- The Never-Told Story -
A modality
of performing arts not very common in our social medium, still too “Porfirian”
–for "too dressed"- is that of the artists whom to have bare feet on stage is an
essential part of their performances, as it happens not only in oppositional
genres, such as rock, pop and folk – as the legendary Joan Baez, whose father
was born right here, in Puebla, Mexico -, but even in classical solo, chamber
or symphonic music, since it’s a permission that any artist can give himself
without compromising his rendition.
Not to
mention the arts in which the protagonist is directly the body, such as the
theater and dance, particularly ethnic and contemporary, which from Isadora
Duncan and Martha Graham their performers perform, as a rule, barefoot.
But also in
the plastic arts, bare feet have been a frequent theme, with artists who even
characterized themselves by systematically capturing them in their works, such
as the painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau. (In fact, as I pointed out in my
distant lecture at the local public University on SEX AND RELIGION of 1988, have bare feet is a partial nakedness, comparable to that which enhances a cleavage
or a miniskirt, both reasons for scandal to neurotically modest people, as are
usually the religious ministers.
The same in
photography and movies, whose history provides a large gallery of memorable
images: Who doesn’t remember the initial scene of LOLITA (1962) by Stanley
Kubrick, just to give an example? And two recent films, German BARFUSS and
Spanish SOLEDAD DESCALZA, revolve around a barefoot protagonist.
For amateur
art, just go online to locate a lot of productions, from (real) documentaries,
sneaky sequences or still photos and random shots of barefoot people, to those filmed
even with a plot - or almost -. There is even pornography - which is not a bad
word - centered on this bodily part.
That is,
the bare feet have ALWAYS aroused the interest for both creators and viewers,
which brings us back to the monotonous daily everyday life, in which the very
possibility of having them LIVE in sight seems to have been eradicated by a
kind of silent conspiracy that some of us aren't aware of and that's why we
continue to see them whenever we can, as calm and carefree as in the 60s and
70s.
(Here I
observe a kind of generational pattern, because while for the people of my
generation and the previous one, going barefoot is a possibility that can be
chosen, something known and remembered - sometimes with nostalgia -, to the
children of today, it breaks their scheme of things, judging by the extreme
strangeness this behavior causes them, as if their parents had taken care to
hide it.)
Since art
isn't only a representation or record of objective reality, but also the
projection of the individual imaginary of the artist and the collective of his
medium, it can be inferred accordingly that the BAREFOOT ART confirms the
presence of the desire - reverie, fantasy - of being oneself or see another be
himself, despite the prevalence of an adverse moral ideology.
As with many
other things, what was repressed - verdrängt - at a certain time, society or
social stratum, nevertheless survives in its ART as a promise of what one day
will be - or will be again - a REALITY.
Fernando Acosta Reyes (@ferstarey) is founder of the Investigative Society of the Strange (SIDLE), professional musician and student of social behavior.Image: facebook/ Music Live Barefoot
