Reflection Of Bugaku And Ballet

“Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance”, and excerpt from Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance History Reader, was written by Brenda Dixon Gottschild. Gottschild is a well-known author, dance historian, performer, and choreographer as well as a professor of dance studies at Temple University. She has also written multiple books including The Black Dancer Body, Waltzing in the Dark, and Digging. In her article “Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance”, Gottschild explores the similarities and differences in the characteristics of Africanist and European technique, and how they draw from each other.

The repertoire includes such classics as Tchaikovsky‘s "Eugene Onegin" and "Swan Lake" and works by Mozart, Verdi and Rossini. Other popular productions are Massenet‘s ballet "Manon" and the operas "Don Juan" by Mozart, "War and Peace" by Prokofiev and Wagner‘s "Das Rheingold". The latest productions are Tchaikovsky‘s "The Nutcracker" Puccini‘s "La Boheme" and Verdi‘s "Macbeth". The most famous Russian ballet companies are; Tatchkine, St. Petersburg, Bolshoi companies just to name a few of the most famous.

Dance was an integral part of the lifestyle in the Elizabethan Era. Not only did the noble class enjoy it, but also the lower class. Dance was used in celebrations and parties, and often, just for leisure. Prestigious dancing masters taught these dances. These dances included unique forms and one-of-a-kind styles (Hall 81).

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.

For the history of Russian Classical ballet, it originated in a group of dance academies in Moscow and St Petersburg in the eighteenth century. At first the dancers were from poor backgrounds - usually from orphanages - but the Tsars were particular ballet enthusiasts and so the profile grew. However, in the nineteenth century some of the best French and Italian dancers and teachers went to Russia and ballet developed considerably more than in Western Europe where opera was preferred. It was under this climate that Russian ballet led the way in classical dance with such famous stars as Anna Pavlova, Mikhail Foskine and the legendary Nijinsky, who all trained with the Frenchman Marius Petipa at the St Petersburg Imperial Ballet.

After the Romantic-era ballet had died out in Paris and Russia became the new focus. In 1738, the opening of the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg attracted many great dancers and choreographers such as Marie Taglioni. This school was controlled by an aristocrat named Czar. The most well known 19th century choreographer, Marius Petipa, became the ballet master of the entire school, shaping imperial and classical ballet. Ideas such as increased focus on technique, formulaic choreography, mime and gesture, and lengthy ballets can be seen in Petipa 's most famous ballets. These famous ballets include The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, and Swan Lake. In the 20th century, Sergei Diaghilev introduced a traveling ballet company called Ballet Russes. Starting out in Paris, this company brings together Russian and Western ideas with a spark of modernism. This company brought together revolutionary collaborations between choreographers, dancers, composers, artists, and fashion designers. Through the development of Russian ballet, there has been rejection and embracement as well as changes in structure and choreography.

Dance played a fundamental role in rituals and other ceremonies; as well as, to guarantee the success of harvests, hunts or to give thanks (Legendsofamerica.com, 2015). Dances were commonly held in an open field around a fire or in a large structure. Movements of the dancers would illustrate whether the purpose of the dance was for expressing prayer, victory, or mythology. Some dances would include solos, while other dances included songs or a chorus of chants by the participants (Legendsofamerica.com, 2015).

The first type of ballet is Story ballets. Story ballet is exactly how it sounds it’s a form of ballet that tells a story. Most of these productions use full sets and costumes. Story ballets were mainly performed in the 19th century. Most of the known performances are Swan Lake, and the sleeping beauty. Another type is plotless ballet. Plotless ballet have no story line, they create an Image or express an emotion. Classical ballet is a style of ballet that is a flowing movement telling a story. Neo-classical on the other hand is increases speed, non-narrative and off balance feel. This was introduced in the 20th century. Lastly contemporary ballet is influenced by modern dance. Greater range of movement and body line is used. It’s the most

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.

Ilyich Tchaikovsky and brought to life with the art of ballet by E.T.A. Hoffmann.Since then, the

As the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines cour de ballet as, “a type of ballet performed as part of a celebration for the French royal court in the 16th and 17th centuries.” Cour de ballet’s literal translation is ballet court. The ballet usually performed was what we call Classical Ballet. Catherine de Medici really changed dance, because before her, dance was usually folk.

Then in 1892, a choreographer named Marius Petipa sought Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky to write music which would become one of the most popular ballets of the world.

French Ballet began in the 17th century. It was a flamboyant entertainment presented in front of the aristocracy and royalty in the courts. French Ballet was also performed when they were celebrating marriages and showing off the wealth and power of the ruler. Besides, Ballet was called “la belle danse”, and it means “the beautiful dance.” In order to help the audience to recognize the characters in the story, dancers usually wore extravagant costumes. Moreover, the idea of different ballet movements was based on the social dance of royal courts, like beautiful arm and upper body movements and floor patterns were included. Also, in the beginning, only men were allowed to dance ballet, and women played the first ballet with parts until 1681.

Petipa made his initial appearance at the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre in 1847 in Paquita and staged his first original ballet, Un Mariage sous la régence (“A Regency Marriage”), there in 1858. For his wife, the ballerina Mariya Surovshchikova, he created Le Marché des Paris (1859; “Parisian Market”; staged as Le Marché des innocents, 1861). His first outstanding success was La fille du pharaon (1862; “The

Dance has been a part of human history since the earliest records of human life. Cave paintings found in Spain and France dating from 30,000 -10,000 BC. have vivid drawings of dancing figures in association with ritual illustrating the pesents of dance in early human society. Many people around the world see life as a dance from the movements of the heavens and the turn of the seasons to the unique dance of every creature. The history of dance reflects the changes in the way people see the world, relate to their bodies and experience the cycles of life. In India