Nutcracker! (2002) by Matthew Bourne is performed to the tradition Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky. It is a narrative ballet and throughout the dance the score is used to enhance the storytelling and the characterisation. At the start of Act One the Matron claps her hands and the orphans get to work scrubbing and cleaning the orphanage. The musical accompaniment is bright and busy with the opening phrase building to a climax, as this happens two orphans wheel on a sad looking Christmas Tree (a twig in a pot). The orphans gather around in excitement and amazement, enhanced by the climax in the score, and this shows how deprived the orphans are that they get excited about the arrival of this very sad tree.…
How could you leave your country? The place you grew up in, how could you leave your loved ones in a place so bad you had to flee it yourself? The production of ‘Look the other way’ choreographed by Cadi McCarthy is clearly emotionally attached to the performers. Look the other way describes how people had to leave their home and become refugees, their fear and hatred needing the encouragement to move forward. The mixture of contemporary and hip hop really drives you into the performance and makes dancers, public and even you feel like a part of the attraction. The choreographer clearly displays the variety of talent and emotive skills that all of the dancers consist of. The different interrogations of each dancer themselves are astonishing, having a wide range from the strength and intensity movements by Peter Fares to the smooth, soft and meaningful movements danced by Yillin Kong. The artistic use of props and lighting gives the texture of the movements on the performers and their facial expressions gave an overwhelming feeling inside; it’s a wakeup call to seeing how lucky we are as a country. This was a very effective way to get the audience’s attention.…
“Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is one of the best known songs in The Nutcracker. Miles Hoffman, the music commentator for Morning Edition and a nationally renowned violinist, once stated, “And many of them [Tchaikovsky’s melodies] in this - just in this one ballet [The Nutcracker]- are immortal” (Hoffman). Tchaikovsky first began work on the music to the now internationally renowned ballet in February 1891 (Schwarm). While in Paris that year, he heard an instrument called the celesta, whose name is derived from the word celestial, being played, and thought its unique, twinkly sound would be perfect for the music of the fairy-tale ballet he was working on. This instrument is used as the melody in the song “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” (“History of Nutcracker”). In March 1892, selections from the orchestral suite were performed for the first time; however, the ballet, based on Alexandre Dumas’ lighter adaption of the fantasy story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, by E.T.A. Hoffman, premiered on December 18, 1892 along with Tchaikovsky’s opera, Iolanta, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia (Schwarm). Originally, the ballet was not popular; however, it…
An individual had chance to choose to belong to community/ place/ culture which can helps a person gain an idea of belonging or not belonging to themselves because belonging is a part of our life. “Immigrant Chronicle” of Peter Skzynecki, Billy Elliot of Stephen Daldry and the Lottery by Shirley Jackson are 3 properly evidence shows an idea of belong within an individual feeling to connect to community or place or culture.…
First performed in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the classic Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker has been shown for over 100 years. The composer, Peter Tchaikovsky, and choreographer Marius Petipa teamed up to create a timeless production as an adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffman’s tale "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King." This pair had previously worked together on another classical ballet, Sleeping Beauty.…
The Paper Fan is a piece of art that in its time has been in the presence of princesses, ninjas, and college students. Taking on several roles both in an imaginary and reality. Each experience aging the paper that stretched across bamboo frame. Opening it reveals a water color and ink print covering the face of the fan. Painted is a family of birds before a background of greenery. Fully expanded the width reached to fourteen inches and standing in length at nine inches. Width shrinks drastically down to one and quarter inch when closed. Unlike the length with is virtually untouched, remaining at nine inches. Surrounding the edges of the fan are tears in paper and chipped shafts. Falsifying the actual age of the fan. Attributed the constant use throughout its time. Overall, the fan gives a sense of calm and delicacy. The origin of provenance reaches across the Pacific Ocean, my father would travel to Japan returning with various Japanese art pieces. Bequeathing me the Paper Fan at the age of eight. Notably, the significance of this piece stems from the calm and still that surrounds the simplistic form. In that calm the…
The Nutcracker is a wonderful story, and there are many versions of the story, including movies, plays, and ballets. The original story was published in 1816 by E.T.A Hoffman, and the original ballet was in 1892, but some people have change the story over the years, but they kept the plot very similar of the story.…
In this essay I have been researching and will be discussing the different contexts of west side story. This will help me to critically comment on the portrayal of Romeo and Juliet through the use of dance. West Side Story is a modern-day version of Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, west side story however is set in the Upper West Side of New York City in the late 1950s with conflict between two teenage rival street gangs of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds rather than Romeo and Juliet where there are two feuding families. The two stories parallel each other in many ways, for example, Romeo and Juliet starts out with a street fight between the Montagues and Capulets, so does west side story with the Jets and the Sharks, but instead of it being a fight, the choreographer changed it into a dance/choreographed fight, so you could see which gang was which. Another similar thing is when some Montague men go to the Capulet party, this is where Romeo meets Juliet. In West Side Story, Maria and Tony see each other from opposite sides of the dance and are immediately attracted to each other. Having Maria and tony meet at a dance was a theme related to the time in the 1950’s in America, it was a popular thing to have dance’s at schools.…
In order to embrace a classic holiday tradition, dancers from Denise Gucwa’s School of Dance performed “The Nutcracker” on Sunday December 6.…
The two-act ballet followed the original story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by E.T.A. Hoffmann, with a score by Tchaikovsky. It tells the story…
In 1909 Sergei and Diaghilev created the Ballets Russes and it was phenomenal. The company started with strong Russian formal tradition and attitude. In addition, in the 19th century a lot started to get even more interesting. For example in 1913, Nijinsky, a choreographer created a new ballet dance known as “The Rite of Spring”. This dance became surprisingly exiting because its name had the audience fighting and acting in all types of irrelevant ways. The 19th century was an actual revival and expansion of the Russian ballet dance form for it’s major final hit of the Ballets Russes was in 1921 and 1922 with Petipa’s version of the sleeping beauty.…
I froze in the middle of the studio and ran to the side of the room. Too much pressure on a five year old if I do say so myself. By the look on the judge’s faces I was totally convinced that they were going to reject me, but one week later we got the call. They sent us the casting packet, and rehearsal schedule along with the little card at the bottom of the big, yellow envelope that read in big letters, CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE BEEN CASTED AS A PARTY GIRL. I couldn’t wait until my very first season of “The Nutcracker” started.…
Ballet is one of the oldest forms of dance. Dance first started by the egyptians. The would dance at funerals to express their lost and there grief. The word ballet is originated from the word ballare. Ballet first started from Italian renaissance. They would dance in court around the 1500. Ballet has grown over the years but this is wear it all started.…
Dance to the Music of Time is recognized as a masterpiece, like most of Poussin's paintings, it is based on a complex iconographic program that was crystal-clear to the work's 17th century patron, but which remains unclear for the modern-day viewer. Many sources agree that Poussin's iconographic source for this painting was a book called Iconologia, written by an Italian aesthetician named Cesare Ripa. This "emblem book," published in 1593, was usually used by artists throughout the 17th century as a kind of guideline of symbols (Artable, Dance to the Music of Time, par. 3). By the time the painting is made Poussin made his transition to his more mature style. He still focuses on historical narratives, but now we can see clearly the influence…
After seeing examples of both classical ballet and contemporary ballet, I enjoy watching classical ballet more because I take pleasure in watching fairytales come to life. Classical ballet does just that and much more. Classical ballet is generally structured on a narrative pretext. It is important that the audience has an understanding of the basic storyline so as to fully understand the complex combination of movement, music and storytelling that makes up a performance. Some ballets, like the Nutcracker or Sleeping Beauty, are based on traditional stories that are familiar even today; others are more obscure and require a greater effort on the part of the dancers and the audience to fully understand their meaning. Characters in classical ballet always perform on a proscenium stage, which very often has spectacular scenery on the sides of the stage. Elaborate costumes are typical to help the audience understand who is who and there is always a storyline. Pantomime is also used in order to have an even more specific portrayal of the characters. The choreography of classical ballets follows the rhythm of the music very closely. When watching classical ballets, I feel intrigued and fascinated by the elaborate costumes, scenery, and storyline. I also enjoy the large orchestral pieces of music that classical ballets are choreographed to. Additionally, I like that the ballerina has a heightened status and emphasis compared to the male dancer. Also, Ballerinas must always wear point shoes and tutus.…