During the beginning of the 20th century, Native American tradition, art, and culture was suppressed by governmental bans of Native American customs. One of the commonly misunderstood forms of these Native American customs is dance, which plays a significant role in Indigenous tradition. It was viewed at the time as threatening and hostile as many referred to Indigenous dance as a “war dance” without understanding that each dance holds different importance's. The bans of these kinds of cultural expressions ultimately leads to the decline of knowledge and possible extinction of tradition. In book Reginald and Gladys Laubin, American Indian Dancers by Starr Jones, Reginald and Gladys Laubin, married cultural historians, decide to partake in…
The Melting Pot I choose the “Arabian Waltz” by the Silk Road Ensemble as my song. This group is composed of “distinguished musicians, composers and performing artists from more than 20 countries around the world to celebrate, explore and experiment with a wide variety of cultural approaches to musical performances” (The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma: Live from Tanglewood). At the beginning of the piece I felt very serene with just a couple of instruments playing. However, when all the instruments joined in. the piece became more exciting.…
Inspired by a young girl’s journey between two cultures, choreographer Stephen Page alongside the Bangarra Dance Theatre Company has recreated the story of Mathinna and effectively demonstrated how British settlers removed Aboriginal people from their home land and intervened in their cultural practices (Task Sheet 2015). This modern adaptation by Bangarra focuses on the themes of cultural environmental and social disruptions as British Settlers enforced western systems and values onto the Indigenous culture. In the sections Exile 1, Adoption and Nursery, through movement, design and music, Bangarra has successfully retold the story of one young Aboriginal girl’s life journey amidst the chaos that emerged during the early days of Australia’s…
Dance in this quote can relate to civilization and aspects associated with a regulated land. Odysseus unintentionally shows many aspects of civilization during his adventure on Mt. Etna. Odysseus presents multiple aspects of civilization to the fairly uncivilized land of Mt. Etna through wine, trade and his own character…
The first section of the dance that is titled “Pilgrim of Sorrow”, begins with seven dancers forming a pyramid. The lighting in this piece is dim. The music in this piece is sorrowful, this sets the…
Adorned with a tutu and pink carousel umbrella, I stood in the wings like a statue waiting for my music to play. I was five years old, my tape was lost in the mix, and I was terrified. That day I walked out onto the stage clenching my umbrella for dear life and completed my first ballet performance without a single hiccup. The show went on. And on for fourteen more years until finally abandoning the barre for academics in pursuit of another field highly focused on the body; medicine.…
I have seen the first one you mention though not the second--thank you. Unfortunately the clip of excerpts is missing the solo I remember--where the movement seemed to flow through her body like a force of nature--it was as if she became a rippling stream. Sounds absurd, but that's what it looked like to me! Just a side note about youtube and video: I live far from the centers of the ballet world and depend on youtube for much of my ballet watching these days--I have even formed some provisional opinions, likes and dislikes, based on youtube videos.…
Becoming an Apache Woman, Something Only a Girl Can Do In some cultures, an adolescent’s transition into adulthood is celebrated with an extravagant soiree, while other’s are expected to recite religious scriptures. Meanwhile for the Apaches, a native American tribe that lives in the southwestern United States, the leap into womanhood is marked by a symbolic four-day Sunrise Ceremony. The young Apache girl’s physical endurance is tested during this event, where it is believed that she will enter into a new realm of spirituality and maturity. This event is different from other cultures’ adulthood initiations because of the extensive preparations, elaborate costume, spiritual emphasis, and challenging physical demands during the several phases…
The large speakers that surround the filled room begin to vibrate as the loud unknown voice begins to announce my name. I now know that it is my time to shine. While standing behind the long, red curtains I begin to do what comes natural; lifting my head as if I am looking above and beyond the ceiling that lies above me with a smile projecting from my face, standing tall with strong energy from my toes to the tips of my fingers and pushing my shoulders back to respectfully greet my judges. The adrenaline pounds in my chest, but confidence over powers and I am nothing but ready to entertain my audience. The loud roars of encouraging chanting and cheering rings in my ears as I walk towards the spotlight that gives off a warm radiant heat where I hit my beginning position.…
I. The Nutcracker ballet is one of the most famous ballets in history. For many, it is a yearly tradition to watch or perform this well-known performance. This story starts on Christmas Eve with two siblings, Clara and Fritz, being led to see their presents. Clara instantly falls in love with a nutcracker soldier.…
n the Russian classical music in the history, has the inestimable influence folk songs. The world famous Russian composer "powerful group" and Tchaikovsky had to folk music has a strong interest in. A major factor in these composers writing is the folk song. They learned from the folk song in his works, folk songs which music language acquired unique incomparable. People in the "powerful group" and a Tchaikovsky symphony and opera works according to their own fantasies created gained new vitality.…
As stated before in our first lecture, dance is a living and fleeting art form. I believe that dance is a living art form because it is a three-dimensional picture to art. What I mean by this is that, art is normally seen on walls or as sculptures, but dance is an amazing opportunity to view art while in movement. If you are anything like me, when I look at a painting of two people or many, I always wonder what it would be like to see them actually dancing, singing, or even laughing. By watching dance, it is my living art form.…
My biggest passion is dance. It has consumed my time most of my life, but I do not mind, especially when I enjoy it so much. Knowing myself, I would not last as a professional dancer. Teaching is a part of my passion for dance, and I just want to give my knowledge to other people, and to have a valuable legacy left, behind me. My thinking is that this is a stupendous idea.…
The formation of dance has lived on this world for many generations as we continue to pass through history. When I went to the wonderful performance at Pierce College I experienced a whole new perspective on dancing. The concert had many types of students performing mixed dance projects of all types like solos and duets. There was an average size of one to eight dancers per project which made it the ideal size for the concert. I really enjoyed the creativity and effort put into this performance.…
As a traditional dancer, we love to support our dance history and those traditional Kathak dance format represents the cultures strength, tradition and physical enthusiastic but today people are getting addict modern stylized dance. Those Kathak dancers are dying species and they are only 100-150 left today and they are part of our culture. They created our culture strong and valuable and we are losing those people day by day. It has a lot of reason behind that.…