Dance 101

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Upper Paleolithic - Neolithic Period

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- Dance was used as means of communications

- Absence of Common verbal language, people used their bodies to express their feelings.

- Dance rituals were the ultimate means of expressions.

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The Ancient Period

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- Thoughts combined with dramatic intent, and aesthetic elements were consciously thought.

- Conscious decisions began to be made with regards to dance.

- Development of vocal language, as well as intention of writing.

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Bharatanatyam Dance

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- A Native American dance

- A lot of usage of hands, down on the knees a lot.

- Bells wrapped around the ankles

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Chinese Folk Dances

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- Lion Folk Dance & The Dragon Folk Dance

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The Drum

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Used for movement of the lion, and also for the suspense of the dance.

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What would an Outsider see on how we use dance today?

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Dance is mediated with a negative stereotype, because dance is used in so many different ways ( weddings, funerals, proposals).

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The Medieval Period (Middle Ages)

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- Islamic Dance flourished and "belly dancing" a westernized term was established from this culture.

- Christianity became a large aspect of culture.

- Folk dances were seen as pagan activities.

- Belly dancing: articulating movement into the body.

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Early Ballet

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Court ballets were performed for and by members of nobility.

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The Romantic Aesthetic

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- The Roman Aesthetic was present in music, literature, painting, and sculpture.

Ex. Michaelangelo's PETA sculpture in 1499.

- Leonardo De Vinci, the virgin and child with Saint Anne.

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Principal Dancer

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A dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company.

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Featured Dancer

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Story is about them

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Soloist

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Dancer that is featured in a ballet company, but story is not centered on them.

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Demi Soloist

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A dancer above the corps de ballet, many have short featured roles.

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Corps de Ballet

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Group of dancers in a ballet company that works as the backdrop for principal dancers. Performs synchronized movements and positions on stage.

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Classical Ballet

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- Characteristics and features found in classical ballets:

- Performed on a proscenium stage

- Spectacular Scenery

- Dancer dressed in elaborate costumes.

- Storyline is usually a fairytale or fable.

- Usage of pantomime.

- Large Orchestal pieces of music.

- Music & dance move along together.

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Two of the most classical ballets are:

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The Sleeping Beaty & Swan Lake

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Two of the most prominent Russian born classical ballet composers:

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Pyotr (Peter) Tchaikovsky and Igor Stravinksy

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Pantomime:

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Performers expressing meaning through gestures accompanied by music.

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Vaganova (Russian):

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The Vaganova technique was developed by Russian Vaganova. Vaganova danced at the Imperial Ballet School in Russia known as the Marinksy Ballet.

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Cecchetti (Italian):

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Enrico Cecchetti an Italian dancer that developed his own ballet training method in 1918. The cecchetti technique is a strict training regimen that develops the student balance, pose, & grace.

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Royal Academy of Dance (England)

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RAD was established in London, 1920 and grew its roots in the Royal Ballet School in London under Dame Ninette De Valois, founder of Royal Ballet.

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Bournville (Danish):

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Choreographic school developed by August Bourneville. August was the chorographer for the Royal Danish Ballet.

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The French School

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Established by Louis XIV in 1616, and was the first to open a ballet school in France. Rudolf Nureyev overhauled this method of ballets in the 1980s to contemporize it.

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Balanchine (American):

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George Balanchine, a Russian who came to America and open the school of American Ballet in New York City in 1934, and a professional ballet company. - The New York City Ballet in 1948, Known for Speed.

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Artistic Director:

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Responsible for the aesthetic look of the company.

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Ballet Master / Mistress / Rehearsal Director:

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An employee of a dance organization that leads company class, rehearsing & existing works on the dancers. Assistant to the artistic director.

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Contemporary Ballet

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- Serge Diaghilev established Ballet Russe in 1909. He was not a dancer or choregrapher but a producer.

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Contemporary Ballet Identities:

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- How they dress

- Set Design

- Large Ballet Set Designs

- Music: Choregraph to mimic element of music

- Point Shoes

- Story Line (Fable or Mythical)

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Michael Fokine -

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First residence choregrapher for Ballet Russe.

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Fokine's Principals of Contemporary Ballet

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- Classical Steps or vocabulary should fit theme of dance.

- Movement should give insight to whats happening on stage.

- Pantomime should not be used.

- Corps de ballet should be more than scenery

- The movement, music, costumes, and sets should have equal importance.

- Heightens the status of a male dancer.

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Vaslav Nijnski

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Another residence choregrapher of the Ballet Russe who created provactive ballets that dealt with taboo topics.

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Nijnski most popular Works:

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L'Apres Midi D'un Faun (The Afternoon of the Faun), Petruskika, Le Sacre du Printemps, and Jeux.

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Nijnskis Story

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Had a short career, had an affair with Diaghilev, but married a dancer in his company.

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Diaghilev's Ballet Russe History:

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- Through the company's doing extensive touring Diaghilev's Ballet Russe introduced American to Russian Ballet.

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July 26th

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Diaghilev died, colonel wassily de Brasil and Rene Blum revived the company.

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WW11

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Ballet Russe split into two companies- The Original Ballet Russe that toured Europe & the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo that toured the United States.

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George Balanchine

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- A Russian dancer / choregrapher who danced with Daghilev's Ballet Russe and was the company's ballet master.

- His style has been considered Neoclassical (New Classic)

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After Daghilev's Death

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- Balanchine met Lincoln Kiersten a wealthy dance connoisseur. He convinced Balanchine to move to America with the mission of starting an American Ballet School.

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First Ballet Balanchine Choregraphed in the US

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Serenade to Music by Tschaikovsky

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October 1948

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The Professional Company New York City Ballet Performed.

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George Balanchine & NYCB

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-1957 balachine choregraphed Agon with Arthur Mitchell and Diana Adams.

- Agon was controversial because it had an erotic pas de deux with an African American male and a white female in the segregated 1950s.

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Dance Theatre of Harlem

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- Professional dance company & school that Arthur Mitchell opened.

- Located in Harlem, NY.

- Built stages on the streets of Harlem for students to dance on to draw the community in.

Dance Theatre of Harlem became an international tourism company.

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Exclusionary Practice

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Action taken by dominant groups to exclude or block entry into its form of dance.

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Inclusionary Practices

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The action of allowing access to numerous different groups to gain entry into a form of dance.

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Arthur Mitchell

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- Artistic Director and Cofounder of Dance Theatre of Harlem

- After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Arthur Mitchell decided to open a school in Harlem NYC where African American dancers could train in the form of ballet.

- In 1971 the Dance Theatre of Harlem professional company was formed.

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Contemporary Ballet from 1960 to Present

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- Resurgence in 1980s when ballet began to blur the lines of what was considered ballet & modern dance.

- Incorporated New work, exploration of ballet techniques, use of improvision and pedestrian movement in choregraphy.

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Improvisation

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Spontaneously creating movement to break habitual movement patterns.

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Mats Ek

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- dancer/ choregrapher / and former Artistic director of culberg Ballet in Norsbory, Sweden.

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Matt Eks most famous reworking of a classical ballets are

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Giselle ( 1982), Sleeping Beauty ( 1996) & Carmen (1992)

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Modern Dance

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- Formed in the late 1800s & early 1900s.

- It evolved as a direct revolt against what was perceived as the "restriction of ballet."

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Isadora Duncan

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- Credited with being the first American Dancer to present modern dance to the public.

- She wore Grecian tunics, danced barefoot

- Sometimes took off her clothes and ran around the stage nude.

- was inspired by natural movement and developed a technique that used basic movement such as running, swaying, skipping.

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Isadora Duncan Cont.

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- Lived a tragic life with children drowning in Seine River, and husband Sergei Esenin committed Suicide.

- She died dramatically.

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Mary Wigman

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- Born in 1876.

- One of the most notable figures of German Modern Dance

- She was innovator of Expressionist Dance.

- Student of Rudolf Van Laban.

- Opened a dance school in 1920/ 1921 called "Dresden Central School"

- School was operated under Nazi Rule.

- Created her famous solo "The Witch Dance"

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Expressionist Dance

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Refers to an expression of reality that distorted in shape & color.

- Ex: An artist offers her own interpretation of nature instead of copying it.

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Rudolf Von Laban

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- Laid the foundation for Laban Movement Analysis.

- Alleged ties to Nazi ideology.

- Mary Wigman, Rudolf Von Laban, and Kurt Joors are known as Hitler's dancers.

- Known for 9 point system.

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Labanation:

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A preservation method of documenting dance for future generations. It is a system of dance notation.

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Ruth St. Denis & Ted Shawn

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- Leading dancers in Isadora Duncan's Company.

- Married & formed The Denishawn School & Company.

- Ruth created works on her perceptions of Egyptian, Greek, and Asian cultures. - Her interpretations were not accurate but were entertaining for American audiences.

- Both performed on the Vaudeville circuit.

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Vaudeville

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- A type of entertainment popular in the United States and Canada in the early 1920s, featuring a mixture of short speciality acts such as singer, dancers, theatrical acts, jugglers, ministrel shows and animal acts.

- The essence of the Vaudeville theatre wa to present variety shows.

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Ruth St. Dennis and Ted Shawn after Divorce

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- Ted established Jacob's Pillow in Becket, MA and formed Ted Shawn's men dancers.

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Post Modern

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- Developed as a reaction to the constraints of modern dance.

- Use of everyday movement

- Movement rather than storyline was primary focus, use of "abstract dance" was prominent.

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Abstract Dance

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Plotless work composed of pure dance movements, although composition may suggest a mood or subject.

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Merce Cunningham

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- An abstract choregrapher

- His philosophy "movement for movement sake"

- John Cage music composer that worked in collaboration with Merce.

- They both explored "Chance & Indeterminacy" which allowed for greater movement spontaneity.

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Alwin Nikolas

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- Didn't feel the "self" always had to be the main focus on stage.

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Murray Louis

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A leading dancer in the Nikolas Dance Theatre.

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The Judson Dance Theatre

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- Judson Dance Church - Greenwich Village, New York.

- Judson Dance Theatre composed of visual artists, writers, musicians, dancers.

- Improvisation a large part of the creative process.

- Disbanded in 1968, and regrouped as The Grand Union

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Dance Improvisitation

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Creating movement on the spot or spontaneously. It is done to free the body up of habitual movement patterns.

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Happenings

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Multi disciplinary performances that take place anywhere.

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Katherine Dunham

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- known as "Matriarch & Queen Mother of Black Dance."

- dancer, choregrapher, songwriter, author, educator, activist, anthropologist.

- Director of Katherine Dunham Dance Company.

- Believed black dance should have equal status with the white European tradition and wanted to trace black dancers roots.

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Pearl Primus

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- Modern dancer, choregrapher, and anthropologist, choregraphed "Strange Fruit" about a black man being lynched by a white racist.

- In 1978, received Ph.D. from New York University in anthropology.

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Jazz Dance

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- Jazz Dance, Modern theatre, and Tap all have roots from African American culture & experience.

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The Minstrel Shows

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- Showcased black songs and dances on the concert stages.

- Minstrel Shows was American entertainment consisting of variety shows acts performed by whites appeared in blackface and after the civil war blacks became part of the shows & peformed in blackfaces as well.

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BlackFace

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A form of theatrical makeup used in ministrel shows, and later Vaudeville, in which performers created a sterotyped caricature of a black person.

- The practice gained popularity in the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes.

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Musical Theatres

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American Musical Theater has its roots in Jazz dance.

- Musical Theater uses dance to move the storyline along.

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Agnes de Mille Pioneer

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- is a musical theater choreographer and choreographed the show Oklahoma.

- Agnes de Mille changed the musical theatre format by creating a truly artistic representation of dance on stage & screen.

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Bob Fosse

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- Popular musical theatre choreographer

- Film career was cut short because of premature balding therefore he became a choreographer and director for musical theatre.

- Signature props were bowler hats, cane, & chairs.

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Bob Fosse most famous work

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Sweet Charity, Cabaret, Chicago, and all that jazz

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Tap Dancing

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- Combination of English clog, irish jig, & negro shuffle.

- The sound is produced by rhythms of dancers feet.

- Highly Improvisational & syncopated

- Many different styles

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Rhythm tap

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- Focus on acoustic rather than aesthetic.

- Ex: Dancer Savion Glover who is known as a Hoofer which is a contemporary description of a rhythm dancer.

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Classical Act

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- Dealing with the absolute perfection of sound, step, and manner.

- Class act tap aspired to be purely artistic expression that was driven by desire for African American respectability & equality on the American Concert Stage.

- Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers made their style popular through film.

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Flash Act:

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A style of tap that is highly acrobatic with a high level of artistry and daring improvisation.

- Made famous by the Nicolas Brothers

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Soft Shoe:

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A form of tap only done with soft soled shoes without metal taps attached.

- Style made famous by Bill "Bojangles" Robinson

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Social Dance

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- Social Dances are a product of culture & time period.

- Many Americans social dances come directly from African American Culture.

- 1950s rock & roll were derived from rhythm & blues.

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Break Dancing

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- An improvisational form of dance developed in the South Bronx and Brooklyn by Latino and African American youngsters in the mid 1970s.

- It was highly energetic and had a battle dance structure attached

- The battle became a large aspect of Hip Hop culture.

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Break Dancing - 4 Elements

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1) DJing

2) Break Dancing

3) Graffiti Art

4) Rap Dancing / MCing

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Break dancing & Its evolution:

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- Break dancing was done out of the streets on top of a cardboard surface to smooth out the dancing surface.

- This allowed for pyrotechnical feats to be performed.

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Krumping

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- American urban dance that is informed by the lifestyle of south central LA & African American youth.

- It is improvisational & very competition oriented.

Break dancing & krumping are contemporary folk dances.

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Modern Dance

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- Late 1800s early 1900s

- Evolved as direct revolt against what was perceived as ballet.