Shakespeare's Dance : The Swan Dance And The Sleeping Dance

Moving History/Dancing Cultures is a collection of dance related essays and articles by various authors. The book was published in 2001. The article “Searching for Nijinsky’s Sacre” was written by Millicent Hodson. Hodson is a well-known choreographer and lecturer. She has also reconstructed multiple ballets; her most famous being Le Sacre du Printemps, originally choreographed by Nijinsky. As the title suggests, Hodson’s article is about her extensive research of Nijinsky’s Sacre, and the importance of remembering, preserving, and recreating such revolutionary ballets.

Mime should be used only when the ballet’s style dictates it, in other cases the dancer’s whole body, not only the hands, should be used to communicate.

Martha Graham’s production of Night Journey is a unique and symbolic contemporary dance work. Graham bases many of her dance pieces on Greek myths and this is seen in her work Night Journey. Graham has manipulated elements of contemporary dance to communicate the emotion of the main character, Jocasta. Graham’s previous work focuses on depicting both the power and struggle of female idols in history. Graham has choreographed Night Journey to explore the perspective of Queen Jocasta, the main protagonist in the piece rather than the story of Oedipus. (Mueller, 2007) Graham has skilfully choreographed significant symbols and motifs to convey Jocasta’s emotions of grief, pain confusion and love through the manipulation of motifs and

A Misummer Night’s Dream is a comedy play written by William Shakespeare. In this play there are multiple themes however the most evident theme is love. Why is love an evident theme? It is an evident theme because the play commences with two Greek mythology characters─ the Duke of Athens, Theseus and Amazon queen Hippolita planning their marriage. However as Theseus plans his marriage he has to help Egeus persuade his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius. Unfortunately both the Duke and Egeus failed to persuade Hermia into marrying Demetrius so the fairies (another set of characters. The fairies in this play consisted of goddess of chastity and Queen of fairies, Titania and King of fairies Oberon and his assistance Robin Goodfellow) decide

Dance of the Hours composed by Amilcare Ponchielli’s from his opera La Gioconda takes us on a journey through the hours of the day. We will be reviewing three versions of this composition where the ballet through dance and costume, the orchestra through music, and staging or film techniques assist in representing the hours in a day (dawn, morning, twilight and night). These three previously recorded versions in review are in the forms of classical, modern, and Disney’s Fantasia version of the ballet.

The story of A Midsummer Night's Dream was mainly about love and its abnormal dealings. In the play, Shakespeare tried to show that love is unpredictable, unreasonable, and at times is blind. The theme of love was constantly used during the play and basically everything that was said and done was related to the concept of love and its unpredictable ness. Shakespeare made all of the characters interact their lives to be based on each other’s. At first, everything was very confusing, and the characters were faced with many different problems. In the end, however, they were still able to persevere and win their true love, the love they were searching for in the first place.

As world has changed over the last century or so, the ballet world has been changing with it. There are many people who have helped shape that change. The changes in style were mainly influenced by George Balanchine. George Balanchine, a Russian choreographer and ballet dancer, also known as the father of American ballet, was the man who was said to have changed the style of ballet forever. Along with these changes in style came changes in visual design elements, inspirational figures, and changes in what the ballets themselves tend to rely on. Many of the features given to ballet in Russia in the 15th and 16th century still remain to this day, but many features have been altered to fit . Let’s take a closer look at what features truly

Whether we look at a romantic ballet like La Sylphide or a classical ballet such as Sleeping Beauty, audiences are constantly mesmerized by the gracefulness and weightlessness of the ballet dancers. They seem to defy the laws of physics, which is greatly possible due to the use of the pointe shoe. However, many masterworks that were created in the Romantic era did not solely rely on the pointe shoe to help convey messages. Instead, the choreography, dancers, scenic elements, subject matter, and music all helped shaped masterworks such as La Sylphide, Napoli, and Giselle. Similarly, in the Classical era, these elements all played a role in shaping famous ballets like La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. But once we take a closer look at these ballets from the Classical era, we can see how much ballet evolved. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the Romantic era was the stepping stone for this pure art form that we have been able to preserve for more than 160 years.

Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” and Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring “ are two of the most influential ballets to ever be recorded. Their ballets have been played and duplicated for many years. I will start this paper with a summary of each composer which will include where they are from culturally, geographically and musically. Then I talk about each ballet. Where it was written, the story behind each piece, and its reception now and its reception at the time it was published. I will also include the popularity of each ballet in other forms such as Disney. Finally, I will provide a detailed concert report of each ballet.

Listening to Music class has taught me a new way to listen and enjoy music. I have learned how to differentiate the melodies, rhythms, and instruments in a song. It has also introduced me to different genres in the music world, aside from what is usually played on the radio. I can now attend any concert, listen to any genre, or watch any ballet and easily recognize the many specific aspects the music being played has. Ballets are very interesting to me. The audience is able to enjoy the music being played as it is telling a story, and being acted out through the performer’s body language. In the two ballets, The Rite of Spring and The Nutcracker, a great story is told in both referencing the many great dynamics music has. These two specific ballets are written by different composers, and each one of them have certain conditions they were written under. As well as different receptions, popularity, and development. The Rite of Spring and The Nutcracker’s differences has made some sort of an impact in the performing world back then as well as now.

Mrs. Farrell’s book is quite technical when it comes to the lengthy descriptions of the dances she rehearses and performs; from a dancer’s view these varied conclusions of the types of movements she was dancing is quite astonishing. In fact, it adds a whole new level to the imagination that can come alive in a person’s thoughts when they read an expressive book. Although the technical explanations will excited, astound, and reveal how much passion and deep meaning ballet had in Suzanne Farrell’s life, but a reader, who may not be involved in the arts will be unfamiliar with the ballet and musical terms in

The choreography in this film is very well known and it still precedes itself today through its dance numbers, tiresome tap dancing and a range of vocals. There are many different conventions and dance segments to see during this fantastic film. One of the more romantic dance sequence, ‘You Were Meant For Me’, shows the shyness in

Petipa’s production of Swan Lake is a beautiful example of the structure movements that dancers must perform; in the clip titled Odile entrance & Black Swan pas de deux, you see “The Black Swan” perfect posture and balance, dancing on en Pointe all the while managing to gracefully seduce the prince through her seductive movements and entrancing expressions. In contrast Modern dance focus is on the dancer expressing their inner most emotions and feelings through free flowing movements. The modern dancer uses their whole body more naturally and fluidly to convey what their current emotional state is, unlike classical ballet where the ballerina at all times keeps an upright posture, and performs with structured, angular lines. Martha Graham’s “Frontier” is a great example of the free movements of Modern dance; In this performance Martha Graham uses her whole body to move to the rhythmic sounds of the drums and music, you can clearly see that there is no confined structure in this performance, she is completely moving organically to how she is feeling and what she is trying to convey through her movements.

Dance was not a new element in the theatre realm. It had been used for years as a way of interpretation of feelings of a character that the writer or director wanted the audience to feel visually. Through movement, expression of those feelings was portrayed and helped the audience to somewhat

Shakespeare’s usage of metaphor and simile in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is best understood as an attempt to provide some useful context for relationships and emotions, most often love and friendship, or the lack thereof. One example of such a usage is in Act 3, Scene 2 of the play. Here, the two Athenian couples wake up in the forest and fall under the effects of the flower, thus confusing the romantic relationships between them. Hermia comes to find her Lysander has fallen for Helena. Hermia suspects that the two have both conspired against her in some cruel joke, and begins lashing out against Helena. She says “We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, / Have with our needles created both one flower, / Both one sampler sitting on one cushion, / Both warbling of one song, both in one key; / As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds, / Had been incorporate. So we grew together, / Like a double cherry, seeming parted; / But yet a union in partition / Two lovely berries moulded on one stem: / So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart; / Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, / Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.” (Shakespeare 2.3.206-13). Shakespeare writes this list of vibrant metaphors to establish the prior relationship between these two characters and to make it evident how affected Helena is by this unexpected turn of events, as well as to add a greater range of emotion to the comedy, thereby lending it more literary and popular appeal.