Jiri Kylian Stamping Ground

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Jiri Kylian went to Australia in 1983 to find inspiration for a new ballet. He went to the largest gathering of Aboriginal people ever on Groote Island and watched them dance from twelve pm through till the next morning. This is where Jiri got his inspiration for Stamping ground. He noticed the way they move which was very different to what Europe was doing. Jiri Kylian didn’t want to replicate or copy the aboriginals dancing, he used the elements of their Dance and created his own piece called Stamping Ground. People enjoyed Stamping Ground because it was different and not the type of ballet they were used to and had become bored with.

When Jiri was watching the dance he picked up on a few elements of dance the Indigenous Australians were using; A couple of these were body percussions and animal-like movements. He took these elements and used them to create his own movements and performance.The movements were sharp and then flowy and they …show more content…

In his dance, the black plastic strips are like the starry night. The way he used the lighting gave this effect because of the light shining on them. The backdrop was also effective because it would appear as though the dancers were disappearing into the night. The dancers wore minimal costumes, as to reflect the Aboriginals traditional costume. The costumes gave the effect of having white painting on them. Jiri used the body percussions to replicate the stamping he saw. The ticking, clock sound in the music is representing that it is night time and as it gets closer to morning more dancers join and the dancing appears to gain

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