Gender Roles In Save The Last Dance And How She Move

always been known for the risky and powerful movements which are often why dancers retire from the company. The dancer’s movements were often very intense and emotive, such as the “throws” across the stage in which the dancers would, almost violently, launch themselves across the stage in different forms (leaps, falls and flips to name a few). Another section where the movements were emotive is where the dancers were thrusting their hips in different positions to perhaps show sexuality in “self”.

Dance began as a form of communication and storytelling. Thousands of years ago dancing served as a way for people to tell a story and helped distract themselves of the hardships they faced. Furthermore, dance was a form of storytelling through communication, which then turned into using storytelling through dance as entertainment. According to the History World, many dancers during the BC time danced in front of only a few people to get a story across. That later turned into hundreds of thousands of people as dance was used by many. Today, dance is also a form of entertainment and storytelling, but in a modern sense. However, today perfection and technique are stressed more than they were in the past. Yet, the passion for dance has not changed. Many dancers who share this passion also have many of the same qualities. Among a discourse community of trained dancers, one expects to find individuals who are healthy and active athletes, expect perfection from themselves through competition, and religiously attend dance performances.

After giving a brief introduction to her subject, Desmond quickly begins her analysis on the piece Radha choreographed by Ruth St. Denis. She states that St. Denis was one of the mothers of modern dance in America despite how her works are not as well remembered as others including Martha Graham’s. She depicts Radha by describing the dancing quality, patterns in choreography, lighting, set, and costume in detail. Desmond also recounts the social issues that are reflected in the piece including gender roles and race. The author’s main point in writing “Dancing Out the Difference: Cultural Imperialism and Ruth St. Denis’s Radha of 1906” was to introduce St. Denis and share her detailed analysis of St. Denis’ Radha.

An important idea in the film “Billy Elliot” directed by Stephen Daldry is the idea of not living up to the expectations of family and society and because of that, being trapped within these expectations. As Billy has grown up in a working class town where all the men are expected to go out and work in the coal mines after school, the idea of Billy being a dancer is an extreme polarity and therefore it leaves Billy feeling trapped and as though he is letting his family down. This idea is shown by the director through cinematography, dialogue and imagery

From the article "I Don't Want to do African … What About My Technique?:" Transforming Dancing Places into Spaces in the Academy by Raquel L. Monroe, the author discussed about problems that currently occur in dance space of a higher institution. The terms ‘technique’ has become problematic when the Monroe pointed the fear of the future dancer if they took dance class that is different from ballet or modern. The article further discusses by using excerpt and interviews from teachers and students on defining what ‘technique’ is. She also touches the topic on racial injustice in dance from the stereotypes of certain movement that denoted a group of people and classification of ‘high’ or ‘low’ art. This further support her argument when she critiques

While the speaker has succeeded in providing an enhanced image of the performer, the act of assigning meaning to the performance and the representation used holds the capacity to limit the experience. As the speaker continues to reconfigure her strip tease into a “[graceful] and calm” artistic dance, he makes a simultaneous attempt to distance himself from the crowd, making no mention of his gender or race directly (5). However, the speaker’s attempt to portray the dancer from objective eyes falters as his

As ballets were about telling stories or formulating movements, modern dance broke the rules and started to focus more on individual expressions. Loie Fuller (1862 – 1928), Doris Humphrey (1895-1958), and Ruth St. Denis (1877-1968) were pioneering women who took a stand and used their dance performance to speak up for women’s rights. Using dance, they significantly contributed to the Feminist movement in which they embraced self-expression and creativity so that women could be acknowledged in the dance field and in the society as a whole. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, they found for women’s rights by “taking dance to a new form, and creating dances to speak directly and intimately to the viewer” (Au 89). Loie Fuller, Doris Humphrey, and Ruth St. Denis demonstrated the transformation of dance with their innovation of costumes and stage lighting, incorporation of foreign cultures into performance, and creation of natural movements and individual expression that rejected the formal structures of ballet to deform a woman’s body, allowing women to be free from stereotype of a traditional woman.

Not only do these white belly dancers take a dance and sexualize it, intentionally or not, they go to extents as to reinvent themselves and give each other names. “This, in my estimation, completes the brownface Orientalist façade” (Jarrar). Women, when confronted, talk about how this is now a sort of community to them but don’t care to question how this can be harming to a culture. An emotion she keeps constant, that affects the tone of the essay, is anger and astonishment, always asking how and why someone can be so ignorant to appropriation. Astonishment in the sense of being surprised that some people have the audacity to participate in appropriation. “Find another form of self-expression. Make sure you’re not appropriating someone else’s” (Jarrar), after being told that it’s a part of their, white women’s,

The female dancer first falls victim to the prominent white men and the African American boys in the derogatory ideas and thoughts they are having. Before the physical actions of the men, the dancer was already a victim by their degrading thoughts and lustful feelings. The men looked at her like she was a “circus kewpie doll”, already likening her to a toy for their amusement making her nonhuman to them (270). By likening her to a kewpie doll, they could rationalize their animalistic thoughts, making their feelings seems appropriate. By viewing her as inanimate, they allow themselves to continue their lewd thoughts about her

Jane Desmond introduces her article, “Embodying Difference: Issues in Dance and Cultural Studies,” by describing a dance that readers can picture as the dance of tango in their minds. This helps lead to her connecting dance, or body movement, with cultural studies and social identities. In her article, Desmond focuses on connecting how dance and body movement can be portrayed differently in social identities, such as race, class, gender, nationality, and sexuality.

The dance that I will be focusing on is entitled: thinking sensing standing feeling object of attention. The dance, to me, symbolizes the socialization of persons in Western civilization concerning gender roles. In the beginning there are gestures that are separated from emotion and full-embodiment, but as the dance progresses the gestures become more meaningful and recognizable. The lighting starts out very specific and narrow, then the light encompasses the entire stage, and eventually the dancers are silhouetted as they return to a familiar movement motif in the end. The music is mainly instrumental with occasional soft female vocals, and the lyrics suggest emotion, which is interesting because the dancers do not convey emotion until

Dance is one of the most beautiful, expressive forms of art known to mankind. It expresses joy, love, sorrow, anger, and the list truly goes on for all the possible emotions that it can convey. Dance not only can express how one feels, but it can tell a story or even be used to praise a higher power. Dance has intricately played an important role to every culture over the course of time. Two forms of dance that have not only stood against the test of time but have influenced the development of other various styles of dance is none other than Classical Ballet and Modern Dance.

In the second film, “Strung Out Between Beginnings and Endings”, Sky is joined by another dancer by the name of Toni Cannon. In this film, which was featured in Topsy-Turvy Queer Circus’ 4th production named “Paradise: A New Mythology”, these two artists show black queer love in a new light. One that is completely in sync, free from stigma, and gender-free. The blending of energies from these two artists is more than powerful, it is life changing. Watching this, one cannot help, but to be compelled by the magnificent beauty which is performed on this stage. This dynamic expression of black queer love is so sensual and so pure at the same time. The viewer is granted the opportunity to witness more than just interpretive dance, but also how when it is unconstrained, how the soul’s energies are supposed to mix with each other. The concept of a rigid binary is demolished when one sees this film as well. Throughout it, both dancers exemplify the fluidity of principal energies, thus invalidating the concept that masculinity and femininity are two polarized dynamics, especially in relation to black bodies. A union of expressionism unlike any other ever before seen when black

When thinking of a specific type of dance, the vast majorities of the time people generally relate and direct the art form to a certain type of culture or race. As times develop and cultures start to merge, people tend to try and get to understand other diversities. This happens especially when we look at various forms of dance, where the people of origin are no longer the only ones who strictly perform it. Shown in the movies “Save the Last Dance” and “Take the Lead” both show a great deal of racial status and stereotypes involving dance, where the minorities try their best to fit in. Proving themselves by showing how they can adapt to other cultures by the flow and movement of their bodies. Both show a great understanding on how people of different races can be brought together by something most people can relate to, dance. To what extent does race inform the dancing as portrayed in the films “Save the Last Dance” (2001) and “Take the Lead” (2006)? To support the following argument stated above, there are several sources that will be implemented throughout the essay found within the dance community (journals, articles and books).

Watching the video “A Dancer’s World” made me want to become a professional dancer. Martha Graham’s dancers showed how delicate, defined, sharp, smooth, and astatic a choreography can be. It illustrated how much hard word and dedication it’s needed, but the results will always be beautiful. Also Martha Graham explained how dancing with a partner can be. She also talked about males as dancers, but in her video she demonstrates how men danced with females using physical contact. The techniques and how the piece turns out to be. Both genders jumped a lot through out each piece of performed and that’s something loved. During a piece, there can be both gender dancing separately doing their own thing. The techniques are used differently by males