What does it mean to choreograph an aria, to add or substitute physical gesture for pre-existing vocal expression? As far as theatrical renovations go, the idea may at first seem absurd – as absurd, perhaps, as Opera on Ice (invented by Italian businesswoman Giulia Mancini) or swimming-pool Shakespeare (the brainchild of Peter Sellars). I exaggerate but a little. Historically, the role of dance in opera has been incidental, ballet divertissements contributing to the brilliance of a spectacle or the couleur locale of a scene, offering relief from dramatic complexities whilst signalling sex-en-pointe to the male voyeur. Neither male nor voyeur, I tend to think of these divertissements as operatic prosthetics, artificial appendages designed to fit, improve function, enhance cosmetic appearance and engineer an ideal sense of ‘wholeness’. I also think of carpet, the decorative kind. As art critic and historian Ernst Gombrich has suggested in his magisterial volume on decorative art, the look of carpet is not unlike that of the conventional danced divertissement. Ornamental, schematic, non-figurative: both are characterised by all-over repetition and a seemingly two-dimensional, spacedrained surface. Both, moreover, share the same visual ontology – they are best described as patterns not pictures, designs not signs, graphic marks not meaningful symbols. The last is the nub of the issue. The aria is meaning writ large, unashamedly semiotic, representational and loaded with expressive significance. In contrast to the divertissement with its conventional diegeticism and cool exterior, the aria is a hothouse of emotion, a private, custom-made cocoon that rips holes in operatic space-time.

中文翻译：

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《第四手牵手威尔第》，《 Tu che levanità》（埃利萨贝塔），唐·卡罗，第四幕

编排一个咏叹调，添加或替代肢体手势来表示预先存在的声音表达是什么意思？就剧院的装修而言，这个主意一开始似乎是荒谬的，也许是荒谬的，就像《冰上歌剧》（由意大利女商人朱莉娅·曼奇尼（Giulia Mancini）发明）或游泳池莎士比亚（彼得·塞拉斯（Peter Sellars）的发明）一样。我有点夸张。从历史上看，舞蹈在歌剧中的作用是偶然的，芭蕾舞的多样化使场面的光彩夺目或场景的现场氛围光彩夺目，从戏剧性的复杂性中解脱出来，同时向男性偷窥者发出信号指向性。无论是男性还是偷窥者，我都倾向于将这些多样性视为手术假肢，为适应，改善功能，改善外观和设计理想的“整体感”而设计的人工附件。我也想到地毯，装饰性的。正如艺术评论家和历史学家恩斯特·冈伯里奇（Ernst Gombrich）在他关于装饰艺术的权威著作中所建议的那样，地毯的外观与传统的舞蹈作品没有什么不同。装饰性，示意性，非象征性的：两者均具有整体重复性和看似二维，间隔开的表面的特征。而且，两者共享相同的视觉本体–最好将它们描述为图案而不是图片，设计不是标志，图形标记不是有意义的符号。最后是问题的核心。咏叹调的意思是写大，毫不掩饰的符号，具有代表性和具有表达意义。与传统的饮食主义和酷酷的外观不同，咏叹调是情感的温床，是私人的，