Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"The Rockettes" by John Updike captures the mesmerizing performance of the iconic dance line, delving into the interplay between the performers and their audience with a blend of admiration and playful commentary. Updike's poem is a lively and rhythmic tribute to the spectacle, highlighting the dancers' skill and the almost hypnotic effect they have on those watching. Through his vivid imagery and keen observations, Updike explores themes of spectacle, synchronization, and the shared experience of entertainment.

The poem starts by setting a slow, anticipatory pace as the Rockettes begin their performance. Updike emphasizes this deliberate slowness, suggesting that the dancers are aware of the audience's eager anticipation: "they do it slow, so slow and with a smile—they know we love it." This interaction creates a complicit relationship between the performers and the audience, where mutual understanding heightens the experience. The mention of the audience's collective gasp, "breaths suck in with a gasp you hear," further intensifies this shared moment, making the audience an active participant in the spectacle.

Updike's use of repetition, "thirty-six, thirty-six," underscores the uniformity and the sheer number of dancers, while his playful commentary on their physique, "what a sex / to be limber and white and slender / and fat all at once, all at once!" reflects both the uniformity and individuality of each dancer. This line serves as a nod to the physical demands of their performance, as well as the paradoxical way in which their uniform appearance belies their unique physicalities.

The imagery of "the wonderful kicks, like the teeth / of a beast we have dreamed and are dreaming," transforms the dance into something primal and surreal, linking the aesthetic pleasure of the dance to deeper, more instinctual feelings. The comparison to "the feathers all velvet together / of a violent contracting that pulls us in, then lets us go" further adds to this sense of a mesmerizing, almost animalistic force that captivates and then releases the viewer, mimicking the emotional highs and lows experienced during a powerful performance.

The concluding lines, "they smile because / they know we know they know we know," encapsulate the poem's playful and meta-aware tone. This reflects the dancers' awareness of their effect on the audience and the audience's recognition of this awareness, creating layers of mutual understanding. It speaks to the performative aspect of the Rockettes' routine, where part of the allure is this shared acknowledgment between viewer and performer—a knowing engagement with the spectacle.

"The Rockettes" by John Updike is not just a celebration of a dance performance but a deeper reflection on the dynamics of performance art itself. Updike skillfully uses poetic language and rhythm to mimic the dance's impact, crafting a poem that itself performs, drawing the reader into a shared space of rhythmic movement and collective awe.

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