The world has always had dance. Whether it be as a form of worship, recreation, work or ritual, people have used movement to express their values and beliefs since the beginning of time. Throughout the years, dance has changed and grown and and taken on many forms of art as different choreographers bring their innovation and creativity to the table. I will be discussing two very different dances that have completely changed modern American dance. Martha Graham’s Lamentation, and George Balanchine’s Serenade.
A Canadian actress known as Neve Campbell once said that “Dance is certainly a sport, and [dancers] are phenomenal athletes, and they’re also artists.” This quotation shows that dance can be named as a sport, and that dancers can be perceived as both an athlete and an artist. Being a dancer for about thirteen years, I personally attest to this statement. Having experienced dance trainings of different styles, competing in local and international competitions, and being able to showcase myself in countless performances, I believe that I should be considered as an artist and an athlete, and that my craft is to be counted as a sport.
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,
In the course of the early twentieth century, Ballet stood at the pinnacle of the art of dance as one of the most classical and respected art forms to ever exist. The Imperial Russian Ballet had been highly established as an esteemed influencer to the way the art of ballet was being portrayed globally. Anna Pavlova was first and foremost a Russian prima ballerina, whose entrancing performances captivated audiences all around the world. Of course other ballerinas throughout history have been able to surpass her talents with a more solid technique, but what she contributed to ballet still stands today as one of the greatest contributions to dance since it’s inception. She used her natural abilities to promote the widespread of ballet around the world to empower women of all walks of life through her powerful portrayals of women in the roles she played.
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.
Upon viewing the performance here at UWL titled, “Singing in the Rain,” I was shown a variety of different styles of dance that were discussed during class. This production consisted of many different performers and movements. These movements ranged from tap dancing to line dancing. While there was a variety of different dancing styles, they all had the same common elements of dance.
It is almost always the answer, and I can’t remember a time when it wasn’t. I’ve been dancing since I was two. At that time, “dancing” was considered prancing around in pink sparkly tutus while pretending to be a prima ballerina.
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.
Modern Dance is defined as being a dance style that focuses on a dancer's interpretation as opposed to the structured steps of Ballet. It was developed in the early twentieth century, primarily in Germany and the United States. The dance style was a rebellion against the rigid formalism of Ballet. The pioneers of the dance style were Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, and Ruth St. Denis in the United States, Rudolf von Laban and Mary Wigman. Modern dance is known for its nature-like and free flowing movement. Many great dancers further established the dance style by creating their own technique. Lester Horton was one of those dancers
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.
All the concepts related to culture and multiculturalism, such as diversity, ethnicity or race are very difficult to define clearly. Over the years many descriptions of these terms have been presented. Depending on the angle from which the researchers investigate the terms, different definitions have been given. Therefore, in this study the description of these concepts will be narrowly related to what can be applied to the dance world.
Dancing can be defined by moving rhythmically to sounds or music, usually following a set of steps. It has been around since the beginning of the neo? Over the years many styles of dance has formed with the variations of different techniques. It allows a dancer to express themselves in a variety of different ways. Frankie Manning was a huge role model when it came to swing dancing during the jazz age. In the 1980s, renewal interests in swing dance brought Manning out again to choreography and teach. Today he continues to teach dance still continuing to keep jazz alive. He choreographed many well-known pieces that are
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 Bonnie and Clyde ballet was excellent. It was performed at the Dorothy Jemison Theater. The theater had elevated seats so everyone could see the stage which is helpful. At first I was kind of confused with what was going in the play, but after reading the program book where they described the scenes. This helped me understand the ballet and the meaning behind it. The ballet included elements to enhance the ballet. These elements included sound, video, and props.
“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.