The dancer’s costumes consisted of 4 parts. The outer fabric pod, a body suit, a Grecian top which was tucked into outside pod, and finally a bottom base which had a mini trampoline inside, which allowed the dancers to give them more of a bounce in their movements. The costumes played a very important part in the dance…
This piece has a mix of jazz, modern and classical ballet movement. The main male character who was dressed in an orange shirt with a bowler hat, the dancer who plays partially clown, partially a master classical ballet dancer has performed the role in the performance that was entertaining and charming in the most delightful ways. The corps de ballet has eagerly embraced Twyla’s style of being able to push forward. The two main lead female, has portrayed the normal rivals of two ladies competing for a male with highly amusing theatrical…
Based on the ballet ‘’Swan Lake’’ by Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky and his beautiful music, this movie shows the disaster life of a dancer to obtain the principal role as Swan Queen, as it was her dream since she was a child, especially for the pressure of her mother. The story is based in one princess that was enchanted by a witch to be a White Swan, and only a love could avoid this, but her bad sister, the Black Swan, seduces the man the princess loved, and knowing this the White Swan kill herself. Nina, the dancer, has mental problems, because her behavior was not normal. She had unreal thoughts and visions, hurting herself, especially in her nails, seeing herself in mirrors with other face and movements that she had not done, and…
On April 28, 2016 the Redfield Proscenium Theatre is full of excitement from energized parents, peers, professors, and choreographers, as everyone patiently waits for the Spring Dance Concert to start. The lights are finally dimmed and the applause stops as soon as the stage lights turn on. The concert starts off with “Space Taken” by Katie Dahlaw which explores gender stereotypes and ends with a piece by Kathleen Hermesdorf titled “Fern” that starts off with dancers surrounded around a Fern. The overall concert left the lady sitting next to me in awe as she asked me for a tissue to wipe the tears falling from her tear ducks. I did not have any expectations as I entered the show because I did not want to be disappointed.…
On Saturday night, March 26th I attended Boston Ballet’s annual production of The Kaleidoscope. The ballet dancing and classical music was wonderfully organized. The name of the production comes from the colorful costumes that cause the dancers to look like a kaleidoscope. With the incredible, inspiring ballet, the music also had a huge effect on the show. Boston Ballet’s orchestra consists of many instrument, including two flutes, a piccolo, a oboe, a bass clarinet, two english horn clarinets, a bassoon, two trumpets, three horns, six trombones, four timpanies, a harp, three pianos, two bass, four cellos, four violas, and fifteen violins!…
Forsythe considers ballet the mother tongue that, “you can’t erase from your consciousness.” Given Forsythe’s intellectual interest in contemporary and radical momentum of movement, ballet is present but could not stay the…
Vaslav Nijinsky was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer born March 12, 1889 in Kiev, Ukraine. In the world of ballet, Nijinsky was known as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. He gained his popularity and recognition for his intense commitment to characterizations, artistry, and extreme focus on techniques. Those achievements were gained within the time span of nine years—compared to other artists of that time, it took decades or even after their career for their work to be recognized. Vassal Nijinsky was one of the few men who was able to flawlessly execute the technique ‘en pointe’.…
Jerome Robbins was known as one of the great choreographers of all time, as a genius, as a friend to the rich and famous (and, indeed, “one of them”: He danced with Lauren Bacall at Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball), as one of the four closeted gay Jewish men who made West Side Story , as a person who enjoyed humiliating young male ballet dancers during rehearsals and referring to some of the female ones with the four-letter word that begins with a “c,” as an informer, and as co-founding choreographer, with George Balanchine, of the New York City Ballet. Any man known for so much must have been a great man or a great scoundrel, or both. When I came to New York in 1988, Balanchine was already dead five years, but Jerry Robbins and City…
I saw the March 18th matinee of the Paul Taylor Dance Company. The afternoon begins with ‘Mercuric Tidings’ which is a pure dance piece set to excerpts from Franz Schubert’s glorious Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2. Unfortunately all the music is taped, due to the exorbitant cost of a live orchestra in New York City.…
On Friday, February 5th at 7:30 pm the stage at Fisher Theater came to life, as Brittany Miller, Michaela Minock, and Katie Crouch set the stage to 1944, the start of Barjche. The show continued on with eighteen total pieces, some telling major historical moments in the past 70 years. The performance ended with an excerpt from Joe Goode’s “The Rambler”. The choreography for this show was to be themed on modern, and I believe it was more modern jazz than modern ballet. The first piece that caught my eye was the Meprobamate choreographed by Abby Hinchley, I believe the dance was about a 1950s housewives, who were told how to live and who they were to be.…
After the success of The Firebird, which effectively established Stravinsky as one of the greatest Russian composers of his time, Diaghilev resolved to continue his partnership with Stravinsky; first through Petrushka, then The Rite of Spring. While the first two ballets told fantastical tales of a fictional Russia, including mythical creatures and living puppets, The Rite of Spring was a more ambitious approach: attempting to tell the gritty reality of a pagan, more primitive Russia. In order to convey such an environment, Stravinsky opens the ballet with a bassoon playing in an impossibly high register, encapsulating the unrefined nature of the tribal setting. The bassoon plays a modal Lithuanian melody with an irregular meter, evoking the idea of a simpler less organized people. The solo melody soon transitions into a rhythmic dance, grounded in an eighth note ostinato on the static, bitonal chord “E-flat minor over F-flat.”…
Comparison Between The Rite of Spring and Appalachian Spring The Rite of Spring (1913), composed by Igor Stravinsky, and Appalachian Spring (1944), by Aaron Copland, are ballets that center around folk culture. The Rite of Spring suggests a story of human sacrifice and has an overall a harsh and almost disturbing mood. Appalachian Spring tells the story of a new couple celebrating their new house and is lively and happy. The two ballets stem from a common base of folk culture, yet the mood of each one is very different due to the individual emotions that the composers wanted to express.…
The intense lights, colorful costumes, and ribboned pointe shoes decorated the stage. As the lively music played for those dancing in the spotlight, I waited in the wings, nerves jumping in my stomach. Every little movement would be seen from the peering eyes of the audience. Preparation for this role was packed into a few weeks, and both the honor of earning this part and the pressure of performing well accumulated on my shoulders. Originally, I had an ensemble part with the rest of my dance class, only understudying for role of Autumn, one of the four soloist positions offered in Milwaukee Ballet School’s Spring Showcase, Snow White.…
The classical era was 1750-1820. It was a time period that was plagued by war and violence. The wars consisted of the Seven Years War, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars. Also during the classical period the power shifted from the nobility and the church to the middle class. The classical music period contained contrasting moods with rhythmic variety.…
The linkage of the three acts of the ballet is related to the linked themes of ballet a entrée, which we first learn of in the Renaissance…