In Lincoln Center, it is not easy for a specific theater/hall to stand out. In this collection of performing venues, one can see professional orchestras, college orchestras, musicals, Shakespeare, opera, and ballet; often several performances at once on some evenings! What's so fascinating about one of them, the David H. Koch Theater, is its impressionability and design to compliment the ballet performed there.
The David H. Koch Theater is the first thing that pops into my head when recalling a tour I took of the Lincoln Center. As to why it sticks out more than others, the theme captured my attention at first. When walking into the lobby, it appears as any standard performance entryway. When the guide mentioned the theme of a music box, I looked through the carefully designed details to see the flow of the theme. I saw the rectangular lobby as the opened music box, ornately lined with rows of jeweled lights and ceiling adorned with sheets of gold. The audience is meant to be on display while in the lobby; the three rows of walkways around the center of the rectangle allow people to see others from all tiers.
Inside the stage area lies the biggest gem. A spectacular chandelier mimics a large jeweled broach. All of these precious metals in the theater surround and reflect light onto the dancers spinning in the music box.
This theme in the theater also reflects views on ballet. By putting them on display in a music box, the audience expects perfection. Each turn is pulled by the music and every dancer is uniform. The ballerinas in music boxes do not even change position. They slowly twirl with the crank of minute chimes. Although this sets up an enchanting performance experience, should the dancers be expected to perfectly dance like a wind-up ballerina in a jewelery box?
Along with the jewelry box theme, designers incorporated modern art to put relate ballet to everyday happenings. These pieces scattered throughout the theater relate to ballet in a less rigid sense than the overall theme. Human expression, emotion, and natural beauty are among the themes of the art. Because the art pieces are more subtle than the overall theme, this puts less emphasis on the raw expression part of ballet.
No matter if the audience picks up on the main theme or the modern art on display, the overall feel and design of this theater makes it stick in people's minds. The attention to detail make it a theater specifically for ballet and heighten the experience of watching ballet in the theater. Meaning and detail; not just slapping four walls together, add power and significance to this building. Care in design in most anything can yield strong effects on the audience.
View of the stage and chandelier
Lobby (note the gold ceiling; it is thousands of tiny gold leaves smoothed together)
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