“She danced her tarantella to thunderous applause-well-deserved applause, too-even though there was something a little too naturalistic about the whole thing-I mean, something that went beyond the strict requirements of art. But so what? The main thing is, she was a success-a tremendous success”
The dance of the tarantella in Ibsen’s The Doll House is a genius component to the play that I am certain cannot be ignored through its examination. I have gained knowledge of the history of the tarantella which originates from a mental disorder common in the Middle Ages of Europe called tarantism. Tarantism was a disorder in which large masses of people suffered from apparently shared absurd beliefs and imagined sights and sounds and would suddenly begin to jump, dance, and go into convulsions. These individuals were convinced that they were bitten and were possessed by a wolf spider which now is known as a tarantula with the cure to this disorder being to dance the tarantella. I believe that tarantism is a perfect parallel to the illusion that Nora suffers within the doll persona she is expected to embody and that by performing the tarantella “a little too naturalistically” she is in fact curing herself and facing reality. This is represented well by Ibsen by at the finale of th tarantella and Nora and Torvald return to their home, the walls of the doll house are finally torn down and Nora uncovers the truth of their marriage. This is quite a clever notion by Ibsen.
Another component of Torvald’s portrayal of Nora’s dance is the phrase “went beyond the strict requirements of art”. For me this was a peculiar line that reminded me of a time that I auditioned to be in the Anchorage performance of the famous ballet “The Nutcracker” when I was ten years old. I had been studying acrobatics and jazz for six years at that point and was hoping to audition to be one of the gingerbread children that come out of Mother Ginger’s skirt. When I went to audition I was one inch to tall to fit under the skirt, but the company told me to come back in an hour and I would still be able to audition. However, when I went into my audition I was in for an awful surprise. Instead of auditioning with the other acrobats I was placed with the ballerinas. I stuck out like a sore thumb with my neon blue leotard while my competition was suited in the appropriate pink leotard and black tights. I suffered through the tryouts without any ballet technique or form making up my own dance moves to the music as I went along. I left the audition room completely humiliated and close to tears, but as I went out the door I was stopped by a parent who had witnessed my unfortunate performance. The mother told me that she thought I had danced wonderfully and that it was full of heart and creativity. I know that she was frankly just attempting to make me feel better but now causes me to relate art in the form of dance.
Can art have any strict requirements in any form? Definitely not. As I recall my performance I realize that my unique performance was more imaginative than any of the other contestants who had the strict technique required of ballerinas and even though ballet is a fantastic form of dance, dance has zero limits to its classifications. What Torvald fails to understand throughout the play is that the “perfect” doll of a wife he has created cannot be confined within the boundaries that he constructs. Instead she is a human being and that by dancing the tarantella which went beyond his strict instructions ,the illusion she was encompassed in was exposed afterwards through his disappointing actions. Torvald is therefore, the taratula.
