After reading the
paragraph on page 2; please define what jazz dance is.
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V. Chicago the Musical
Chicago is an American set in Chicago during the jazz age.
The musical is based on a 1926 play of the same name. The story us
about actual criminals. The story is a satire on corruption in the
administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity
criminal". The original Broadway production opened in 1975. Bob Fosse
choreographed the
original production, and his style is strongly identified with the show.
"All That Jazz" (4:10)
Question 2
After watching the video above,
Why would you say their style of dance is jazz?
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Question 3 (10:00 min)
Compare and contrast 42 Street and Chicago the Musical.
In the early days of the minstrel show, this was often a skit set on a
Southern plantation that usually included song-and-dance numbers and
featured Sambo- and Mammy-type characters in slapstick situations. The
emphasis lay on an idealized plantation life and the happy slaves who lived there.
Black Face
Blackface is a term which is used to describe a form of theatrical make-up which is predominantly used by non-black performers in order to represent a caricature of a black person. The term is also used in reference to black makeup, which is worn as part of folk tradition and disguising rather than as a racial stereotype of black people.
Alhambra Theater, founded on September 13, 1880 in the heart of the City of Havana.
Th Tampa Connection
Ybor City was founded as an independent town in 1885 by a group of cigar manufacturers led by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and was annexed by Tampa in 1887. The original population was mostly composed of Cuban and Spanish immigrants who worked in the cigar factories. Italian and Eastern European Jewish
immigrants followed shortly thereafter and established many retail
shops, farms and grocery stores, box factories, print shops, and other
enterprises which catered to the cigar industry and its workers.Theater was also popular with the introduction of Cuban vernacular theater, which also included black-face.
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Tap
Tap's roots were in minstrel shows, it gained prominence in
Vaudeville, then emerged into an art form and means of expression
alongside the evolution of jazz. There are several styles of tap dance, including rhythm, classical, Broadway, and post-modern.
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Little Colonel Bojangles Dance
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878-1949) was an American tap dancer, actor, and
singer, the best known and the most highly paid black American
entertainer in America during the first half of the 20th century. His
long career mirrored changes in American entertainment tastes and
technology.
According to dance critic Marshall Stearns, (1968) Robinson's contribution
to tap dance is exact and specific. He brought it up on its toes,
dancing upright and swinging, adding lightness and
presence. His signature routine was the Stair Dance, in which he would tap up and
down a set of stairs in a rhythmically complex sequence of steps, a
routine that he unsuccessfully attempted to patent.
He is best known today for his dancing with Shirley Temple in a series of films during the 1930s, and for starring in the musical Stormy Weather (1943), loosely based on his own life. He used his popularity to challenge and overcome numerous racial barriers, including becoming:
one of the first minstrel and vaudeville performers to appear as black without the use of blackface makeup
one of the earliest black performers to perform solo, overcoming vaudeville's two colored rule
an early black headliner in Broadway shows
the first black performer to appear in a Hollywood film in an interracial dance team (with Shirley Temple in The Little Colonel, 1935)
the first black performer to headline a mixed-race Broadway production
Which cultures influenced the contradanza in Cuba?
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Time Table
The Siege of Havana was a successful British siege against Spanish-ruled Havana that lasted from March to August 1762, as part of the Seven Years' War. ... Havana remained under British occupation until February 1763, when it was returned to Spain under the 1763 Treaty of Paris that formally ended the war.
The French Revolution began in May 1789 when the Ancien Régime was
abolished in favour of a constitutional monarchy. Its replacement in
September 1792 by the First French Republic led to the execution of
Louis XVI in January 1793, and an extended period of political turmoil
The Haitian Revolution was a successful insurrection by
self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue,
now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt began on 22 August 1791,
and ended in 1804 with the former colony's independence.
Spain realized that they could not keep the United States from talking over the Florida territory so in 1819 Spain agreed to sell Florida to the United States. The Adams-Onis Treaty was approved by Spain and the United States in 1821.
The plantation system
developed in the American South as the British colonists arrived in
Virginia and divided the land into large areas suitable for farming.
Because the economy of the South depended on the cultivation of crops,
the need for agricultural labor led to the establishment of slavery.
The transfer of Florida from Spain to the United
States in 1821 prompted the migration of thousands of American planters into Middle Florida, the region bounded on the west by the Apalachicola River and on the east by the Suwannee.
Cotton became the major cash crop and large numbers of African slaves
toiled on plantations owned by the planter elite. On the eve of the
Civil War in 1860, enslaved persons made up more than half of Middle
Florida's population.
Cover illustration of Harper's Weekly, September 7, 1861 showing a Southern belle.
The image of a Southern belle is often characterized by fashion elements such as a hoop skirt, a corset, pantalettes, a wide-brimmed, straw hat, and gloves. As signs of tanning were considered working-class and unfashionable during this era, parasols and fans are also often represented.
Southern belles were expected to marry respectable young men, and
become ladies of society dedicated to the family and community. The Southern belle archetype is characterized by Southern hospitality, a cultivation of beauty, and a flirtatious yet chaste demeanor.
Question
Based on the above timeline, what was the relationship between slavery, the southern bell and dance in the South?
Cecilia Valdes is arguably the most important novel of 19th century
Cuba. Originally published in New York City in 1882, Cirilo Villaverde's
novel has fascinated readers inside and outside Cuba since the late
19th century. In this new English translation, a vast landscape emerges
of the moral, political, and sexual depravity caused by slavery and
colonialism. Set in the Havana of the 1830s,
What are the three categories in which ballet dancers are divided for classical repertory?
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Questions
How did the Russian Ballet school influenced American ballet?
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Famous Ballets
The first formal 'court
ballet' ever recognized was staged in 1573, 'Ballet des Polonais'. In
true form of royal entertainment, 'Ballet des Polonais' was commissioned
by Catherine de' Medici to honor the Polish ambassadors who were
visiting Paris upon the accession of Henry of Anjou to the throne of
Poland.
La Fille mal gardée (English: The Wayward Daughter, literal translation: "The Poorly Guarded Girl" and also known as The Girl Who Needed Watching) is one of the oldest and most
important works in the modern ballet repertory, having been kept alive
throughout its long performance history by way of many revivals. The ballet was premiered on 1 July 1789 in Bordeaux, France.
The
work has undergone many changes of title and has had no fewer than six
scores, some of which were adaptations of older music.
1. Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of
ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known
for its aesthetics and rigorous technique, its flowing, precise
movements, and its ethereal qualities. It tells a story.
2. Neoclassical ballet is the style of 20th-century classical ballet
exemplified by the works of George Balanchine. The term "neoclassical
ballet" appears in the 1920s with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, in
response to the excesses of romanticism and post-romantic modernism.
3. Contemporary ballet is a genre of dance that incorporates elements of classical ballet and modern dance.
How to Do the 5 Basic Positions | Ballet Dance (3:07)
Activity
a) Learn ballet 5 positions.
b) Record your self using the five positions to create a movement phrase. Post it on Discussion Board.
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Pierre Beauchamp
There
are five basic positions in modern-day classical ballet, known as the
first through fifth positions. In 1725, dancing master Pierre Rameau credited the codification of these five positions to choreographer Pierre Beauchamp.
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Jean-Georges Noverre
He was a French dancer and balletmaster, and is
generally considered the creator of ballet d'action, a precursor of the
narrative ballets of the 19th century. His birthday is now observed as
International Dance Day.
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Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo
The company Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo was formed in 1932 after
the death of Sergei Diaghilev and the demise of Ballets Russes. Its
director was Wassily de Basil, and its artistic director was René Blum.
They fell out in 1936 and the company split.
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II - Video 2
Ballet Evolved: How ballet class has changed over the centuries
Question
a) Write a brief reflection on ballet technique as you perceive it in this video
"Ballet is the last integral manifestation of the Renaissance spirit"
a) Based on what we have studied about dance in the Renaissance, what do you think this quote means?
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IV - Ballet as Ethnic Dance
It
is good anthropology to think of ballet as a form of ethnic dance.
Currently, that idea is unacceptable to most Western dance scholars. By
ethnic dance, anthropologists mean to convey the idea that all forms of
dance reflect the cultural traditions within which they developed.
Question
a) Based on the statement above, say if you agree or disagree.
b) Explain why.
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V - Famous Ballets: Classical vs. Neoclassical vs. Contemporary
Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of
ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known
for its aesthetics and rigorous technique, its flowing, precise
movements, and its ethereal qualities. It tells a story.
Neoclassical ballet is the style of 20th-century classical ballet
exemplified by the works of George Balanchine. The term "neoclassical
ballet" appears in the 1920s with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, in
response to the excesses of romanticism and post-romantic modernism.
Contemporary ballet is a genre of dance that incorporates elements of classical ballet and modern dance.
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Activity
a)
Watch the videos bellow and identify which one of the ballets is classical, neoclassical or contemporary. Explain your choices.
First Paragraph 1. Who was the main sponsor of ballet at the time? 2. Name few of the characteristics of this ballet sponsor.
Second Paragraph 3. Explain the symbolism implicit in the Ballet Comique de la Reine. Third Paragraph 4. What did the style ballet the course represent?
---------------------------- II. Video
Catherine de’ Medici (Ballet Comique de la Reine) (15:09 min)
5. Click on the link above and summarize the important of Ballet the Cour for the birth of ballet?
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IV. Video
Ballet Evolved - At the court of Louis XIV (3:06 min)
6. After
this video, what would you say is the relationship between the turn-out
in ballet and fencing in the French court of Louis XIV?
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V. Le Roi Danse
Le roi danse - Ballet de la nuit (1653) (3 min.)
Le Ballet de la Nuit, was a major ballet
de cour organized by Louis de Hesselin and first performed in the
Louvre's Salle du Petit Bourbon in 1653. Le Ballet de la Nuit was
notable for many reasons: most prominent among them was the involvement
of the young Louis XIV, who danced in five different roles, including
his most famous role as the Sun King, accompanied by chosen courtiers
and professional dancers, singers and acrobats.
7. After watching this video, which would you say was the function of ballet for Louis XIV and his court?
After
watching this last video, you may understand why it is said that "in
England in the late 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I gave dancing a
further boost."
Question
Based on the article above, from the Encyclopedia Britannica, is the above statement true or false. Explain your answer.
Fandango is an exuberant Spanish courtship dance and a genre of Spanish folk song. The dance, probably of Moorish origin,
was popular in Europe in the 18th century and survives in the 20th
century as a folk dance in Spain, Portugal, southern France, and Latin
America.
Fandango is different form flamenco. Fandango is a form of flamenco music and dance that has many regional variations (eg fandango de huelva), some of which have their own names (e.g. malagueña, granadina) while flamenco is (uncountable) a genre of folk music and dance native to andalusia, in Spain.
Question
Please,
click on the link below, read the article on fandango and briefly
explain why this author and his book are clear examples of prejudice
about dance. (Page 28)
1. Acording to Benitez Rojo, carnivals are above all "concentrations of
paradoxical dynamics by virtue of which the world becomes a travestying
mirror." Using the video and the reading, explain in one paragraph what
you think Benitez Rojo meant.
3. What do you think about the concept of socio-cultural density posed by Benitez Rojo?
