Through Wim Wender’s aesthetically pleasing documentary, Pina, we view Pina Bausch’s famous choreographies within the Tanztheater Wuppertal from an insider's perspective. Bausch explores the politics of gender through movement. Pina Bausch begins to challenge gender socialization as she assumes the role of choreographer because in dance, power is located within the movements. Bausch complies with the ideal that the female dancer is the substrate through which the male expresses himself. He sets the direction of movement, while she follows the momentum, with little to no agency, implying implicit social dynamics and the question of consent. Portraying social and cultural normatives, Bausch effectively recognizes gender differences and critiques the perpetuation of such. …show more content…
The terms “feminine” and “masculine” are deeply rooted in the social assumptions of what it means to be a woman or a man and how our society perpetuates these stereotypes. Society associates delicacy, grace, and beauty with femininity, while strength, utilitarianism, and bruteness are connected to masculinity. She consistently represents the female bodies as ladylike and males as masculine. In Pina Bausch’s company, the females often dawn elegant gowns, with their hair flowing down their backs while the males are placed in suits, dress pants, or minimal clothing revealing their brawny bodies. Although Bausch emphasizes and portrays these stereotypical gendered representations, she does so to scrutinize and question it. Most importantly, Bausch challenges the separation of sexes through her choreography, creating a dichotomy between the gendered outward appearance of her dancers and their
The theatre is full of young men and women. The gas lanterns dimly light the room and the silhouette of a figure can be seen in the shadows of the stage. As she emerges, she is like a dream: a tall, elegant body with a form fitting bodice and tutu. She is entrancing on her tiny pointe shoes as she floats across the stage. Love and passion fill the air as she moves in such a way that is almost magical. The Romantic Ballet Period introduced the aspects of theme, costume, and new technique to the dance world and its influences are still seen in contemporary works in ballet.
Strictly Ballroom, with a ballroom and romance plot is more difficult to project the male stereotype. However even in this difficulty area, it manages to still capture the following masculine traits – mateship, trivialised larrikinism, physical apperarance, durnkenness, determination to win the ballroom dancing championship using new steps –the macho Spanish pasodoble.
Jensen, Jill Nunes. "Transcending Gender in Ballet’s LINES." When Men Dance: Choreographing Masculinities Across Borders (2009): 118.
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.
Ramsay, B. (2000). Dance theory, sociology, and aesthetics. Dance Research Journal, 32(1), 125-131. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1478286
This paper will be a detailed description of what dance was like in the 1950’s specifically focusing on 1954 to 1959. It will also go beyond to demonstrate how the style of dancing is a direct reflection of the society during that time period. The topic will be presented in class and a brief reflection will be included in this paper.
...witty comical banter helps spread the understanding of the underlying themes behind the humor. It makes it easier for the artists to connect with the audience about feminism without an aggressive and hostile approach to the work. I believe viewers are more likely to communicate upon the works of the Guerrilla Girls with one another in society when they take on a more comedic approach. This investigation has examined the Guerrilla Girls through direct connection to the inequalities of compliance of power over women in the art world. Several themes were highlighted within society that reinstated these cultural norms of gender and sex within the institutions of art. With a variety of forms used by the Guerrilla Girls to redefine women's identity in history they were able to break down such barriers that stood in the way which denied the prosperity of female artists.
Learning about Dance: Dance as an Art Form and Entertainment provides visions into the many features of dance and inspires scholars to keep an open mind and think critically about the stimulating, bold, ever-changing and active world of dance. Learning about Dance is particularly useful for those who do not have a wide and diverse dance contextual, such as students in a preliminary level or survey dance course. This book consists of twelve chapters. Chapter one dance as an art form focuses on the basic structures of dance. Dance is displayed through the human body, it has the control to communicate and induce reactions. Dance can be found in many different places, it enables the participants and seekers to touch and knowledge the joy of movement. Dance is discovered as being one of the oldest art forms worldwide. Dance existed in early cultures was recognized in a sequence of rock paintings portrayed dance. Since this discovery of rock paintings, several other forms of art have been found that depict dance. People used rituals in order to worship the gods and believed that the rituals held magical and spiritual powers. During the ancient period civilizations sentient decisions began to be made with regard to dance. Other periods that had an impact on dance were the medieval period, the renaissance period, and the contemporary period. Chapter two the choreographer, the choreographer is a person who comes up with the movements created into a dance routine. The choreographer expresses themselves through choreography because this is their way of communicating with the audience. In order to be a choreographer you must have a passion for dance. Each choreographer has their own approaches and ways of making up a routine. Choreographers ...
The way individuals discipline their body is analogous to how they act towards the idea of power and status. How bodies are trained to emit gender distinctions is similar to how people tend to clothe their bodies. The way people tend to “sit, stand, gesture, walk, and throw” are different depending on their performance of masculinity or femininity (Martin 297). Women’s bodies tend to be more “confined, their movements restricted (Martin 297).” The term “femininity” defines the idea that the female sex is perceived with specific traits and characteristics. Crossing their legs, sitting up straight, having a softer voice and light footsteps are all ways in which women become naturally embedded to the gender norms. She is ascribed to be more gentle, nurturing, and emotional, and weak. These traits she attains are given by society the moment she is born, creating an idealized sexually more inferior identity than that of a male. By analyzing the socially constructed gender profile of men, it is easy to see how society creates a more dominant and powerful facade. They are stereotyped to being more aggressive, highly sexual, strong, competitive, emotionless, and in control. These socially constructed differences confines males and females to particular character profiles that limit their equality as a whole. The bodies are gendered “as a product of social doing; constituted through interaction (West and Zimmerman 175).” The way male and female establish their gender order in society correlates to their mentality as a whole. Overall masculinity is more valued than femininity in society. Masculinity correlates to gender privilege. An inequality that gives males the access to more power, resources and positions due to the traditional notions of gender roles. Men are given a greater advantage because he is deemed more capable to fend for himself. He is given greater power in the working field and
Every dance that is created by a choreographer has a meaning and or purpose behind it. The dance choreographed could be used to send a political, emotional, or a social message. Regardless of the message being sent, each dance created possesses a unique cultural and human significance. This essay will examine and analyze two dance works from history and give an insight into what each dance work provided to the society of its time.
Contemporary 20th century choreographer Paul Taylor used the components of dance -space, time and energy to explore the struggle of an individual versus the conformity of the masses in his dance Esplanade. In addition, Taylor intertwined the principles of contrast, repetition, and resolution throughout Esplanade to portray the emotion, which accompanied this isolation. This esplanade (a long, open, level area usually by the sea) represented the journey of an independent women’s movement against the societal norm of heterosexual couples within the masses.
Bailey, Carol. "Performance and the Gendered Body in Jamaica Kincaid's "girl" and Oonya Kempadoo's Buxton Spice." Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism. 10.2 (2011): 106-123. Print.
[6] Cohen, Selma Jeanne. International Encyclopedia of Dance: A Project of Dance Perspectives Foundation, Inc. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.
The first social dance explored was ballroom dancing. Ballrooms were a place of courtship; therefore, these dances were always performed by a male, female couple. Traditional gender roles began the dance as the men always asked the women to dance. As the dance began, the bodies were transformed into vehicles to connect these opposite sex partners. However, societal rules applied to this dance because partners must be from within the appropriate class, the intentions proper, and the movements executed in a specific manner. The woman’s role was essentially to avoid a misstep of tripping on the man’s feet, since the male always led the dance.
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