Tramontane Dance Performance

Some of the movements executed by the dancers are similar to those executed by dancers in a stepping performance and also in a tap dance presentation. This presentation falls into the group of the new trends of modern dance, in which the choreographer are taking more and more liberty with various dance combinations, and including strong messages in their work. I would definitely attend other dance performance, not only from this company, but also by other companies; and would also recommend this performance, especially to people going through a dark period in their life. This performance finished convincing me that dance is surely the most communicative of the art forms, and that a single presentation can convey more than one

The first piece was Voiced (premiered in 2011) choreographed by Ricardo Mendelez. The dance was set to music by Meredith Monk. As the curtains of the stage open, there is one dancer, Janelle Spruill, in the center of the stage. She dances the rhythmic movements to the sounds that the vocalist makes. It was almost as if her body became one with the words, therefore causing her to appear as vocal chords that have taken the form of a human body. Soon, she is joined

When the show actually began, it started with a digital green timer on the wall counting by the second, accompanied by Mr. Jones sitting at a desk with a desk lamp. He began to read a story as a single dancer in a pink long sleeved top danced beside him. This dancer was definitely the most memorable mover of the company due to her exquisite fluidity within her movement, as well as the desirable synchronization between her movements and the words of Mr. Jones’s voice throughout the piece. As the performance carried on, the other dancers performed various solos, duets, and quartets, of modern movement while Mr. Jones’s stories carried on.

As well as, the elements of Space I saw that the dancers had size, level, place, Directions, and Pathway. The Space from dancing it showed that the dancers were working together as a team and from the level they did a medium movement. The size from the dance show it also showed that they had their own space from a small size. The pathway from the dancers they were following each other and the way they were going in the same direction. The elements of time they had metered time, free rhythm and clock

The movements were very specific and showed the story of the dance. The partners used many movements that contained many body

The music accompaniment to this piece comes from one or two pianos which works well with the dance so that neither one overshadows the other. There are no other instruments used, the melody of the piano changes from scene to scene in order to project Jooss’ emotional responses. During the scenes with the politicians, the air of the piano is light-hearted and almost comedic. The story begins with the politicians in masks that are arguing in a non-naturalistic way using their postures and gestures for example: standing up with masks facing the audience wearing white gloves reaching their hands out with open palms portraying careless emotion. The show ends the same way which gives an impression of Jooss trying to say that there will always be arguments between higher statuses that don’t help the general public but they use their powers for their own entertainment. The purpose of this was to show the detachment of these men from the war. They are in a safe situation, unexposed to war and death. When the scene changes and we see what’s happening in the lives of citizens, this tune is transformed into a thunderous and eerie song that haunts the audience. The reason for this change is to reveal Jooss’ feelings about the unnecessary brutality and death that always comes with a war, and how politicians don’t understand the horror

The choreographer created this piece in the vein of Dance Theater, with many similarities to other pieces of the time. The moves are straight out of ballet, although it is a bit unusual to see large male’s demi-pointe. I wonder if they practiced this stereotypically feminine move before this production? There also seems to be more freedom and disruption in this piece as opposed to a Royal Ballet. And yet, there is no overly styled moves set to a specific beat as in the Dido piece. From the video the emphasis is always on the movement of the conglomeration of dancers, as opposed to the facial ‘moves’.

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

In the Chamber Orchestra the musicians were very dramatic in movement, especially the two violinists that stood in front of the Orchestra. It seemed at times like they were having a conversation

In the third section Ms. Donna Wood looks like an African goddess and her body has an unexpected gracefulness. Even stage color was bright reddish, warm atmosphere around the dancer, like a sunrise in the morning. Stage would fill with colors. Music and performer are singing together. A sound of music tempo gets faster. She has the happiest face ever, no pain and no slavery. She jumps, she swings her leg and arms, and even she pulls her dress up and shows her leg an entire dance. Sound and lightening create the environment and good mood. She uses high level of dance than in previous two sections. She moves in between melody. I liked how she uses

The dance piece was composed of several story lines and plots. There was a piece in which it there was a guy and a girl who with their dance movements expressed hate and love. Other dances expressed the path to finding freedom, loneliness, and time.

The couple dances by expressing their emotions by pushing, shoving and smashing their partner against the wall in some kind of thrilling affection. I be pointing out that the choreographers use choreographic elements of space : shape/line & direction; time : speed/tempo &breath/emotional phrasing; and energy: dynamics and qualities in to their work to make a dance performance exciting and what is being depicted .

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

The interview was an integral aspect of the piece. Instead of simply having a recording of the interview playing in the background of the performance, the dancers of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie

They presented a story of a goddess teasing a boy with a magical ball, then throwing it into a pond where a monster is asleep. The boy then awakens this monster trying to reach the ball. The story is meant to encourage people to face their fears and fight for what they want. I liked how they used the same movements when they were describing the story before starting their performance which they later used during the dance. For example, one of the dancers showed the same throwing movement which she later used in the performance. The dance was accompanied by an Indian chant like song over the speakers. It had the same simplistic nature as the African music discussed above which I again noticed that it put the focus on the dancers. They music and movement was much slower and calmer than the Africans, which makes sense when seen in light of the Eastern Asian spiritual philosophy of