Researching contact improvisation was a great learning experience. This project made me realize that contact improvisation is a form that will always change with the times. This makes it interesting and unique at all times. My favorite part of this form is that each person involved can get something different out of the experience. The improvisers can be thinking about their own goals of exploration that can be different from each other. The audience also gain information, but it may not necessarily be the same thoughts or ideas the dancers are thinking about. At the time contact improvisation was established this was not seen in dance. Typically everyone knew exactly what was happening and why it was happening, but now it was open to everyone’s …show more content…
Some participants did it as a fun way to interact social, while others used it to develop choreography. To me this proves that contact improvisation can be whatever you want it to be. With both versions it is about expressing your creativity to form art. I still believe that it was remarkable how Steve Paxton developed these concepts in a time where no one else was thinking about it. His ideas were not codified like other technique but there important concepts and prompts. For example, the ability to control your own weight while supporting others. It is important to be able to arrange yourself so that you are in proper alignment for what is going to happen next. Another part of this is being able to trust the people you are improvising with. From reading what Nancy Stark Smith explained in her experience, when she had to improvise with people for a longer period of time they would spend time together outside of the studio to build a stronger relationships?
Another interesting aspect of contact improvisation is the political side of the form. Contact improvisation became a revolutionary movement style that went against all boundaries that were set in other dance forms. In the “Interior Techniques” article Robert Turner talked about how people in society during the 70s were conditioned to do the same thing as everyone else. Whenever one was in public they had to
When you are dancing, there are many things you can channel; emotions, memories, people, experiences, stories, the list goes on and on. These properties can be portrayed through movements, facial expressions, and music. Dancing can also portray conflict; such as the conflict between Ponyboy Curtis and Darry Curtis in S.E. Hinton’s beloved novel, The Outsiders. In our dance piece, titled, Hard to See, both the music and movements work in harmony to illustrate Darry and Ponyboy’s maturing relationship.
This was in line with the societal idea of “playing” and finding ways to experiment with norms or popular beliefs. To prevent conforming to the pre-established rules of dance, Tharp tested the limitations and experimented with a range of new possibilities such as combining genres and creating pieces with diverse sets of
The Northeast Conference sponsored a speaker to present to the student-athletes here at Robert Morris University. The speaker was Dr. Derek Greenfield, who is a motivational speaker specializing in inclusive excellence and positive change. Dr. Greenfield travels around the country speaking to people about improving relations among groups of diverse individuals. At Robert Morris, his goal was to bring the athletic department together as a whole by helping everyone to become more accepting of others, therefore bringing the athletes together much like a family. This is important because studies show that athletes who feel accepted and important among their peers perform better in his or her particular sport.
The Alvin Ailey modern dance company is known internationally for their works and dancers but how they began is a very interesting story. The company formed in 1958 and just two years later one of the most memorable and notable performances of the company was created, “.Revelations”. Although Alvin Ailey was the creator and director of this company, Ailey’s style and the technique he used and that the company still uses stems from Lester Horton. Horton was a pivotal teacher for Ailey and inspired him to create a company and carry on this technique from Horton. This paper will illustrate the beginning influence Horton had on Ailey and how the company has grown overtime.
Marshall liked a low center of gravity, syncopation, isolations, and the confident sexual appeal that is clearly shown in “All that Jazz” and a plethora of his works. In addition to his specific technique, Marshall entertained the audience. Audiences were elated and enthralled with his saucy contortions of the dancer’s bodies. Marshall created pieces with an addictive presence that gave most audience members goosebumps. His talent and gift of creativity has taken the world by storm and started an influential chain reaction that better’s the dance
Tg beneath the surface” (Weakland). Jerome Robbins fully integrated all of the elements of musical theater including music, lyrics, book, and dance to produce something entirely unique. Jerome Robbins was changing the face of musical theater entirely. West Side Story also broke the rules in a thematic way. West Side Story was the first show to portray that musicals could be based on painful stories.
Messages can be conveyed in many ways including through movement. A dancer knows how to use their facial expressions, combined with the dynamics of their body, to get their message across. A choreographer knows how to structure a dance to communicate a message through body in motion. Alvin Ailey choreographed his dancers and used this form of communication to create many powerful dances.
In America, Martha Graham (The Queen of Modern), Rudolph von Laban ( Time Energy and Space), and Alvin Ailey (Gospel or Lyrical Spiritual dance) developed and are developing for human movement and methods of instruction that led to the development of modern and expressionist dance. The reason that modern dance is so popular is because it 's the ability to move your body in a way that is comfortable to you. Also people in that time were trying to get out of the strictness of ballet and wanted to be more free in there dancing. The society change during the 20th century changed in the dance style.
(Bernal) His creations catalyzed the methodology of written compositions and improvisations during a transitional era for jazz musicians. While highlighting his accomplishments as an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer, this paper explores the impact of jazz modality within a studio environment and the usage of improvisations during live performances. The researcher seeks to discover the legendary steps travelled by Davis that changed jazz music and musicians for years to come.
Second, she argues that movement needs more attention "as a primary, not a secondary, social text, one of immense importance and tremendous challenge" (49). She argued that because we tend to only rely on texts, art, sometimes music to learn about a culture. Desmond states that "we should not ignore the ways in which dance signals and enacts social identities in all their continually changing
A dance film, on the other hand, employs dance as a main character with a more pivotal role in the transformation of the protagonist. Thus, in Shall We Dansu?, because it is an active force in the narrative with human-like characteristics, such as being shrouded in shame, ballroom dance becomes an initiator of intimacy. In Salsa and DanceSport, McMains explains Mexican-American Giselle Fernandez’s need for a creation of an alter ego despite already being
Sampson Paquette Professor Edwards ENGL101C 9-13-2016 The Dance The essay: “Silent Dancing” By Judith Ortiz Cofer reflects on the transitional period in her life where herself and her immediate family made the move from Puerto Rico to the Big Apple, otherwise known as New York city. The timeline for the essay was set in the 1950’s where cultural fusion and blatant racism ran rampant in the streets.
Choreographer Alvin Ailey expresses the story of the labored, broken, yet courageous black woman, though lengthy arm extensions and torso contractions that are combined with his signature style of ballet, modern dance, and African technique. Alvin Ailey trained dancers have a way of dancing bigger than the audience could ever imagine by embodying the real life struggles Alvin himself witnessed This type of character outpouring births a spiritual intimacy or soul connection between dancer and choreography and finally audience and dancer. A dance genius in his own right, Alvin Ailey was born on January 5, 1931 in a small town in Texas. His 17-year-old mother would soon know the struggles of being a single mother in the segregated south just months after Alvin was born.
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.
‘Flash Dance’(1983) dir. Adrian Lynn follows the story of Alex Owens, a young 18 year old welder who dreams of one day being able to join an elite group of ballet dancers. In comparison to, ‘West Side Story’ the narrative of ‘Flash Dance’ is one that concentrates on the women and how they control their bodies, the plot focuses on the passion and lustfulness in a relationship compared to previously mentioned filmed which concentrates on the love aspect of romance. ‘Flash Dance’ challenges the patriarchal system that Alex, as a woman, finds herself in.