Dance Theatre Observation

I chose to attend the University Dance Theatre rehearsal because I really admire contemporary dance and wanted to watch what the dancers do “behind the scenes,” so to speak. I wanted to better understand the work that goes into the dances instead of just viewing the final piece, which I often do. I chose to watch a Ballet 1 technique class because ballet is a form of dance that I appreciate but never really understood and because ballet contrasts the modern dance rehearsal I viewed. I’ve always believed that ballet was too proper and structured for my liking and represented the human body in a very fake way, too posed and upright. I wanted to watch a class that challenged my beliefs and while I still don’t think ballet is the most enjoyable …show more content…
The teacher in the technique class talked to the dancers about controlling and focusing their breathing, an important aspect when it comes to looking graceful and effortless on stage. During certain poses and movements, it was crucial for the dancers to bring their focus to their breathing. The teacher also brought attention to where the dancers were facing when they performed certain movements; she constantly told the dancers to look ahead and at the audience when dancing instead of their own bodies or the floor. The technique class focused on training the dancer as a whole instead of solely focusing on a …show more content…
Both sets of dancers were expected to not only quickly pick up choreography but to perform movements perfectly and in sync with the music. Additionally, in both classes, a lot of dance vocabulary was used that the dancers had to pick up on and execute correctly. For example, when the teacher in the ballet technique class told the students to do a “demi plie,” they knew they had to bend their knees halfway and keep their heels on the ground.
Moreover, both teachers constantly used metaphors to help students visualize movements. The director in the rehearsal class mentioned to the dancers to pretend they had “pistols for hips” when performing a certain movement. The ballet teacher told her class to pretend that they were balancing a string with a weight on the end through the center of their bodies. These metaphors bring up different feelings and sensations and how to better perform a position or movement.
The most interesting part of the two classes was how athletic the dancers were. They danced for long periods of time without stopping for breaks. They were also very dedicated to dancing and put in a lot of hard work to learn choreography and