Contemporary Pop Dance: American Dance Brochure

Tap dance is an uniquely American dance form. The percussive use of one’s feet combined with the use of rhythms and amplification of sound, has a complex history that involves the intercultural fusions of English, Irish and African musical and dance traditions. The evolution of tap dance in America is further complicated by issues of race, class and gender. Unlike ballet with its formal technique, tap dance emerged from people listening to and watching each other dance, in a variety of settings, where steps were shared, stolen and reinvented. Through its metamorphosis the dance form has progressed from local entertainment, to Vaudeville shows, to Broadway shows, to the Silver Screen and to Concert Halls across the world. The legacy of the art form is characterized by the rise, fall and reemergence of popularity. Savion Glover, a 21st century American dancer, is credited with bringing tap into a new era of popularity as he has wowed the masses with his unique style focusing on African American rhythms. Tap dance, uniquely American in that it is a true melting pot of dance forms, is a dance form rich in rhythms, sounds and amplifications and has transcended social and cultural barriers.

Have you ever heard of the Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Jitterbug, or Charleston? If so, you already know a little about dance in the “Roaring Twenties,” and how big of an impact it made on American culture then and forevermore. At a time of prosperity and flamboyant wealth, dance made citizens enjoy life again, engage in one-another, develop an eccentric new style that would carry into the rest of the twentieth-century.

Often music is consisted not only by sounds made from musical instruments, but also by voice and verbal messages. The structure of the voice, or as Roland Barthes describes it ‘the grain of voice’ is the element in a certain piece of music which is responsible for creating the emotions when listening. The grain and the lyrics make the signified and carry out the message. The vocal part of music is formed of words, text, which communicate and make the representation and expression of what it is sung - talked about. According to Barthes the emotive modes of the voice and the changes of the tones from low to high is what delivers the final message and makes us feel the music. (Barthes, R. 1977 [1972]).

Modern day pop music only differs slightly from the perspectives of a consumer or listener while taking the aspects of sound, conception, and behavior into consideration. Sound being the literal sound generated from pop’s rhythm and beat. Conception the history of modern pop, where it came from, and why it is relevant today; and behavior being how the genre can affect mood and behavior. All three aspects will contrast two similar, but distinctly different perspectives derived from personal experience with both; however, with a stronger emphasis on a consumer perspective. Beginning by marking the differences between that of a consumer and a listener. While both perspectives want similar things from their pop music, they both go about it differently and influence the genre in different ways.

As a result of reading the forward of “The National Core Arts Standards: A Conceptual Framework for Arts Learning”, I saw that there was some information that I learned from past classes that I already understood. I knew that the standards was first established when Goals 2000s made dance a core subject in all schools. When that happened a council was formed to create standards to make sure that it included the most important concepts and ideas. Art programs are really important for school systems to enforce. The arts help children understand the world and society. The information students learn will help them understand the material they are learning in their other subjects. Having dance classes, will reiterate the information they are working on in other

The elements used in this concert were videos of a timeline of African-American dances. This was very helpful because it allowed the audience to know what time period they were looking at for a certain dance. There were different varies of costumes. There were costumes from the tribes danes, spiritual dances, 1902' dances as dancers, and etc. The dancers did an excellent job with combine the costumes to the era and it actually looked like pieces from that era. The lighting was very good and it allowed for the mood to be seen in the dances as well. When a dance needed to evoke a spiritual mood, the lighting would evoke that mood by only allowing light on the dancer and no one else. If it needed a joyful feeling, all the lights were on showing

To prove everyone wrong, an interest was sparked in supporting ballet to show the world that American artists are just as competence as its foreign competitors. Unlike the Russians who have already established their mark in the ballet world, Americans were not commonly associated as talented ballet dancers. Thus, in 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower set aside $2,250,00 to fund dance, theatre, music, and sports tours to showcase American talents around the world. One of the funded dance tours was a ballet tour by New York City Ballet’s in Western Europe and the Soviet Union in 1962 (Croft, p. 425). New York City Ballet was a company founded by Balanchine and Kristen so their ballet performances reflected the innovation style of American ballet while maintaining its classical grace. Before their tour in the Soviet Union, the dancers were prepared for criticism and even booing during the performance due to the tensions between the two countries. However, all political differences were pushed aside, as “three thousand Soviet ballet fans rose to their feet to celebrate

The first dance performance I will be analyzing is “Don’t Fall Asleep”. There were dark red lights coming from the top before the dance began. Overall, there were fifteen dancers. There were many different props such as a bed with blankets on top that were rolling around on stage. Also, there was an acorn head that one of the dancers wore on top of his head. The music in the background was “Sweet dreams (Are Made of This)”. When watching this performance and the movement from the dancers, the story line in my opinion was there was a girl who was trying to sleep but she kept being awaken by these dreams. Her body language, jumping in and out of bed, running around basically made you aware that she was looking or running from something. The surrounding

to, and got high off of. This paper will discuss the ways popular music of

As a beginner dancer at MHS, it is really important to go to dance concerts because it will help us improve our dancing. The concert I went to was known as SJDanceco, and this concert was located at Santana Row’s park. This event had started at 10 am and had ended around 5 pm. I had went at 10 am and left around 2pm because it was a really fun experience. I had seen many cool and different choreographies with different types of dances. On the other hand this concert has occurred on 4/23/2017, which is on a sunday. There were approximately 88 - 91 performance groups that had gathered and performed on this special day. This was SJDanceco’s 15th anniversary, so this could be a reason why there were so many groups. Even though there were too many choreographers to name, all of their choreographies were all amazing. Their choreos showed us how much work and effort they put in, and I believe all of them put in lots and lots of hard work and effort.

This chapter takes a broad look at the relationship between human movement, framed as dance, and important identities such as religion, ethnicity, gender, and social status. While not specifically focused on issues of identity in America, this chapter will provide an important foundation in understanding the broader scope of how dance can be seen as a representation of cultural values, which will underlie the remainder of our coursework.

My favorite dance was the contemporary routine with Derek, Jaja, and Alexia. The choreographer, Stacey Tookey, explained that the piece was about bravery in different forms: Derek played a veteran, Jaja was portraying a woman leaving an abusive relationship, and Alexia took on the role of a single mother. I really enjoyed the dance because of the story it was trying to convey; each dancer dove into character and brought out complex emotions through their movements. The dancers connected deeply with each of their stories, even though they were completely different people. They were portraying things that they had never personally experienced in their lives before. They showed the strengths of the characters along with their weaknesses, they

The stage performance of Rogers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma was a beautiful integration of book, song and dance. The three elements add richness and aesthetic quality in very distinctive ways. Dance is a form of expression using rhythmic movements of the body. Facial expressions and the use of body language through dance offer portrayals of feelings that compensate for dialogue. The choreography done by Agnes de Mille integrates dance into the lives of the frontiersmen (and women) of the Oklahoma territory. The 20th Century Fox film version released in 1955 had key differences than the current Broadway musical. One of the main differences other than a little extra dialogue was the utilization of dance. In the film dance was not used as a

Props and costumes were also used to tell the story of the dancers. The red and blue may have incorporated gang affiliation. During one of the last scenes, there’s a male dancer wearing a blue shirt and red bandana tied around his leg, zoned out and eating chips. This dancer is eating chips while leaning against a dancer who is face down on the ground with his arms behind his back, presumed dead. This produces a very strong silhouette because it shows what is happening in urban America, that being innocent people losing their lives to gang affiliation, police corruption, and correctional institutions. The hands behind the back of the dancer display the victims’ innocence. This illustrates that the violence is occurring all around them but this dancer seemed to just focus

The subsidies government provides are not for the preservation of the particular communities, but for documentation. It is acceptable that such communities flourish or die even with funding. The documenting process may be undertaken by one of the community itself, with unregulated bias, in the form of art, cultural symbols, literature, performance. This list is not extensive, more may fall into it, but must all fit the category of tangible. Therefore if its a dance or recipe, it must be recorded in some fashion. A dance may be presented, and with modern day technology with the performers approval, such act could be filmed and posted online. Such methods allow mass viewership, therefore can be used as an educative tool, as well as others can