Analysis Of Igor Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring

Balanchine’s ballet is exactly what we think of when we think ballet, and all the girls where long blue tutus, point shoes and dance with extreme poise and

The Elements of Dance Shown Through Sergei Polunin “Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their compassion,” this quote by Martha Graham describes Sergei Polunin, who was the dancer in our assigned video. While this dancer is dancing to “Take Me to Church” by Hozier, he is using many different elements to create the form of art called dance. Three of these elements are mine and pantomime, the music, and mise-en-scene. Through each and every one of these elements the dancer is able to tell his audience exactly how intense his feelings are and he can also send emotions to us and make us feel what he is feeling.

When looking at the periods of dance it can be separated into Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Pre-Romantic, Romantic, Russian Classic, and Ballet Russes before we reach the Twentieth Century. Ballet began during what is known as the Italian Renaissance, and permeated French culture by Catherine de Medici’s marriage to the King of France. The very first endorsed “ballet”, Le Ballet Comique de la Reine performed on October 15, 1581, marked the beginning of theatrical and technical dance performances. During this time our first prominent ballet masters came about, including; Balthasar Beaujoyeaux, Pierre Beauchamp, Domenico of Ferrara, and Guglielmo Ebreo, to name a few. These early ballet masters created and built upon social dance and turned it into a technical spectacle.

“The Rite of Spring” was certainly the most controversial piece of orchestral music of its time. The piece, composed by the Russian Composer Igor Stravinsky, included a great deal of uncommon musical elements. But was it really that uncommon? The world-changing ballet, “The Rite of Spring” was so controversial when it debuted in 1913, because it completely contradicted the common rhythmic and harmonic languages of the music at the time. The choreography and costumes were a main part of the reason why the audience reacted with negativity and riots. But the fact that Stravinsky’s music used similar melodic, orchestrational, and harmonic techniques of pieces written before, brings up the question: Why did the audience react the way that they did? Stravinsky’s music reflected his early life experiences. Consequently, Stravinsky was not, in fact, the first composer who was “committed” with composing such controversy, so again: were riots necessary? The result of the audience’s reaction caused by the ballet has not happened before.

State: The Romantic Ballet came to be when the ideas of “Romanticism in art and literature influenced the creations of ballets.” The ballet was introduced in the nineteenth in Paris and become extremely popular in the Romantic era. Elaborate: The ballet was originally performed in the courts until the 1800s when they moved to the theaters.

She has not felt this way since she was twelve, as her brain “seemed to have stopped thinking all together” and her face “changed with different expressions back and forth” (CS 298). She has been depraved of emotion, having lived so devoutly in the void of Nihilism for so long. However, near the end of the ritual, Manly ironically and abruptly crushes Hulga after discovering her plan to break his heart by stealing away her leg, glasses, and breaking her heart, forcing her to face the emptiness of her emotional, intellectual, and spiritual life (Oliver

For example, at the beginning she “clamped down on her ankle, straining to close my jaws around the woolly XXL sock. ”(Page 226). With this quote a conclusion can be made that she shows her wolf reactions taking over her at

Ballet originated in Europe during the Renaissance and has influenced performing arts throughout generations. It has evolved into a highly complex art form over the past 500 years. It has been a starting point for many other dance styles. From the early times,

Though ballet wasn’t originally intended for women, it was inevitable that the female race would rise above and eventually dominate this powerful yet delicate art. Femininity in ballet developed considerably after the reign of men in this art form during the 15th and 16th centuries, when men in mask and costume portrayed women in productions, and King Louis XIV’s elaborate productions starring himself in the 17th century. The Romantic Era ushered in a real exploration into the roles of gender, and ballets became a woman’s forte, full of love, sexuality, and femininity. During the early days of dance in ancient times of primitive civilizations such as the Aztecs and Maya, gender roles were not important to society.

Several changes were based on political and civil rights, even though dance was used to entertainment people. It was a way for people to express

At that time, “dancing” was considered prancing around in pink sparkly tutus while pretending to be a prima ballerina. Now, that is not the case. Dancing is like any other competitive sport, but much different.

The dancers were observed to be full of energy which showed through their movements and dancing. Every movement was sharp and clean. Furthermore, the action portion of the basic dance elements was seen through the dancer’s basic movements that turned into dancing. For example, in one scene, the actor jumped off the table and broke into a little skip-glide dancing movement.

She realized that there was always more work to do. One of her instructors told her that she hadn't properly learned the basics, and she had to completely start over. This did help her realize that no matter how well she danced, she good always do better. “One instructor said that despite her talent, she hadn’t properly learned the basics. ‘He insisted we go back to the beginning,’” she explained.

The ballet included elements to enhance the ballet. These elements included sound, video, and props. The Bonnie and Clyde ballet was great because it stayed with the time period. The set design, music, video, and lighting fit in the time period.

“Artworks have ‘aboutness’ and demand interpretation” (Barrett 71). This statement creates a foundation for writing, specifically about dance, as each dance piece is always about something, no matter how simple it appears to be. As I began to write about dance I knew not only to provide a description of the piece, but utilize the description as evidence as I develop a possible meaning. Additionally he explains, “There can be different, competing, and contradictory interpretations of the same artwork” (Barrett 73). When I would begin to develop an explanation from the description I provided, I had to remind myself that my interpretation was only one view of the dance and I should not try to provide one comprehensive interpretation for the