"The art of dancing stands at the source of all the arts that express themselves first in the human person. The art of building, or architecture, is the beginning of all the arts that lie outside the person; and in the end they unite"
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In this quote, Henry Ellis talks to the fundamental nature of 2 distinct yet interconnected types of art: dance and architecture. He recommends that these two arts represent the personal and the external worlds of human expression, respectively.
Ellis starts by highlighting dance as "the art ... at the source of all the arts that express themselves first in the human individual". Dance is thoroughly tied to the human body and is one of the most immediate kinds of self-expression. It incorporates emotions, ideas, and stories through motion, rhythm, and physical existence, originating from within the person. By positioning dance at the core of these expressive arts, Ellis acknowledges the fundamental connection in between the entertainer's internal world and their external expression. This viewpoint acknowledges the uniqueness and diversity of human feeling and thought, suggesting that dance, as a primal art kind, acts as a fundamental expression from which other individual arts like music, theater, and visual art progress.
Contrastingly, Ellis recognizes architecture as "the art of building ... the beginning of all the arts that lie outside the person". Architecture is a concrete symptom that exists separately in the physical world. It encompasses the production of structures and spaces that affect how people communicate with their environment. As the cornerstone of external creative expression, architecture forms the areas that home and connect with the personal arts. It offers the setting where artistic activities unfold, underscoring its function as an essential external art form.
Ellis concludes by asserting that these realms "in the end, unify". This recommends a cooperative relationship where personal and external art kinds converge to develop a holistic creative experience. The expression of human creativity is total when the internal feelings and concepts reflected in personal arts meet the developed and structured environments of architecture. Therefore, Ellis's quote reviews the interconnectedness and complementary nature of dance and architecture, which together add to the broader landscape of human artistry.
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