Breaking the 4th Wall

Often times, when you see a performer on stage, they are acting (pretending) as if the audience is not there. While they are aware of the audience's presence, they are giving the impression that they are not. They are portraying characters who live in a make-believe reality and the stage is their whole world. When a performer acknowledges the existence of the audience, it is called "breaking the 4th wall." As if that invisible barrier between  performer and audience has been removed. 

Breaking the 4th wall is a very tricky thing. In classical ballet, there is kind of a tacit acceptance that that is what performers are expected to do a bit in their performance of solos. So much so that dancers actually take bows after pas de deux and solos. This can seem jarring to actors and opera singers who would never take a bow in the middle of a straight play, musical, or opera. That said, by breaking the 4th wall, it is harder for audiences to actually invest in dancers as characters.

The Dying Swan is an interesting exemption to this rule. As usually done today, the swan drifts in, does her bourees, and dies. All in a pretty insular way. She is in her own world. Watching Pavlova, one sees a very different dance. She continually breaks the 4th wall and pleads with the audience for more life. It is a completely different experience. I can't help but wonder if THIS is what audiences were responding to when Pavlova was taking ballet around the world and exposing new audiences to her art.

Abstracted beauty for beauty's sake, detached from its observers or a direct connection between artist and audience? What makes the Swan special?