While attending the University Dance Theatre Spring Concert, I saw a number of dance performances. One performance in particular was titled Painting the Painting, choreographed by Cara Goodwin. Cara is a professor at Old Dominion University. She is from Virginia Beach, Virginia. She was trained with Denise Wall Womble and later taught for her as well. Cara has a B.A. in Theatre and Dance from James Madison University. After obtaining her degree, she later had the chance to work for well-known companies such as, Cirque du Soleil and Stiletto Entertainment. She has also been featured in commercials, the presidential inaugural parade, and also played a Broadway Dance Center teacher in a Sesame Street promo. Cara has also had the opportunity to perform all around the world for different shows and events. She also lived in New York where she produced, directed, and choreographed for her company called Beyond Lines Contemporary Dance Company. Goodwin is also a former faculty member of Broadway Dance Center in New York City along with other impressive dance schools. She is also a teacher for the Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts and travels the United States as well as Canada as a Master Teacher and choreographer.
In her piece that was performed, the dancers were dressed in all black. The girls wore black crop tops and black, soft, flowy skirts. There was also a male performer who wore black Speedo type bottoms and no shirt. The lighting for this performance had a night time theme. In the background of the dancers, the light was manipulated to appear like stars in the sky. The music had no lyrics and sounded very classical. It was be going at a steady pace and speed, pause or change, then go back to the steady pac...
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..., fall and recovery, running and sliding across the stage. The style of movement had a modern and contemporary feel to it to me. It reminded me of Doris Humphrey. When I first saw them kind of lean and then find their natural balance, I immediately thought of fall and recovery. When I thought of fall and recovery it made me think of Doris Humphrey when we talked about her in class. Although I did not enjoy this performance nearly as much as Cara’s Painting the Painting, I do think it was still a good performance. I say this because the meaning was not as easy to understand as the other piece and I think it took away from enjoying watching them perform. I was too busy trying to figure out what the performance was all about. All the pieces, however, were phenomenal and I am sure the dancers and choreographers worked really hard to present the wonderful concert.
After watching the videos most made me feel same as in our book Bill T. Jones says, “Make something beautiful…Make something that comes honestly from you. Dare to fail.” That is exactly ho I felt after watching most of the videos. They were full of emotions and contact. The movements were very touchy feely and emotional with a story to tell; especially, the one called “What is contact improvisation?” I did reminded me of some of the previous choreographies we watched. I most of the videos there was a lots of ballet movements except the “Rennie Harris Puremovement │ Jacob 's Pillow Dance Festival 2009," which I actually enjoyed the most. I also did see some jazz, and musical, but not tap. If I look at previous video from Bob Fosse and his “Sweet Charity”, I don’t really see any connection between the videos we have see in this chapter.
The concert I attended was a Junior piano recital held at The Florida State University College of Music in the Dohnanyi Recital Hall. The pianist was Kaisar Anvar. The pieces performed were:
At the beginning of the twentieth century, European powers were in the process of mobilizing for the first world war after years of global imperialism, and the United States, after temporarily resolving the problems of Reconstruction and Industrialization, began to resume the course of expansion reaching out toward Asia and the Pacific. This era was consumed by limited choices in popular culture and dance, yet several dances began to emerge as a dominant form of art other than ballet. Born in 1878 to 1968, Ruth St. Denis was an American dancer renowned as a founder of modern dance, a sensational performer, and influential teacher. St. Denis was a pioneer in American modern dance and was able to successfully explore dance forms from diverse world religious and spiritual expression. She became very interested in the dancing techniques and emotions of Eastern cultures and created her own theory of dance based upon all of her early training, performers she worked with, and her reading on mythology and various cultures. She was equally influenced by philosophy, cultural history, and contemporary art. In particular, St. Denis was enamored with spirituality and the orient. For example, St. Denis learned about Buddhism, and the immediate context of spirituality inspired her to translate this energy in to choreographic practices that merged spiritual rituals with dance and movement . One of her earliest pieces, Incense, was first performed in 1906 in New York’s Hudson Theater. Incense is based upon the Hindu ritual of puja, in which an individual worships the deities with offerings of flowers, fruit and incense . Although her choices in dance were limited at the time of the turn of the 20th century, Ruth St. Denis was able to incorporate ...
Through her cultural influence on dance, as well as her impact on reinventing dance itself, Anna Sokolow has gone down in history as one of the great modern dancers. Her Jewish roots were a huge basis for the dances she would perform and the messages that she would try to get across, which is significant to me and my own similar religious views. It was important for dancers and choreographers to speak up for what they believe in and disseminate their message throughout the world of the arts, and Sokolow was one of those who did this with great success. Through her unique style of movement, her eye-opening piece Rooms, and her own personal connection to Judaism, Anna Sokolow’s inspirations and works come together to address a powerful issue in Jewish society and culture during her time.
Katherine Dunham was an important figure in pushing for equality among all races. She became remembered through her unique twist she put on her ballet movements. Instead of pursuing traditional ballet, she choreographed ballets that incorporated African-American movements. Because of this, she has always been referred to as one of the “modern dance pioneers” (Cass 303). Even through struggles, she continued to strive to focus more on the dance traditions of other cultures and slowly help work towards the end of oppression towards particular races.
The element that stood out the most to me was how effectively the music and the footwork corresponded. The best examples of this are seen through the dancers solos. Especially Albrecht's solo, his feet glide on the stage at the same tempo as the music. Similarly, Giselle's graceful footwork is truly amazing. I really like the similarities between the choreographed footwork and the music, it makes Giselle seem much more elegant and beautiful. This also seems to make the work look more put together and in sync because the dancers are dancing in harmony with the orchestra. The choreography by itself is amazing. The footwork is rapid and intricate, however, at the same time it is delicate and graceful. The ballerina (Giselle) made it look very easy to do the choreography, when it rea...
“Dance is the hidden language of the soul.” With this quote Martha Graham opines that the body says what words cannot. Martha Graham was a significant American dancer, teacher, and choreographer of modern dance in American history. Graham was a person who never thought about being “different” from anyone else, but she certainly was. Graham employed the psychological concepts of Freud and Jung into her dances. Graham also sought to give “visible substance to things felt”, which was a phrase that became a metaphor central to her art form. Among many things Graham was also a huge advocate of expressionism, a form of art in which an artist seeks to express emotional experience rather than impressions of the external world into their work, and her revolutionary vision and artistic mastery has had a deep and lasting impact on American art and culture.
On Friday November 15, 2013, I attended a concert that I found very interesting. It took place at 7:30 pm at the First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. The group performing was the Erie Chamber Orchestra but as a special the Slippery Rock University Concert Choir was also there.
I knew there was word painting within movements, but I did not think it was something that one could see. The pianist was heavily engulfed in the music. It appeared as though his body was telling a story. The look on his face through the slower parts was breath taking. If there was pain to be felt his face would have given it away. One could tell when the song was serious because his body would tense and his brows would entangle in a web of thought. In terms of my rollercoaster these were the times I found myself laughing. Yet, the completion of my concert experience did not stop there. I was only half way there and I would not be whole until the music had me intrigued and
I had the pleasure of being in Western Kentucky University Dance Department’s concert, An Evening of Dance. The performance took place on April 29th through May 2nd in Russel Miller Theatre. It consisted of many works from faculty and guest artists. I felt like the concert was a success and that the choreography was all unique in its own way. I enjoyed the pieces that I performed, and the ones that my fellow company members were in. Through the analysis of “Petrichor”, I found that each production and chorographic element plays a large part in the successful outcome of a dance and emotional responses can be evoked by the simplest ideas.
On Wednesday, May 23rd, I attended the College Choir concert in the Reamer Campus Center. The choir performed a variety of songs, ranging from pieces in Latin to traditional American folksongs. Two of the pieces featured solos, and one even featured percussion instruments. Mrs. Elinore Farnum provided piano accompaniment for each of the songs, and performed beautifully. I was extremely impressed by the talented choir members and their ability to sing such a varied range of songs.
Jazz Ensemble I was something that blew my expectations out of the water. It was no ordinary performance, in that I was left wanting more after it was over and it was possibly the best jazz performance I have ever attended. Carmen Bradford did an astonishing job showing exactly how jazz is something beautiful that comes with great emotion, but she did not only prove this through her great singing voice but the stories she told that really captures the atmosphere. Not only did she set the mood, because her “baby’s” played the music pieces with great finesse and skill. The combination really left a lasting impression on me and a want to experience it all over again.
The push and pull was choreographed beautifully and it was an amazing concept to watch someone hold on to their past. This type of dance is not only beautifully but it conveys a message using the body in mixed postures, opening and closing, advancing but not really ever retreating until the end, using straight pathways because the past is
Also, the performers are constituted with same number of men and women. They imply the importance of equality through the performance. The female and male dancers use the same movements to show that they are equal. The message being conveyed here is important, on the grounds of its social influence and giving the whole performance a deeper meaning. The thing makes dancing different and odd to other occupations is the fact that most famous and well known dancers are mostly females, since on other social circumstances males tend to dominate more realms. Here, besides all the female masters, the male dancers appear as much as the female artists do and they also showcase what they are capable of. As I watched more of the performance, the interactions between dancers and the LED lights became more appealing to me. Dancers use their bodies to interpret the connections between human beings and technology. Moreover, the background music also plays a vital role in the production of this whole piece of art. The tempo of the music, the dance movements, as well as the frequency of the lights going on and off together appeared to the audience as a desirable combination. I love how the dancers do every movements according to the rhythm of the music and how they two fit perfectly. All of those things together made a great show to watch and