The six female dancers sit on the ground separately, spread out in three different columns, and begin to feel their bodies gently as they clasp their hands on their chest, neck, and back. They warmly embrace their individual bodies as if assuring themselves that they have beautiful womanly bodies. Next, the six female dancers twist their bodies quickly to the side and stand on their feet as they raise their upper bodies to a straight position followed by their extended arms slowly rising above their heads. The effect of the women being naked with their limbs spread apart widely dramatically helps the audience understand the true beauty of the female body. The female dancers proceed to rub their breasts with both hands as they glide their fingertips and arms across the top and bottom of their breasts in opposite directions. The lighting of the set is focused on the frontal side of all the female dancers in an effort to focus the audiences eyes on the women's bodies. The technique of a stagnant body position, as the dancers are nude, allows the audience to focus on the upper bodies of the female dancers which helps to express and celebrate the true beauty and elegance of the female…
Anna Sokolow (1910-2000) was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Likewise, she was beginning her training at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Martha Graham and Louis Horst. she was a member of the Graham Dance Company and helped Mr. Horst in his move piece classes in the 1930s. In the meantime, she takes up with the WPA move unit and she began her own organization and started choreographing and performing solo shows and gathering works. She is very interested in humanity drove her to make works of dramatic contemporary imagery indicating both the lyric and stark parts of the human experience. On 1965, She wrote on Dance Magazine article that there were no “final solutions to today’s problems,” but that she “could simply provoke an audience into awareness”…
It is obvious that Katherine Dunham transformed American dance in 1930’s. By studying the foundation and roots of black dance and rituals, she was able to transform them into artistic pieces of choreography. She introduced the use of both ethnic and folk dance and is a prominent founder of the anthropological dance movement. At that time, dance was heavily influenced by Europe, but Dunham was able to create an impact in the dance world by bringing Caribbean and African…
Three women were shown on center stage on Wednesday to perform a myriad of dance moves that left the audience breathless and wanting more. The dance was led by Jodi Melnick, who is a great dancer, deeply accented her knowledge and flair of dancing languidly to the spectators. The movement of the dance was somehow unhurried, each step gracing the stage with their imminent presence. Contrary to other dance moves in fashion at the moment, this particular dance was delicate and gossamer like silk. With the help of fellow dancers, Maggie Thom and Emma Grace Skove-Epes, the dance was created to perfection to convey a message spectators are curious to unravel of.…
The rebellious flappers rebelled against the usual image of a Victorian women by cutting their hair short, wearing make-up, wearing short dresses, smoking, drinking, and going to parties. One of the things largely associated with the flapper is the Charleston, which is a form of dance that became popular in speakeasies all across the country during the 1920s. The image of the flapper along with the dancing and the music of the Jazz Age really demonstrates the care-free lifestyle of the flappers after the war (“Flappers Do the…
The Women’s Fancy Shawl dance is the most modern of the women’s dance. According to some Native American people it was called the blanket dance in the 1960s. The dance steps are close to the ground and smaller than what is performed now. This extremely athletic and strenuous dance involves kicks, twirls, and very fast motions. They say that the Men’s Fancy Bustle dance parallels in speed and style. The legacy of the Fancy Shawl dance color, rebellion, and energy often is mistakenly thought to be a dance that is a fairly recent innovation. One of the most prepared for competitions at powwows is the Women’s Fancy Shawl dance. Earlier generations and now have been controlled, imposing, and dignified but when men in the 1920s created what we now…
Carlton offers several collections of historical photographs and illustrations that make her book worth reading for historians, as well as oriental dancers and choreographers. She critically studies the nineteenth century’s period of arts and traces it to the contemporary Eastern dance, looking for possible clues to find likely lineage to Little Egypt, but all to no avail (84). Carlton also presents thought provoking ideas on the issues of racism and the marginalization of women. In this regard, Carlton claims that the white supremacists view Middle Eastern and other cultures from a very ethnocentric angle. According to Carlton, the president of the Board of Lady at the fair says on one occasion, in protest, that oriental dancers “are ignorant and I think we owe it to our cause that we visit these women … [and] teach them our ways and manners” (25). The general public perception regarding Middle Eastern dance is flawed and Carlton takes a bold stance against such a perception. This is considered as a remarkable feat in enlightening the general Western populace with the true principles of Middle Eastern cultures and art…
To answer the question two sources were evaluated, Posing a Threat: Flappers, Chorus Girls, and Other Brazen Performers of the American 1920s and The History of the Flapper, Part 1: A Call for Freedom. The two sources provide information about the social changes of women, but portray two differing perspectives regarding the depth of involvement in the work force and society, one viewing women as a major and constant part of the workforce where the other regards working as the man’s role and the woman’s to be at the home.…
All six dances in the ‘black and white’ ballets are based on sexuality. The male dancers in ‘Sarabande’ are dancing about masculinity, whereas the girls in ‘Falling angels’ are dealing with the issue of body image and pregnancy. ‘Petite mort’ is about sexual intercourse, the name ‘Petite mort’ translating into English as orgasm. The way the girls are lifted in all the dances represents at times the control men have over women like in ‘six dances’ and ‘sweet dreams’, ‘no more play’, and at other times, the relationship between male and female. Not only is the theme of sexuality a motif throughout the series of dances, it is also a defining characteristic of Jiri Kylian’s contemporary style.…
In the article “Clean Up the Dance Halls” Elisabeth Perry examines the age of the Progressive Era and the efforts by the reformers to get rid of unregulated dance halls. Perry adds how dance halls that provided “stylish drinks” and guaranteed popularity influenced many innocent girls to leave their households to embrace a life of alcohol, unmoral dancing, and eventually sexually relations with strangers. Perry also adds how the girls could not resist a man's love despite it meaning that they would loose their “girlhood.” One of the prominent reformers during this time was Belle Israels who sought to protect girls from being “played with” and sought to put an end to dance halls. As a result, the Progressive Era stirred together different social issues which usually led to controversy and tension as seen in the dance hall reform.…
Throughout their lecture, Trevor Copp and Jeff Fox discuss and demonstrate their newly created dance technique called “Liquid Lead” and explain how this technique can help do away with the outdated idea that ballroom dances have perpetuated for years: that the man leads and the woman follows. The technique of “Liquid Lead” can be described as taking turns between partners both leading and following, and switching between these roles whenever felt needed during a dance. During their Ted Talk, Copp and Fox work together to deconstruct and transform the art of ballroom dancing. Both Copp and Fox find it troubling that ballroom dancing has the ability to lock people into a single gender role and thus define people by that single role. Within the lecture, Copp describes classical ballroom dancing as “gender training”, and that, “You weren't just learning to dance -…
All throughout human history, dance has played an important part in cultures around the world its purpose ranging from rituals to entertainment. As cultures grow and mature dance often reflects the movements and mood of the era. So how does dancing of the 1920’s reflect the cultural movements of the 1920s? Such as the changes in both the Women’s right and African Americans movements.…
Young men are holding their drinks around a dirty mahogany floor. Some men stand around bopping their head to the upbeat music whereas others their drunkenness of the night be show with their boughs of laughter. They are not there at her at his club for the liveliness or alcohol. They are there for one thing only. They are there for the sway of the mesmerizing female dancer who has everyone in the room transfixed on her. Though they were transfixed in her presence they find no problem shouting obscene words that would demean a young girl. The lack of respect doesn’t bother the sensual dancer because it happens so many night before. She just goes on and does the job she was supposed to do. During, the Harlem Renaissance African American female…
“Our company is as strong technically as any professional ballet company,” says Virginia Johnson, artistic director for New York City’s Dance Theatre of Harlem today. The pas de deux from Act 3 of the ballet classic Swan Lake is, after all, part of the company’s repertoire. But, as Johnson explains, the Dance Theatre of Harlem strives for something different. “We are a neo-classical company. Our work is based on the idea of moving ballet forward and giving audiences today something that maybe helps them understand their own lives in a different…
The New Woman was conveyed through the artists illustrations beginning in the 1880’s and continuing through the years, ending in the 1920’s. These images such as the works titled, “What Are We Coming To”, “In a Twentieth Century Club”, “Picturesque America”, and “Women Bachelors In New York”, all conveyed this idea of a “New Woman”. The qualities that a New Woman must have included a woman who pursued the highest education and made effort to move up in the professional world. “She (the New Woman) also demonstrated new patterns of private life, from shopping in the new urban department stores, to riding bicycles, and playing golf.” (pg. 374) The artists attempted to create this perfect all around woman who’s lives closely resembled what the men of that time were doing. Such as in figure 6.8 titled “In a Twentieth Century Club” which shows women dressed in clothing which closely resembled that of a mans attire for that era, at leisure, socializing with other woman. This “club” looked very similar to a men’s drinking and eating club. “ Although role reversal still provides the humor, the women waitresses and patrons are physically attractive, while the women’s unladylike posture and clothing would have been viewed as shocking equally significant is the cross dressing entertainer.” (pg. 374) Not only did artists attempt to convey a way that the New Woman should act, but they also created this popular physical image of what one should look like such as the Gibson Girls pictured in image 6.9. Most all of the illustrations showed a white woman of the leisure class, however African American women still envisioned and strived to become a New African American Woman.…