The Hybrid Arts

Time for another one of my essays of commentary, as opposed to reviews.

In the space of just a few months, I've attended several events which have crossed traditional boundaries between different artistic genres in some rather surprising ways.  I'm certain that this is an artistic trend which is gathering speed -- and I definitely expect to encounter more such events in the future.

For this reason, I've created a new reference label to use in this blog which I am calling "hybrid arts."  Before publishing this essay, I've gone back through the 300 previous posts in the blog and applied the label retroactively to any posts which fit into this category.

There have always been some art forms which quite naturally fit together.  The intersection of dance and music, for example, can be considered (with a few exceptions) pretty much a given.  Similarly, theatre and music have a long and honourably conjoined history.  Indeed, all three of these forms were linked together in the ancient Greek theatre.  

Others, however, have not traditionally been so related.  And even within the boundaries of the genres mentioned above, some unusual possibilities for new and different kinds of conjunction between genres are being developed.

Some of the hybrid possibilities I've encountered over the last few years have included creative uses of the visual arts to comment on or magnify the impact of music, the use of film and of visual arts as inspiring sources for the creation of modern dance, the integration of chamber music performance into dance performance, the creation of visual arts inspired by the texts of choral music, the use of spoken verse and prose rather than music as an accompaniment to dance, and more.

It's easy to see that all of these types of performance resist classification into traditional genres, which tend to operate more like exclusive boxes rather than inclusive spaces.  In each case, I have been both intrigued and fascinated by the possibilities opened up through these broader-based, integrated, hybrid arts performances.  

With the use of this new label, my loyal readers can now backtrack and find my reviews of the events in which these free-thinking new kinds of creativity have been developed.  Next up in a day or so: another hybrid arts event from a most unusual choral concert.