Carol Ann Duffy
The Artist's Connection

Carol Ann Duffy is set to be one of the talented, contemporary artists taking part in a new project alongside the ballet dancers at the Royal Ballet in England.

The connection between ballet dancers, poets and artists are more alike than you think. They are all artists stimulating to create, imagine and explore.

The Royal Ballet are collaborating in the same project as poet, Carol Ann Duffy.

The aim is for all the artists to respond to paintings by Renaissance master Titian.

The ballet dancers are performing new and choreographed works in the Royal Ballet, whilst Duffy is commissioning a new poem by the National Gallery.

Art can be expressed within so many ways through dance, music, paintings, stories, designs. Another one of the ways art can be so powerfully revealed is through poetry.

Just like ballet, poetry reveals intense emotions and creates powerful moments. Ballet is appreciated for it's quality of movement and seamless connection with music, whilst similarly poetry is noticed for it's rhythmic and expressive language.

"Poetry, above all, is a series of intense moments - its power is not in the narrative. I'm not dealing with facts. I'm dealing with emotion." - Carol Ann Duffy

Duffy is a writer who has a unique voice, a clear purpose. At 14, she became determined to be a poet and is now a leading light in literature. Duffy has made it to the top of her field and her poetry is appreciated all over the world.

Duffy was born in Glasgow and is a diverse artist. She is an admired poet, playwright and freelance writer, becoming the United Kingom's first female poet Laureate in 2009. She has written for both children and adults, and she has received many awards for her poetry.

Her poem, "Education for Leisure", sends many powerful messages, but one I feel is essential to our training. The desire to learn, enjoy and engage in our education.

The poem expresses how this youngster “did” a subject at school, rather than studied or learnt about it. The poem stimulates my belief that young dancers need to really absorb and take in the pleasure of dancing, as oppose to doing it just because they have to. Especially in ballet, we have to want to learn, to find our passion and pursue it.

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