Ballet & Modern
Ballet
“classical” or formal dance
– Prescribed, formalized movement
– Solo, Duets, Choruses
Dinner Ballets
Renaissance Period
– Lavish entertainments
– Entrees – In between courses, often mythological characters reflecting the meal
Catherine de’Medici
Wife of King Henry II of France (Renaissance)
– A great patron of the arts
– Began to fund ballet in the French court
– Elaborate festivals encouraged the growth of ballet de cour, a program that included dance, decor, costume, song, music and poetry
Louis XIV
The Sun King & Dancing King (Renaissance)
Academie Royale de Danse (1661)
Used proscenium stage
– Separated the dancers from the audience
– Established rules for positions and movements
– Women allowed on stage (1681)
Who was Louis XIV’s dance teacher?
Pierre Duchamps
Pierre Duchamps
Credited with inventing the 5 basic dance positions of ballet
When were women allowed on stage?
1681 under Louis XIV
Marie Anne Cupis de Carmago
Age of Enlightenment
– Male failed to make entrance, so she danced his part
– Raised skirt to show off foot work, danced with the skill of a man
– Remembered for her numerous technical innovations.
Age of Enlightenment – 17th and 18th Century
Action ballet in which the narrative is advanced through gesture and pantomime
Marie Salle
Age of Enlightenment
– More expressive, not just leaps and posture
– First important female choreographer
– Wore only simple drapery and her hair loose.
John Weaver
Age of Enlightenment
– London choreographer
– Focus on dramatic content
– Focus on display of dance
Jean-Georges Navarre
Age of Enlightenment
– 1760 Letters on Dancing and Ballet
– Treat ballet as a play without words
Charles Didelot
Age of Enlightenment
– Introduced tights
– Zephyr and Flora (1796)
What ballet is credited with the introduction of dancing en pointe to the stage?
Zephyr and Flora (1796) by Charles Didelot
How many basic positions are there in ballet?
5 Basic Positions – 1st, 2nd. 3rd, 4th, 5th
All moves stem from these basic postures
Port de bras
an act or manner of moving and posing the arms
Plié
Back straight, bend the knees to move down then push up
Demi-plié
½ bend, beginning and end of each move
Grande plié
large bend, heels off floor
Elevé (Relevé)
rise up onto balls of feet
Coupé
cut or cutting, foot lifted, flexed and held against ankle
Battement
a movement in which one leg is moved outward from the body and in again
Degagé
Stretch foot along the floor, lift at the end
Arabesque
Balance on one leg, other leg lifted straight behind
Modern
American Born, anti-balletic style of dance developed at the turn of the century (late 1800’s early 1900’s)
– Revolt against formalized movement
– Exploration of natural, spontaneous, uninhibited movement
– Different need of emotional expression
– Created own forms and characteristics
– Angular lines and use of Dance Floor
Loie Fuller
Late 1800s
– Plays with the effect of Natural movement and improvisation
– Stagecraft lighting (gas lighting on silk costumes for lighting color and effect)
Isadora Duncan
Turn of the century, self-taught dancer
– Discarded the corset and tutu
– Danced in flowing, Greek tunic-like garments
– Barefoot
– Emotional and expressive way of dancing
Ruth St. Denis
With husband (Ted Shawn) created Denishawn School
– Combination of exotic interpretations and Delsarte
– Draperies and Veils – Extension of the dancers body
Delsarte
19th century system of gestures and postures to communicate
Martha Graham
Considered the Mother of Modern Dance
– Went to Denishawn School
– Angular lines, barefoot
– Dark, Heavy, Earthy (Earthbound)
– Appalachian Spring (1944)
What kind of technique did Martha Graham use in her modern style?
Contraction and Release
Based on breathing, tense and release body, whip-like, focus on the tension. Angular lines followed by smoother lines
Mark Morris
Created White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov on 1990
– One of greatest living Modern dance choreographers
– Powerful dancer
– “Polka”
Elizabeth Streb
American Choreographer
– Interested in experimentation
– Physically demanding
– Interested in the dynamics of action
– “Be willing to get hurt, but not so hurt that you can’t come back again.”
– Action Artist
Pina Baush
German choreographer
– Tanztheater
– A blend of movement, sound, and prominent stage sets, and elaborate collaboration with performers.
– One of the most important choreographers of the second half of the 20th Century
– Continual theme of finding the harmony between man and woman
“To understand what I am saying, you have to believe that dance is something other than technique. We forget where the movements come from. They are born from life. When you create a new work, the point of departure must be contemporary life — not existing forms of dance.”
Quote by Pina Baush