms as a form of representation, and how traditional works of ballophrasis provide an opportunity to examine aspects of gender dynamics and the functioning of the male gaze. This article advocates for a broad view of ballophrastic poetry, cognisant of embodied understandings and of Tanya Jayani Fernando's discussion of ‘the relationship between dance and the other arts, dance and society' (Fernando, Tanya Jayani. 2019. “The Ekphrastic Body: Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works.” Dance Chronicle 42 (2): 164). Ballophrastic poetry has the capacity to open productive and creative ekphrastic spaces for reader and writer alike.