'Strictly Ballroom' Essay

The concept of belonging and acceptance is a major part of our modern society. Most stories and films represent belonging or alienation in one way or another. Strictly Ballroom, directed by Baz Luhrmann and the ‘Ugly Duckling’, a short story by Hans Christian Anderson, both represent the concept of acceptance and rejection through the use of many film and language techniques.

Ballet “Cry” simply showed to us real life of all African women. Every single American people know what kind of life they went through. Therefore it touched their heard. Alvin Ailey’s “Cry” presented wonderfully combined movements, technique and emotion. Ms. Donna Wood uses tragic face, a mask of sorrow. It is a face born to cry, but when she smiles it is with an innocent radiance, joyfulness that simple and lovely. She never tries consciously to please an audience. He was not only concentrating in movements and physical performance, but also using flowing white gown

People have the longing to belong and to be accepted by a group or community. A sense of Belonging can emerge from the connections and acceptance we have with other people, communities and the larger world. These ideas of belonging are represented in texts which explore aspects of belonging and an individual’s potential to challenge or improve a community group. The film ‘Strictly Ballroom,’ directed by Baz Lurhman, the film ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ directed by Kate Woods and the exaggerated true story of an African American youth’s fight to belong in the song “dance with the devil” by immortal technique all represent ideas of belonging formed by life experiences.

Throughout Shaun Tans surrealist picture books ‘The Lost Thing’ and ‘The Red Tree’ the overarching theme of hope is explored. Both books implement symbolism and positioning to reveal the extended metaphor of hope. In ‘The Red Tree’ Tan uses the symbol of a red leaf on every page to represent hope, similarly, ‘The Lost Thing’ has the symbol of a white, curvy arrow on almost every page to also symbolise hope. Tan uses the red leaf as a metaphor to the reader that hope is always present, even if sometimes the person cannot see it at that moment. This is represented in the ‘nobody understands’ picture where the little girl is seen in a glass bottle with a diving helmet on, the red leaf is positioned behind her and she cannot see it; Tan also makes the leaf a darker tone so it blends in with the background, further emphasising the notion of hope not always being noticeable. Correspondingly, in ‘The Lost Thing’ the symbol of the white arrow is found on almost every page, however, the protagonists do not

She breaks all the images of American standard of beauty such as being physically pretty. She

Discoveries form different perceptions of society or develop a new understanding of themselves as they continue to search and find facts about the people and the world. The Red Tree by Shaun Tan is a picture book that revolves around the journey of a child who faces many obstacles in an attempt to discover herself and the world. A major obstacle that prevents the child’s true discovery is her severe mental health. The depression and sadness alters her attitude to life and inevitably leads to unique perceptions of the world with the incorporation of dark elements. For instance, pages 8 to 9 illustrate her spiritual and intellectual discovery of the world as she misunderstands life in regards to society and its people. The page contains a quote,

"Riding The Red"at first glance is a simple narrative with a grandmother telling a story about a wolf, but with further analyzation the two themes of first love and innocent become very clear. The author’s repetition of certain words like blood and dance directs your attention to a deeper meaning hinting and connections to the "Little Red Riding Hood" which reflects back to the underlining message of what happens when a girl grows up.

powers animated the human body, the body could serve as a kind of lever to bring about

'How do the cabaret songs and routines comment on the social issues which are the background for the story of Cabaret?'

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

In Athol Fugard’s play “Master Harold”… and the Boys dance becomes a metaphor for how society can work harmoniously together, yet there are conflicts that prevent it from happening. Specifically, ballroom dance becomes a metaphor to show the conflict between a cooperative society and the disappointment associated with life and our inability to force change. This is expressed by Sam teaching Willie the mastery of dance and also educating Hally on the significance of the championships, and ultimately through the final dance performance.

A community is a group of people that share a common or similar characteristic with each other. Some communities can also consist of people living together or practice worship. My essay will include the communities that I am part of which are my dance, school and church communities.

     In Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, set in the Regency Period, dance performs several important functions.  Dance patterns emulate courtship rituals, marking dance as a microcosm for courtship and marriage - two main themes of the novel.  The Regency period propagated the belief that no ingredient was more essential to a courtship than dancing:  "To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love..." (Austen 7).  Therefore, knowledge of dance - dance steps as well as dance etiquette - was a crucial necessity and was often acquired through study and awareness of conduct codes.  These crucial codes were disseminated through popular courtesy/conduct books, which

A series of set of movements to music, either alone or with a partner. That is the definition of dancing. Dancing is a way to express one's feeling and to get active.

I attended DancePlus show On Friday December 2, 2011 at 7:30pm at night. It was performed in the Victoria K. Mastrobounno Theater in New Brunswick, New Jersey. There were four different parts that I saw that day. All of the dances were very interesting and very different from each other. All of the dances had its own unique key factor that separated it from each other. I enjoyed the entire show very well. Out of all the dances I had strong reaction to “Lapa’s Lament”. I believe this specific dance stood out to me compared to the other dances from the show. This show had many different factors that stood out from other shows in the entire performance.