Lamentation “Lamentation” is a famous ballet dance choreographed by the eminent Martha Graham. Martha Graham is one of the first generation contemporary modern dancers known for her abstract movements that communicate emotions and feelings. Lamentation means to mourn or to express one’s deep grief. The dance “Lamentation” expresses Martha Graham’s individual pain and suffering during the Great Depression. During WWII, the nation greatly suffered a great despair of deaths, along with sufferings of no food or funds. Lamentation truly expresses the country’s struggle of despair and a search for hope. In the beginning of the dance, Graham covers her head to disguise her true identity. During the dance, Graham is wearing a large violet tube-dress that covers her whole body and head. Graham is possibly dancing to a scene she experienced during the Great Depression. Graham has rhythmically movements like a gun shooter. Within the time frame of 0:00 to 0:17, Graham has her arms fully extended in front of her and …show more content…
Overall, the dance is a sorrowful and despairing performance. Personally, I think Martha Graham did a great job capturing the emotions and feelings of the historic tragic event of the Great Depression. With less than two minutes of a video, Graham was definitely able to tell a story of an individual’s struggle and sorrow. With the shooting of the gun to wiping tears down her face, Graham captured live and real events that occurred. The Great Depression was a tragic event that caused the whole country to become unhappy due to financial crisis and food. Graham was able to create a big picture and a true moment that she had experienced during this time. Lamentation definitely represented a person’s emotions of melancholy, gloom, low spirits, and more. Martha Graham’s work will always be considered legendary, and will always have
Upon the dancer’s departure, “the dancer, who though older was still languid and full of grace, reached out and tapped me with two fingers on the cheek, turned, and walked away” (185). Krauss uses this odd gesture by the dancer helps reinforce the strange quirks of the dancer and the author’s thought of the gesture containing “something condescending in it, even meant to humiliate” (185). The use of the words, “languid and full of grace” continues to strengthen the narrator’s fascination in the dancers beauty but also how the narrator feels uncomfortable with her interactions with the dancer. After the narrator’s encounter with the dancer, she walks by a crowded park “until a cry rang out, pained and terrified, an agonizing child’s cry that tore into[her] as if it were an appeal to [her] alone” (186). The author’s use of the painful and terrifying cry reintroduces the theme of a screaming child from the first passage which reinforces the author’s incapability to manager her guilt. The use of the word “agonizing” in this context suggests the overwhelming amount of guilt the author contains but in form as a youthful shrilling scream. Towards the end of the short story, the agonizing
In the United States, the hierarchical system that dominates the social landscape has created a pool of power for those who sit at the top of the social ladder. This system has power trickling down from the top to those at the bottom: those who work hard and get recognized the least. This creates a conflict between the oppressed and the oppressor, and eventually those who are oppressed use those drops of power to fight for their basic human rights. In an excerpt from Gloria Anzaldúa’s book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Anzaldúa explains the complications of oppressed people developing counterstances with their oppressors. In Helena Maria Viramontes novel Under the Feet of Jesus, Viramontes develops a female character named Estrella
"This critical circle is not close enough to the stage to see the actors' faces and catch the subtler by play" (Fitzgerald 1). The metaphor of the Dance sets up a critical underlying theme of the story.
Her goal was to move, not dance. She challenged the notions of what a quote on quote “female dancer” was and could do. Dance to her was an exploration, a celebration of life, and religious calling that required an absolute devotion (pg. 11, Freedman). She considered her dancers “acrobats of God”. An example of a dance which symbolized the “essentialized” body was Martha Graham’s Lamentation, choreographed in 1930, which served as an expression of what person’s grief, with Graham as the solo dancer in the piece. The costume, a tube-like stretchy piece of fabric, only allowed her face, hands, and feet to be seen, and, as Graham stated, “The garment that is worn is just a tube of material, but it is as though you were stretching inside your own skin.” In the beginning of the piece, she started out by sitting on a bench with her legs wide spread and arms held tight. Her head was going back and forth as if she was feeling sadness or maybe replaying thoughts in her head. By the way she was holding her hands so tight and close to her body, it symbolized the deep pain within her––the essence of her piece was grief, and she danced it from inside out. Russel Freedman, the author of Martha Graham A Dancers Life, stated, “She did not dance about grief, but sought “the thing itself”- the very embodiment of grief (p. 61).” Graham, dancing with strength and power, was encapsulated with her movement and was completely surrendered
Throughout the years, America has pursued the performing arts in a large variety of ways. Theatre plays a dramatic and major role in the arts of our society today, and it takes great effort in all aspects. Musical Theatre, specifically, involves a concentration and strength in dance, acting, and singing. This is the base that Musical Theatre is built upon. For my Senior Project, I helped choreograph multiple scenes in a community musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie”. Choreography is a way of expressing oneself, but it has not always been thought of for that purpose. Agnes de Mille’s expressive talent has drastically affected how people see choreography today. Agnes de Mille’s influence in the world of dance has left a lasting impact in the Performing Arts Department, and her revolutionary works are still known today for their wit, lyricism, emotion, and charm.
Belonging to the world of ballroom dancing involves conforming to the use of extravagantly coloured cloths that is worn. Throughout the film different characters present the viewers with the extremity of their costumes even off the dance floor. Scott dances by himself in simple black trousers and a white shirt, which is a distinct contrast. Similarly Doug hasting is also always in standard clothing throughout the movie. While we never view Doug dancing for an audience, outside of the dream sequence, he is dressed in plain and tired outfits. Both Doug and Scott dance without the costumes tell the audience that they belong not to the society which has become “Ballroom Dancing” but to the idea that dance is ones ability to be themselves.
In 1981 Bruce obtained Rambert’s trust and knowledge that he can create dance movements of a high quality and very symbolic to scenarios. Rambert asked Bruce to compile a work for the Chilean Human Rights Committee; who gave him South American styled music which he immediately adored. The tragic place in South America where dreadful situations affect the poor: father figures being pulled away from their loving families and tortured to death, friends murdered and the children taken away. Knowing of all these horrid acts stirred Bruce to be overwhelmingly sympathetic towards the causes and people who faced these unnecessary killings among their homes and neighborhood. Bruce incorporates many dance techniques and elements to portray and recognize the difference between good and evil, heaven and hell.
The poetry of Phillis Wheatley is crafted in such a manner that she is able to create a specific aim for each poem, and achieve that aim by manipulating her position as the speaker. As a slave, she was cautious to cross any lines with her proclamations, but was able to get her point across by humbling her own position. In religious or elegiac matters, however, she seemed to consider herself to be an authority. Two of her poems, the panegyric “To MAECENAS” and the elegy “On the Death of a young Lady of Five Years of Age,” display Wheatley’s general consistency in form, but also her intelligence, versatility, and ability to adapt her position in order to achieve her goals.
In 1930 Martha Graham formed her own dance company dismissing the classical form of modern dance and and replaced it with sharp, angular and sexually charged aesthetics. Her inspiration usually came from greek mythology, history, art or social commentary. (Martha Graham’s Legacy in Modern Dance History, 2011) Graham’s philosophy was to reveal the mans inner core, "I wanted to begin," she said, "not with characters or ideas but with movement…. I wanted significant movement. I did not want it to be beautiful or fluid. I wanted it to be fraught with inner meaning, with excitement and surge.” (Martha Graham, n.d.).Martha Graham uses unique and symbolic contemporary to manipulate elements of the contemporary dance. Through her technique it helps to communicate the the mans inner core, one being Jocosta in Night Journey. Night Journey choreographed by Martha Graham in 1894 explores and portrays the strength and struggles of female characters. In Night Journey rather than telling the story of Oedipus, the main male character, as written by Sophocles, Graham focused on the female perspective of Jocasta, mother, Queen and wife of Oedipus.(Dodge, 2007). Graham focuses on Jocasta the main protagonist who finds out that she has married her son, Oedipus. The dance begins at the moment of Jocasta’s suicide as she stand motionless on stage holding a thin rope between her hands. Night Journey becomes even more complex following her memories that haunt her whig inevitably lead her to her death. Martha Graham has skilfully choreographed symbolic representations and motifs to convey Jocasta's emotions of desperation, grief, pain, love and loss while also conveying the impending doom that is to become of Jocasta. She also ...
The stress of always doing the same day-to-day routine eventually causes someone to break. In Ohad Naharin’s Deca Dance, the second piece, features a large group of dancers in suits who stand in a semi-circle with a chair sitting directly behind each person. The dancers use tension and looseness in their movements as well as use different aspects of timing to perform a repetitive sequence that shows how the same patterns lead to breaking free from confinement within themselves.
Hope, desperation, relief, and joy were the emotional aspects that I grasped onto during the piece. While there was not a literal story, it was relatable and real. The dance was visually beautiful, because the lighting, costumes, silk, and choreography worked together to create a picture of water. Yet, the music and idea behind the dance gave the intense and emotional aspect. Each of these elements worked together to create a piece that was mesmerizing and light
The dancers begin in unison in a large clump. They dance together with slow movements; reaching up with their arms straight and palms open. It is to be noted that when they stretch their arms up, they tilt their head and look up as well. Throughout the piece the dancers repeat this movement, which represents reaching and praying to God. The dancers are constantly reaching up, embodying their despair and their yearning for help. As the dance progresses, the dancers repeatedly break out of the clump in the center and do different movements and their own sequences. After this, they always go back to their clump and do synchronized movement. Their constant breaking away from the group symbolizes their continual want to be free, as well as their persistency. On the other hand, their constant going back to the group shows how African-Americans will always be joined together by their culture, prayer, and hardships. Additionally during the piece, multiple dancers will run up to another dancer and jump or hold onto them, and then they do a couple of movements together. This shows how they are reliant and dependent on each other, and how they need each other throughout their suffering. Lastly, Much of the movement in this section possesses the downward energy characteristic of African dance, which symbolizes a connection to the earth. The choices Ailey made choreographically communicates all
In the excerpt from the novel Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Viramontes, the story of a girl named Estrella is described. Throughout the story, Estrella learns a valuable lesson from a box of tools. Viramontes’s use of the literary elements such as selection of detail, figurative language, and tone are implicated to display the development of Estrella’s character. Estrella, a very timid girl at first, eventually becomes confident and capable of succeeding in school after she learns a lesson from a box of tools.
By the late 1950s, Graham had reached star status among both the intelligentsia and the public. In 1932, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation awarded Graham an unprecedented fellowship in dance (Phillips 65).
[6] Cohen, Selma Jeanne. International Encyclopedia of Dance: A Project of Dance Perspectives Foundation, Inc. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.