Posts Tagged ‘dance’

What’s Modern Ballet

Friday, April 22nd, 2011

If I walk up to somebody and I ask them what sort of ballet style they wish to learn to dance, many of them had no clear definition of what modern ballet is. If you’re one of those people who desire to know what modern ballet is all about then this article should give a clear picture of exactly what it is.

Style Of Modern Ballet

For those people who do not know much about modern ballet, it is really a type of dance that traces its roots on influences made by both classical ballet and modern dance styles. Though it doesn’t have a particular, well-defined “technique” that will differentiate it from classical ballet, it does take certain methods from classical ballet, like the pointework, and combines it with the fewer restrictions of body movement and range of flexibility that modern dance styles offer.

Typically, turned-in positions are used in modern ballet with the inclusion of more innovative styles. A typical modern ballet dancer should be able to interpret using ballet ideas using modern styles.

Origin Of Modern Ballet

George Balanchine is said to be the person responsible for the birth of contemporary ballet. His style composes of flexed hands and legs, off-balance positions, and turned in legs. The clothing is different from traditional ballet, tunics and unitards are now a new addition to the wardrobe. Balanchine’s style was further developed into a style with Baryshnikov’s influence moreover went into the contemporary style of ballet.

Similarities With Classical Ballet

Modern ballet does not stray too far off from traditional ballet. The jargon of ballet alone is still the same. Both designs require their dancers to be well trained, and the affinity and connection of both styles to music is still there.

Difference With Classical Ballet

Although both dance types are pretty similar in a few things, they do have specific differences that helps create a distinction between the two dance styles. Among the main distinction between the two styles is that modern ballet focuses more on the movement of the dancers instead of the storyline of the performance.

Modern ballet has lesser focus on symmetry. It is obvious in the way the balance on stage is disregarded. Traditional ballet maintains an upright posture while modern ballet allows a specific degree of body twisting while dancing.

Which Is Better?

Both dancers have advantages and disadvantages despite minor differences. Anyone who wishes to do ballet dancing has to select the style that he or she is most comfortable with.

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Onegin (Ballet) - An Absolute Classic

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Onegin is a ballet in three acts and six scenes that is based on the poetic novel ‘Eugene Onegin’ by Russian author Alexander Pushkin. The ballet was adapted by renowned choreographer John Cranko in 1965 and was set to Tchaikovsky’s piano divertimento The Seasons by German composer Kurt-Heinz Stolze. Onegin premiered in Stuttgart on April 3rd 1965 with Cranko further revising it in 1967 for the Stuttgart ballet; this is the version that is performed to this day. Onegin is widely considered to be one of Cranko’s finest works.

Act One, Scene One sees the characters Olga, Madame Larina and the nurse excitedly preparing for Tatiana’s forthcoming birthday celebrations with Madame Larina in a wistful mood as she recollects her own lost youth and beauty. Olga’s fiance Lensky, a poet, arrives for the celebrations with Onegin, a young man from the city who is bored with his life and seeking new experiences in the country. Tatiana instantly falls for the worldly gentleman from the city but Onegin regards her as a simple country girl. Tatiana’s bedroom is the setting for Act One Scene Two and here we see Tatiana inflamed with love for the handsome stranger that Lensky has introduced to the family. In her heightened emotional state Tatiana writes Onegin a love letter that she gives to her nurse with instructions to pass it on to Onegin.

In the first scene in Act Two, Tatiana’s birthday party celebrations are in full swing. The local gentry have turned up to celebrate and they speculate on the possibility of a blossoming romance between Onegin and Tatiana. Prince Gremin is also in attendance and this older man is the preferred future husband of Madame Larina for her daughter, Tatiana. Onegin finds the whole scenario boring however and he has been put into a bad mood by Tatiana’s love letter, which he regards as childish. He finds Tatiana and tears her love letter up in front of her telling her he will never love her, leaving the young girl distraught. Bored Onegin flirts with Olga in an attempt to provoke Lensky that spectacularly backfires. Lensky is enraged by the flirting of his so-called friend and challenges him to a duel. In the second scene in Act Two Tatiana and Olga try to talk Lensky out of the duel but with his ego wounded, Lensky is determined to see it through. The duel goes ahead and Onegin kills his one time friend - and for the first time shows some emotion. Tatiana sees Onegin for the shallow person he is and regrets her infatuation with him.

In the first scene of Act Three Onegin returns to St Petersburg after several years to attend a ball at the palace of Prince Gremin. The prince has married Tatiana who is now more worldly wise and has grown to be a beautiful young woman. Onegin regrets his treatment of the younger Tatiana and is overcome with regret about losing the chance to be with her. The final scene of the ballet is set in Tatiana’s boudoir where she is found reading a letter from Onegin expressing his love for her. He turns up at her room eager to reconcile with her but Tatiana although still having strong feelings for him tells him she can never be happy or respect him and orders the heartbroken Onegin to leave.

Disco

Saturday, March 5th, 2011

Although today, disco is not that famous anymore, it’s still considered by lots of people as one of many more influential genres of music and dance style in its time. A lot of our styles of music and dancing types that we have today appear to take some parts or aspects from Disco back in its time. Lots of modern-day sounds and movements bear affects from Disco.

What Is Disco?

The birth of Disco began as a way for people who do not like rock music to get away from rock music. Rock music in that time was demonitized and people simply needed a way to get away from it. Disco was famous among the black gay community at first, then the white gay community in New York adapted Disco that resulted to its introduction the well-known music. Latinos and women soon went with the vibe of disco after that.

Disco Sounds

Disco is actually influenced by a lot of different music, that would originally include soul and funk music. Generally, music which has a “four-on-the-floor” steady beat with an eighth note or sixteenth note pattern with soaring vocals, electronic bass lines which are syncopated but prominent, and an off-beat open hi-hat, are the music which are associated with Disco. You might even notice that certain disco tracks have other instruments in the background also, for instance strings, electric pianos, horns and electric guitars, to add a few more rich sounds to the music. These make the music very easy to dance to.

Disco Dancing Basics

The fundamentals of Disco dancing is very basic, indeed, all it requires is some movements from left to right. The dancer brings his foot together after moving in one direction and repeat the same pattern. As a rule of disco, dance to the beat. Failure to do so can end up in an embarrassing night at the disco club.

Advance Disco Dancing

Repeating the same dance design can be boring even for a disco dance, the great thing to do is to accompany it with hand gestures and some spins.

The hand expressions can also have specific patterns to it. Keep in mind to go with the beat of the music.

What You Should Wear

There is no strict need with the kind of clothing you wear as long as you are comfortable with it. You need to be able to move around no matter what dance patterns you’ll perform. 

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Kenneth Macmillan - A Commanding Presence In Ballet

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Kenneth Macmillan left a huge imprint on the arts. He studied under the famous Phyllis Adams for a long time and he also studied at the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School. This gave him a great start in life and he seized the opportunity with both hands. Some of his more famous works included Somnambulism and Laiderette. He also choreographed Romeo and Juliet. Most people will tell you that they know him the most for this work. This is what actually one piece of work that helped make him so famous.

This great man passed away in October of 1992 while he was backstage at the Covent Garden. The place was packed with individuals that were waiting for a revival of Mayerling that he also choreographed. He died of a heart attack and when he passed, everyone was asked to leave the garden in silence to mourn his death. Dancing and choreographing made this man who he was. He was good at both of them but it is easy to see that the latter is what really made him famous and helped him succeed in his life. If you are not sure about this then you should take the time to learn about all of the amazing things he did at the Royal Ballet in London.

If you want to learn more about Kenneth Macmillan then you should spend some time looking at the Royal Ballet in London. You will be able to research him through their website as you learn about the work that he did there and the impact that he made. You could also consider researching the Different Drummer and the Requiem if you want to know more about some of his one act ballets. Some people want to know about the full ballets that he choreographed so they may want to look at Anastasia. This is a large piece of work that has his name on it. You will be completely taken back by the amazing work that he did and the way that he was able to really touch people that watched his work. Try looking for some of his work and see how it moves you.

Continue : Kenneth Macmillan

Sylvia : A Famous Ballet That Everyone Will Love

Friday, November 26th, 2010

The ballet Sylvia is based on the play Aminta written by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso. It is a ballet performed in three acts with characters that are taken from mythology. The music used in the ballet is by Léo Delibes the French composer and is often cited as one of Delibes’s greatest pieces of work. Unfortunately the ballet could not live up to the acclaim of its music and its debut was met with a lukewarm response. Future performances of Sylvia were also unsuccessful and the ballet all but disappeared from the stage for many years.

It was the renowned dancer and choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton who resurrected the almost forgotten ballet in 1952. However Sylvia still did not receive critical acclaim it is thought largely down to it’s complicated plot. Sir Frederick tried to give the ballet more popular appeal reducing it to a one-act piece but Sylvia could still not capture the publics’ heart and Ashton eventually gave up on it in 1965. Sir Frederick believed in Sylvia though and had expressed a desire to rework it once again into a three-act ballet. This was picked up on by one of his former students, Christopher Newton, who rewrote Sylvia for the 21st Century audience and a three-act version close to Sir Frederick’s vision appeared on stage in 2001.

The main roles in the ballet come from mythology; they are Sylvia a huntress nymph, Aminta a shepherd who is in love with Sylvia, Eros the God of love, Diana the Goddess of chastity and the hunt and Orion a malevolent hunter who kidnaps Sylvia. Minor roles include peasants, hunt attendants, goats, fauns and various nymphs and dryads.

A Sacred wood is the title of the first act of Sylvia and the ballet begins with a ritualistic scene featuring the forest creatures and nymphs dancing for the God Eros. Both Aminta and Sylvia stumble upon the scene and while Aminta remains hidden Sylvia and her hunt attendants make themselves known and mock Eros. Sylvia shoots an arrow at the hidden Aminta, not realizing it is her ardent suitor, but injures both Eros and Aminta with her arrow. The malevolent force in the play is Orion who is also in love with Sylvia and he has been watching the whole scene unfold and he uses the ensuing confusion as an opportunity to kidnap Sylvia.

In the second Act of Sylvia, entitled Orion’s Island Cave, we find Sylvia being held against her will by Orion. Sylvia refuses all of Orion’s attempts to win her over and hatches a plan to get him drunk so she can escape. She appeals to the God of love Eros for help and he appears along with a vision for Sylvia of Aminta waiting for her at Diana’s temple. Eros helps Sylvia to escape taking her to the temple to be reunited with Aminta.

The final act - The Sea Coast Near The Temple Of Diana – sees Sylvia and Aminta briefly reunited however Orion is fast to catch up with them and starts to fight with Aminta. During the fight Orion tries to enter Diana’s shrine, which is forbidden making the Goddess angry and she refuses to allow Aminta and Sylvia to be together. However all is not lost as God of love Eros presents Diana with a vision of her own young love. The memory of this past love results in Diana reversing her decision and Sylvia and Amintas’ union is allowed with the good will of the Gods.