...On November 3rd, Scapa’s middle and elementary dance majors went to see Dia De los Muertos which was performed by Bluegrass Youth Ballet at the Lexington Opera House. This performance was choreographed and created by Adalhi Aranda Corn. She decided that she wanted to share the history and her traditions of the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday through a dance. Throughout the performance there is a slide show playing in the background. The pictures shown in the background usually matched the theme of each dance. For example, while everyone joins together in the cemetery close to Estelita’s grave, in the background pictures of decorated skeleton heads with flowers around them are shown. This performance is different from most ballet performances....
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...On Friday, October 30, 2015, I attended the Dance TCU Concert that was held on the campus of TCU in Ed Landreth Hall. All of the performers for this recital were students of the TCU School for Classical and Contemporary Dance. The recital was comprised of six modern, contemporary, and ballet dances that included very unique styles of dances movements. Overall, the recital had a light-hearted theatrical feel that was innovative, unorthodox, and detailed-oriented. For the purpose of this critique, I will discuss the various elements in four particular dances: they are Giselle Act II, Olivers and Kefi, Murmuration of Stars, and Tychtrip. The previous dances collectively represent the overall message the recital was trying to portray that allows...
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...Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Kamsko-Votkinsk, a small industrial town in the Republic of Udmurtia, Russia, on May 7, 1840, the second eldest of six children. He was the son of Ilya Petrovitch Tchaikovsky, a manager of ironworks in the Ural Mountains, and Aleksandra Andreevna d'Assier, a Russian woman of French ancestry. Developing a clear interest in music at a young age, Tchaikovsky began taking piano lessons where he became familiar with the works of Frédéric Chopin and Friedrich Kalkbrenner. Unfortunately, music had not yet been incorporated into Russian education so his parents never considered the possibility of music as a career for their son. Encouraged to study law instead, at the age of 19, Tchaikovsky completed his legal studies and began work as a petty clerk in the Ministry of Justice where he remained for four years. In 1862, Peter left his job to focus on his true passion, music, at the newly founded Saint Petersburg Conservatory where he studied under Anton Rubenstein and Nikolai Zaremba. Shortly thereafter, in September 1866, Tchaikovsky accepted a teaching job at the new Moscow Conservatory as a teacher of theory. During his 11 years there, and until his retirement at the age of 37, he composed his Concerto no.1, the ballet Swan Lake, four operas, three symphonies, and a collection of some of his smaller works. Although excluded from the “Russian five” because they believed him to be too cosmopolitan, and Howland 2 too influenced by other...
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...acclaim throughout Europe after being exiled from the United States for her pro-Soviet sympathies. Isadora Duncan lived in Chicago and New York before moving to Europe. There with Brother Raymond she studied Greek mythology and visual iconography, which would inform her sensibilities and style of movement as an artist. Duncan came to look at ancient rituals around dance, nature and the body as being central to her performance ideology. Barefoot and clad in sheaths inspired by Greek imagery and Italian Renaissance paintings, Duncan danced her own choreography in the homes of the financially elite before becoming a major success in Budapest, having a sold-out run of shows in 1902. She embarked on successful tours, becoming a European sensation honoured not only by audiences, but by artists who captured her image in painting, sculpture and poetry. Duncan's style was controversial for its time, as it defied what she viewed as constricting conventions of ballet, placing major emphasis on the human female form and free-flowing moves. Duncan's achievements and artistic vision would lead her to be called the "Mother of Modern Dance"—a moniker also shared by a successor of sorts, Martha Graham. Duncan faced horrific tragedies, with her two children and their nanny drowning in 1913 when...
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...John Waller, in “A Time to Dance, a Time to Die The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518”, a book that describe an epidemic happened during 16th century, which a weird phenomenon took place on the street, thousands people dance day and night until they fell unconscious. Waller collected evidences and records to explain the story of this dancing plague. By analyzing the cause and vary reasons of the dancing plague, Waller reproduces the terrifying sight of that year through his words. The purpose, aim and goal of this book is to take us back to the past through the written story and published chronicles. Thus, by understanding the situation, a dancing plague would no longer be a folklore but a reasonable truth that can be explained in both anthropology and psychology. This is a story of how a city's people lost hope. On July 1518, midsummer, A French woman named Frau Troffea went on a narrow street in Strasbourg, starting her frantically dancing. This weird woman danced uninterrupted for almost six days. A week later,...
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...Since I was young I have been involved with dance. Due to this, stories and even a word by itself is translated into movement in my mind. I envision a dance in the creation of a story from Hint Fiction through a different medium for this reason. The similarity of having to analyze word content for this genre in order to understand the story applies for dance as well. Both of these mediums have an aspect of drawing from the material and connecting the dots in a way to try to understand the story. One story I was drawn to when envisioning each of them as movement was, What Didn’t Happen by Janet E. Gardner. In this story the moment of death is created to be not a flash, but only a taste remembered from childhood. I imagine that this specific taste “of lemon buttercream frosting” was made by his mother and enjoyed throughout the summers of his youth (Gardner 64). I conceptualized this idea because lemon buttercream is not a flavor commonly picked up at the story, so I believe that it may be homemade. If this is the case, his mother may have been the one to make it for him during summer when lemons were ripe. Gardner describes the man in his final moment, “his mouth filled with the taste, perfectly remembered from childhood” (64). This flood of taste he so clearly remembers from...
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...“THE THING THEY CARRIED” What was once a peaceful Vietnamese rice field had become a death bed for many people. Two teenage boys huddled behind a small bush, holding their breath as the ground surrounding them exploded. They heard a scream from the commotion that lied in front of the leaves that masked them. Desperate, the boys looked at each other for they knew it was a fellow comrade who was in trouble. Grasping their rifles, they charged from behind the bush into the front lines of the war… a war they were forced and drafted into…. a war they which they could not find the meaning for. Such a story was faced by many soldiers during the Vietnam War, as they attempted to understand the destruction that lay amongst them in the small Asian country. Often, they searched for a symbol that would explain what they were doing there. In Tim O’Brien’s book, “The Things They Carried”, the author,...
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...life threatening illnesses into dance. Still/Here consists of nothing but human feelings that are expressed through rhythmic togetherness on stage to create an amazing array of dance that visually grasps the audience to interpret the stories that lie underneath. This film could not have been as successful as it was without Jones’ willingness to help others through the workshops, using real peoples emotions and stories to create the dance, and incorporating the audio- and video-tapes throughout the dance performance. These three things are key to the success of his film. In order to explain why Still/Here was so successful I feel it is very important to understand why Bill T. Jones has created a dance such as this one. As we know, Bill T. Jones is an African American, homosexual, HIV positive man whose life partner died from AIDS. This is important because it helps us to understand the meaning behind the structure and choreography he has chosen. During Jones’ interview he explains that after Arnie’s death he was full of confusion and other emotions which lead him to the idea of Still/Here.Dance was a big part of both of their lives, Jones found a way to express real emotions through gestures, movements, and expressions. To create a dance with real stories and emotions behind it is key for outside people to relate to and admire the work being shown, especially if they are unfamiliar with dance and art. It could very well be opening a door into dance and art for many curious viewers...
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...Overlook Everyone has memorable moments from their childhood. Some of them merry and others are quite the opposite. Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz” is a quatrain poem about a memory of a boy waltzing with his father. The speaker is now a grown man writing this as a memory. In the poem, he relates his relationship with his father to a "waltz." The author's childhood unfolds as the "waltz" is performed. In this performance, the diction the author uses allows the reader to have many perspectives of the poem. This poem can be viewed in two ways. One way to look at this poem is that the young boy is having fun with his father waltzing. Some, on the other hand, believe this is a poem about rough housing his son. There are examples for both agreements throughout the poem. I can clearly see the positive loving side of the son in admiration to his faulty father. This poem was written in the 1940’s which remains a controversial decade that created the welfare state, bred a culture of immorality and self-indulgence. Young adults urged people to explore alternative patterns of work and domesticity. They disputed paths to deeper fulfillment, even those involving illicit drugs, could be justified, believing they were creating a new America. Taking that into account, Roethke’s father character is more understood being from this time period. When Theodore was only fourteen, his father passed, leaving him with a wound and a sense of dissatisfaction that he was able to relieve only...
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...Nadiya Clarke Ms. Ritter Rutter English 1 2nd Quarter December 4, 2015 Black Plague’s Impact on Art and Culture The Renaissance was a time of rebirth for all of Europe, but it was also a time of great death and sickness. The black plague affected many aspects of medieval life. Things like art, literature, religion and theater were greatly changed by the occurrence of this epidemic. Through all of the illness and struggle, the people of Europe found a way to carry on with their lives. The black plague had a major impact on the study of medicine. During the time of the plague, the doctors wore plague doctor’s clothing. Their clothing consisted of a black hat, a gas mask shaped like a bird’s beak, a long overcoat, leather pants, and a wooden cane. These clothes protected the doctor, but they helped spread the disease more than they helped treat it. Although the plague may have showcased the problems with medical science in that era, it led to many much needed changes to the field of medicine. The doctors began to pay more attention to “anatomical investigations.” Studying the human body became...
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...Confucius Tracy Chan Darlene O’Cadiz Dance 301-51: Cultural Diversity in Dance Section: 19100 “Don’t give a sword to a man who can’t dance” is a saying from a philosopher who lived more than 2000 years ago (Huang, 2013, p.1). This man is Confucius, he lived during the time of both Buddha and Socrates. His teachings have been studied throughout the centuries and has helped educate and guide people through life, even after his death (Chiang, 2004). Confucius stressed the importance of kind-heartedness and respectfulness towards others. He believed through the use of moral guidance and acts of kindness, society would better itself as a whole and the government would function more immaculately (Xu, 1993). He was a man who truly believed that people are born with compassion but a flawed society would corrupt it. Therefore, he lived his entire life trying to teach the younger generation the correct way to treat one another and showed them the true reward of being a gentle and thoughtful person. In the book Analects of Confucius, written by his students, it establishes how to treat one another and how to govern appropriately (Chiang, 2004). If there was a dance dedicated to Confucius, it would be meditation. Through meditation, a person can pray and chant his teachings and thus would hopefully inspire them to act honorably throughout life. With Confucius’s teaching on kindness and benevolence, it has helped shaped my own interpretation of a peaceful society, which might...
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...struggles with his father’s alcoholic nature. The first stanza remains innocent in its nature, as the child attempts to keep up with his father’s dancing and refuses to let go. Begging in the second stanza, the poem seems to take a more violent turn which is evident through Roethke’s diction. The melodic rhythm and title, “My Papa’s Waltz,” suggest a dance between father and son which could serve as both a literal dance and a dance of life. Roethke’s first stanza acknowledges the father’s drinking habits and the effects that they have on his son. Because Roethke states that “the whiskey on [the father’s] breath could make a small boy dizzy,” readers become aware of the state of drunkenness...
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...Dance and Destruction Hinduism art during the 11th century was filled a variety of divine aspects of philosophy and the worship of many gods. The most mysterious form of art from Hindu culture that caught my attention was that of the dancing Shiva. Shiva the Destroyer has many faces in Hindu culture but the one that I will focus on in this discussion is Shiva Nataraja. The dancing Shiva is one of the most classic and loved symbols that captured the essence of Hindu culture and still remains timeless. To understand why the dancing Shiva is iconic art form we will look at the history and properties that make the Shiva Nataraja symbolic. The word Nataraja refers to the dancing form of Shiva due to the fact that Shiva has many forms. Nataraja meaning Lord of Dance or King of Dancers refers to the specific representation of the four armed dancing Shiva surrounded by a ring of fire. Trying to understand the dancing Shiva is not easy concept because Shiva after all is the god of Destruction. The best way to understand this concept of Shiva Nataraja is not to think of him as a destroyer but as a transformer. The appealing aspect of this Nataraja is that explains a story about the transformation of life. In Hindu religion and culture we know that things must be created, preserved and destroyed, and they are represented by gods. The same can be said about energy or life itself and this is why it is such an interesting and appealing as art and as science. The dance of Shiva...
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...name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Since Shiva is called Kāla—the eternal time—Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" (as in time has come). Hence, Kāli is the Goddess of Time and Change. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilator of evil forces still has some influence. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman. She is also revered as Bhavatārini (literally "redeemer of the universe"). Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kāli as a benevolent mother goddess.[1] Kālī is represented as the consort of Lord Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing. Shiva lies in the path of Kali, whose foot on Shiva subdues her anger. She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga (Parvati).[2] 2One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in the forest of Thiruvalankadu or Thiruvalangadu. She terrorizes the surrounding area with her fierce disruptive nature. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, claiming the territory as her own. Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest; both of them dance and Kali matches Shiva in every step that he takes...
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...affects many households across America today. Not only does it affect the person abusing alcohol, but it also affects the family and anyone who the alcoholic may come in contact with. A child of an alcoholic may not fully understand the degree of the problem, but they are aware of the danger that could be imposed on them. “My Papa’s Waltz”, written by Theodore Roethke, is a classic example of parental substance abuse and the effects it has on children. The speaker in this piece is the child. In the poem, there are multiple occurrences that prove the child is apprehensive with his father and his drunkenness. The father in the piece comes home intoxicated and would like to dance with his son. A Waltz dance is supposed to be a very elegant and joyous dance that joins two people together. However, this dance is far from a pleasant experience and is actually separating the...
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