Elements Of Dance Analysis: Singing In The Rain

This report investigates the differences between the Somali culture and the Australian Western Culture; the differences in religion, clothing, food, language and arts will all be examined. Somalia, like all countries, has it’s own special traditions and customs which are regularly practiced by its people. Both primary and secondary sources will be used to obtain quality literature.

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.

Before this unit, black dancing often differed from whites. First off, many of them seemed more comedic, Josephine Baker from Le Revue Des Revues. Her innovated performance brought her stardom, for she was the first African America international entertainer. She used her whole body in dances, freely moving around. In the 1920s, people deemed her dance ‘savage’ due to the lack of structure and revealing clothes. She received much criticism but celebrated her freedom. At the time, many people still performed very structured dances, like ballroom dancing, yet many dances whites performed originated from African Americans, like the Charleston and Jazz. They modified the Charleston to fit their ‘standards’. Many of African American dances seemed

As a first-generation Sri Lankan-American, people often assume I am Indian-American, which creates even more confusion than my feelings of being torn between two cultures. In response, as a young teenager, I began to feel like I did not belong anywhere and began to crave acceptance. I did not know where I stood.

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. After much deliberation on what causes the alteration and growth of ballet over time, there was one constant throughout. Ballet masters from the Renaissance to current

One of the many things that Cassi Arnold was not very good at was waiting. Actually, that’s a lie. She wasn’t very good at waiting only when she was surrounded by a crowd of people, and in this case, she was. To be more specific, she was surrounded by approximately 300 girls waiting to perform in a stadium holding about 47,000 people. This was the Citrus Bowl, and she was part of the All American halftime performance. Cassi and the other girls had been at the stadium since 8 am, and it was now about 1 pm and finally time to perform.

Classes in break-dancing and gymnastics are part of the dancers training, to create fast and physically demanding bodily movement; captivating the audiences with appreciation for their expertise. ‘Athletic, high energy and an explosive style’ are qualities that demonstrate the distinct aesthetics of Australian Dance Theatre today, Dalman seeing it as being ‘very Australian, linked to our

Within this dance report I will discuss and evaluate the changes of jazz Dance from when it first originated to how and what the style has changed to in current day. I will then discuss three different practitioners and include reference to the musical accompaniment which they then used for their work/choreography; how their approaches to jazz dance varied, and why it has now influenced jazz dance today. The three practitioners I will discuss will be: Bob Fosse, Mia Michaels and Jack Cole. These three practitioners all have different approaches and ideas as to what jazz dance means/meant to them.

In her article, Embodying Difference, Jane Desmond argues that dance offers important insights into the ways moving bodies articulate cultural meanings and social identities. In other words, she explains the importance of studying the body’s movement as a way of understanding culture and society. She has two main arguments. First, she argues for the importance of the continually changing relational constitutions of cultural forms. Desmond further explains that the key to shedding light on the unequal distribution of power and goods that shape social relations are the concepts of cultural resistance, appropriation, and cultural imperialism (49). 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

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.

“What is going on in these pictures in my mind?” (Didion 2). Joan Didion’s “Why I Write” provides an explanation to her perspective om writing and why she writes. Later on, she states that she writes as a way to discover the meaning behind what she is seeing. During this past semester as we wrote about dance, a heavy focus was on description and interpretation rather than contextualization and evaluation. With Didion’s philosophy in mind, we can use writing as a tool in order to discover a meaning of a particular dance piece. Throughout the semester, reading from other writers have provided helpful hints when writing about dance as we discover that by detailed description, underlying interpretations can expose themselves.

Tap dance is a genre of dance when metal plates are fitted to the bottom of heels and when hit on a hard surface, a loud or soft sound, depending on the strength, can be made; these shoes are made to produce audible beats by rhythmically striking the floor. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018) Tap dance originated in the United States dating back to the 1800’s- 20th century, this style of dance was inspired from the African and Scottish dances; ever since then tap dance has been evolving into a more intricate and individual style of dance. Tap dance has now become a popular expression of dance; it is performed live and is also aired on TV and the internet. Tap Dogs and Hot Shoe Shuffle are a popular example of tap dance due to their distinct style.

Mambo Girl (1957), a movie musical, follows Kailing, a talented young woman widely admired for her singing and dancing capabilities, as she searches for acceptance after learning the truth about her background. Shall We Dansu? (1996) follows Mr. Sugiyama, a Japanese accountant who goes on a secretive and intimate journey into the world of ballroom dance. Both Mambo Girl and Shall We Dansu? emphasize the close relationship between intimacy and Latin dance by linking Kailing and Mr. Sugiyama’s manners of dancing Latin to the emotional connection each has with other characters. For Kailing, the presence and absence of physical contact with others while dancing signals the degree of intimacy she has with those around her, whereas, for Mr. Sugiyama,

The still above (Fig.5) from Alex’s audition scene, is a still of one of the most memorable sequences throughout the film, the editing used is almost perfectly synched to the music. While the use of dance and movement that Alex portrays is sensual and very intimate but equally expresses her joy and passion for dance, it could therefore be argued that the use of editing, light, costume etc. are what advances the romantic plot forward in the narrative and that the dance sequences are merely a device used to fill space within the

The word “ballet” brings to mind words such as “grace” or “beauty” when heard by many people. The definition itself states that it is a form of dance that uses precise steps and light, graceful motions. This definition was in the minds of those who attended the Théâtre des Champs-Élysèes in May 1913, but rather they were greeted with the complete opposite. When Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Rite of Spring opened, the audience was greeted with swift, chaotic music that quickly became a whirlwind of sound. The music softened and the curtains opened to a primitive dance, causing mass hysteria throughout the theatre. The audience felt they were being attacked, for they had paid and dressed in ornate gowns to see the beauty and grace they feel reflected who they were, but instead they were shown a primal, barbaric scene. This piece had disrupted the order and harmony that one could associate ballet with.