Ochres is a magnificent dance work, which skilfully combines the traditional Indigenous Aboriginal Australian movements and the modern contemporary movements from today’s society. Collaboratively choreographed by Stephen Page, Bernadette Walong and Djakapurra a member of the Yirrkala tribe, Ochres premiered in Sydney, 1995 by the Bangarra Dance Theatre. The performance represents the cultural and spiritual significance linked to ochre within the Aboriginal people. The unique interpretation of the Aboriginal culture often leaves the audience expressionless due to its uncloying nature. Throughout Ochres many politico- cultural points were subtly interwoven into the depicted Indigenous story however; it was created so to take its audience on different cultural journeys. Therefore, each individual won’t emotionally understand the politico-cultural points, based on how they interpret the movements. The fusion of traditional and modern movements, both Aboriginal and contemporary are carried through the Prologue and all four sections of the performance; Yellow, Black, Red and White, these four sections are the four main colours of the Indigenous culture.…
The story of the snake dance starts with the Hopi hero named Tiyo. Tiyo had gone on a voyage and entered a room in the underworld where people were wearing snake skins. Tiyo was initiated and learned to pray to the rain. After being initiated, he receives two maidens who help the corn grow by singing. Tiyo brings the two maidens to the surface of the earth and the snake woman becomes his wife and the other becomes the bride of the flute youth. Shortly after marriage, Tiyo’s wife gives birth to reptiles and Tiyo flees.…
The paintings and writings in George Catlin work might teach someone that the Ojibwe/Chippewa were very ritualistic. In George Catlin Braves' Dance, Ojibwa, 1835–37 Ojibwe/Chippewa oil painting as well as Snowshoe Dance at the First Snowfall, 1835-37 displayed how ritualistic and grateful the Natives were. They would sing a song to the Great Spirit for allowing them to wear their snow shoes to hunt better. This shows you how much of their lives revolved around hunting and thanking the Great Spirit. In the Braves’ Dance Painting we are not sure why they are dancing but we see again how closely the Natives follow their rituals. In the Braves’ Dance it does seem like they might be asking the Great Spirit for something; this shows how much they…
In Fall 2012 there was a production called Jubilation taken place in El Camino College in the Campus Theatre. The Dance consist of many different styles of dancing from African dance by Nichole “Nittche” Thompson Spirit Within, to Tango as demonstrated in La Revancha Del Tango, choreographed by Imara Quinonez. One of the most common and best performed dances that was presented in the production were The Gift and Broadway Bound, choreographed by Bernice Boseman. Broadway Bound consisted of twelve dancers, and performed as a single group of girls, a single group of guys, and girls and guys dancing together. However, in the performance of The gift there was just one guy that performed his solo.…
During Monday’s class, we focused on Isadora Duncan’s perception of modern dance and dance in general. Her perception of dance was to use it as a mechanism to search our inner souls and find its connectedness with nature (Brown 7). We began an exercise concentrating solely on our breaths. Since Duncan believed in liberation and individuality, breathing is an action that we all individually own and is used as a tool to access our inner thoughts and our souls. During the breathing exercises, I fell into a deep state of meditation, focusing on the subtle inhales and exhales of my breath, and eventually felt invigorated afterwards. With each breath, I felt a release of this uninvited ball of negative energy, which had itself wrapped inside my core,…
The impulse to move is the raw material that cultures shapes into evocative sequences of physical activity that we call DANCE…
Since the first time that white men came across Native Cultures they have tried imprint their own values and view points on that culture. In Susan Power’s The Grass Dancer, dance is an important symbol of the Native American culture. Powwows, and the dances held at them, play a key part in the book and many of the major events in the book are somehow related to a ceremonial dance. Many times, though, the dances do not take place at powwows or ceremonies, they just occur as a representation of the meaning of the dance. Harley Wind Soldier, Charlene Thunder, and Pumpkin all help preserve their culture by “dancing a rebellion” against forces trying to change their ways.…
Shin Dance Academy is a dance school that is located in Temple City, California. This dance school was originally founded by artistic director Shin Yue Wang in the summer of 1995. The classes they teach include ballet, ballroom, Chinese, hip-hop, jazz-lyrical, yoga, and zumba. Shin Dance Academy offers dance classes for kids, teenagers, adults and groups. They also provide private dance classes for kids, teenagers, and adults. Shin Dance Academy has received a Certificate of Recognition award from the City of Temple City. They have been given with other myriad of awards as well.…
Ballet “Cry” simply showed to us real life of all African women. Every single American people know what kind of life they went through. Therefore it touched their heard. Alvin Ailey’s “Cry” presented wonderfully combined movements, technique and emotion. Ms. Donna Wood uses tragic face, a mask of sorrow. It is a face born to cry, but when she smiles it is with an innocent radiance, joyfulness that simple and lovely. She never tries consciously to please an audience. He was not only concentrating in movements and physical performance, but also using flowing white gown with a long white scarf for the dancer. A long sleeve white blouse is slim, to show the dancers body. Especially her movement and technique. It made dance more interesting to audience. This beautiful piece of modern dance consists of three sections. Ms. Donna Wood performed solo dance for 16 minutes from section to section. Her ways through the dance are different in movement quality that she gives to each passage. In this tribute to black women, the free sprit or the African women comes through in the energy of her dancing.…
During the Medieval period in Europe, the ______________________ dictated much of what happened in art and society.…
Dance 211 has truly been a unique class unlike any other that I have taken in the past, from the course topic to a new way of learning. While my focus was on the Philippines, I was able to learn from my peers about a wide range of topics from Chinese lion dance, to Buddhism, and Japanese Butoh dance to name a few.…
In the back you can hear the drums being played in the Sioux Grass dance. Its rhythm is stready with a strong pulse, along side with the drums you can hear some type of suspension rattles and container at the same time. There is both male and female voices present, they are both singing in unison and you can very clearly distinguish the falsetto tones. Their voice ranges from high to low. The Melody of this song is repreated varous times you can hear a pattern of a loud introduction and it decends and becomes loud again as if a new person or new phases is being said. The use of vocables is very present, and you can very much tell this is a dance song rasther than a chant, you can almost see this song being sung at a powwow.…
What is a “Grass Dance”? To me, the phrase conjures up visions of Hawaiian hula dancers, but this was not really the case. Grass dances began with the Sioux nation, which was located in and around what is today the state of South Dakota. The Sioux used grass dances as part of their war ceremony, so essentially at grass dances originated as war dances. Although this was a music associated with war, it spread to from the Omaha, to their neighbors, through the plains, and across North America. Tara Browner in “An Acoustic Geography of Intertribal War Songs, pointed out that these grass dances had in fact “grafted” on to indigenous warrior society.…
Colombia has several folkloric/traditional music styles/dances. One of the most popular is the Cumbia. Cumbia have spread to other countries. When danced in shows for the public the dancers wear clothing that were used in old times: Men would wear white pants and shirts, a hat (usually the style that used to be hand made), a large colorful handkerchief, handmade style sandals, and a machete (a large knife used to cut plants). Women would wear colorful long skirts (often black with decorations and folds), a white short sleeved shirt with layers of wavy lines of fabric, the hair is put back, not loose, and they also wear sandals. They will follow the music that often has sounds from a flute and drums. The might carry a candle as part of the dance (most often if it is indoors and it is dark). The dance is performed everywhere in Colombia and it is often played in night clubs for older people. The significance is basically related to tradition and the beauty of the sounds. It should not be too hard to be able to get some Colombian Cumbias where you are if you search for them.…
According to the American Dance Therapy Association website (2009), dance movement therapy is defined by the association as “the psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process which furthers the emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration of the individual.” Levy (1988) described Dance Movement Therapy as “the use of dance and movement that allows the body movement to reflect inner emotional states and changes in movement behavior can lead to changes in the psyche, thus promoting health and…