Marilyn Bank Dancer

In terms of actions and dynamics for this piece, Bruce has used a few elegant balletic movements, such as arabesque and attitude, to show control and strength of what dominance

As a young black American boy, Ailey and his mother would have attended church regularly. His works have strong religious influences that are shown clearly. The theme of acceptance is paired with religious topics, as not only acceptance of black people was important to him but it also seems the acceptance by God. Religion being a huge part of his life and also his upbringing is clear in his work and it is obvious it has had a big influence in the movement. One of the pieces in ‘Pilgrim of Sorrow’ (a section from Revelations) is called ‘Fix Me Jesus’ and the movement clearly shows suffering at times, it appears controlled and rigid. There are also lifts that constantly fall from a high position to a low one and lifts that show a cross shape that looks like a crucifix. Dancers running towards light on the stage also show how Ailey may have depended on God and his religion at times to deal with difficult stages in life. ‘Processional’ from ‘Take me to the Water’ is a piece centred on a baptism. It includes movements such as reaching up, body rippling, swaying movements, leg lifts and quick turning with corresponding level changes. It is fast and up tempo and allows us to understand that this is a special occasion and represents the atmosphere at the baptism. There is

The male dancer only wore pants and bared his upper body. This simple costume design not only made the people who watch the dance to have a clear vision of the dancer, but also better presented a predicament that the character was experiencing at that time. At the first half of the dance, the dancer would leave at least one part of his body on the bench, and tried hard to reach other parts of his body away. This muscular interplay between the dancer and the bench resonated with the audience to experiencing the same struggle feelings as the character. As the performance developed, the dancer started to leave the bench to fully use the space. The dancer had many different movements comparing with sitting on the bench previously. He started to lie down, roll over, stand on the bench and make a turn use only one foot. The level of the dance was no longer limited in the middle but changing from low to high as well. Having such a change, the dancer is converting a more delight and energetic feeling to the audience, in order to demonstrated that the character was recovered through the

I believe Alvin Ailey's intentions were to show a young lady that is physically drained as her energy is more down than up and has no hope as she is constantly lowering herself to the ground, the man is like her spirit catching her when she falls, and not allowing her to give up as he continously " lifts her up". The music is very touching it slows down to make us feel what the woman is experiencing which is where I feel the " fix me Jesus " part comes in. All the movement is controlled and powerful as she takes these long, graceful, promenades. I believe the choreographers wanted to return to concert dance to show how African American people have evolved from the hardships they have experienced in the past, and I believe that they wanted to

Sally Banes is an American writer and dance historian and critic. She is also a professor of theater history and dance studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Banes has written multiple books and contributed to many documentaries and films. The book Moving History / Dancing Cultures, which Banes contributed to, includes the article “Choreographic Methods of the Judson Dance Theater”. This book was published in 2001.

Petipa’s production of Swan Lake is a beautiful example of the structure movements that dancers must perform; in the clip titled Odile entrance & Black Swan pas de deux, you see “The Black Swan” perfect posture and balance, dancing on en Pointe all the while managing to gracefully seduce the prince through her seductive movements and entrancing expressions. In contrast Modern dance focus is on the dancer expressing their inner most emotions and feelings through free flowing movements. The modern dancer uses their whole body more naturally and fluidly to convey what their current emotional state is, unlike classical ballet where the ballerina at all times keeps an upright posture, and performs with structured, angular lines. Martha Graham’s “Frontier” is a great example of the free movements of Modern dance; In this performance Martha Graham uses her whole body to move to the rhythmic sounds of the drums and music, you can clearly see that there is no confined structure in this performance, she is completely moving organically to how she is feeling and what she is trying to convey through her movements.

In the second section it represents the women fighting for their freedom. The movements are a lot more circular in this section. It uses more contractions, releasing & vibratory movements. In the first two sections, the dancer shows the struggle being not only physical but emotional also. She does this by the powerful expressions she uses on her face. She even imitates a couple of screams that play in the song ‘Been On A Train’. This gives the audience a clear understanding of the how she is feeling.

By swaying in the delicate phrases and jerking with the harsh ones, the performers became the dancers in the ballet. They expressed different levels of emotion when required which reflected their playing.

When the show actually began, it started with a digital green timer on the wall counting by the second, accompanied by Mr. Jones sitting at a desk with a desk lamp. He began to read a story as a single dancer in a pink long sleeved top danced beside him. This dancer was definitely the most memorable mover of the company due to her exquisite fluidity within her movement, as well as the desirable synchronization between her movements and the words of Mr. Jones’s voice throughout the piece. As the performance carried on, the other dancers performed various solos, duets, and quartets, of modern movement while Mr. Jones’s stories carried on.

always been known for the risky and powerful movements which are often why dancers retire from the company. The dancer’s movements were often very intense and emotive, such as the “throws” across the stage in which the dancers would, almost violently, launch themselves across the stage in different forms (leaps, falls and flips to name a few). Another section where the movements were emotive is where the dancers were thrusting their hips in different positions to perhaps show sexuality in “self”.

The movements were very specific and showed the story of the dance. The partners used many movements that contained many body

Another common feature of all the dances is that the music is an irregular rhythm, creating suspense and standing out as individual. Kylian’s choreography uses the ability to isolate and coordinate different body parts as well as the use of hands to communicate meaning in all of his dances. Humor is often created as a result in over the top facial expressions like in ‘six dances’. Kylian as a contemporary choreographer uses stillness as a choreographic device in all of his dances. Another unique element to his dance style is the entrances and exits of the performers. He explores space’s limitations and capabilities making the entrances and exits part of the dance. In all of Jiri Kylian’s dances, the dancers enter and exit the stage into darkness rather than through wings. The dancers in all Jiri Kylian’s Black and white ballets, dance predominately in a large group, with individuals or pairs breaking off to do their individual movements before soon joining back in with the group.

In the third section Ms. Donna Wood looks like an African goddess and her body has an unexpected gracefulness. Even stage color was bright reddish, warm atmosphere around the dancer, like a sunrise in the morning. Stage would fill with colors. Music and performer are singing together. A sound of music tempo gets faster. She has the happiest face ever, no pain and no slavery. She jumps, she swings her leg and arms, and even she pulls her dress up and shows her leg an entire dance. Sound and lightening create the environment and good mood. She uses high level of dance than in previous two sections. She moves in between melody. I liked how she uses

Much of our exploration of dance improvisation involved delving into the eight movement “efforts” that Rudolf Laban developed, and these eight effort qualities can be categorized into four different groups: direction, weight, speed, and flow. For direction, movements can either be direct, which means there is intention and thought before every movement, or indirect, where the direction of one movement does not necessarily correspond to that of the next. For weight, movements can be either heavy, which can often be visible or the weight of the limbs and the awareness of gravity and the floor, or light, where a sensation of weightlessness or floating is often used. For speed, movements can either be quick, where movements rapidly progress from one to the next, or slow, where the urgency of time is neglected. For flow, movements can be either bound, where there is a sense of an imaginary outside force acting

The dance that I will be focusing on is entitled: thinking sensing standing feeling object of attention. The dance, to me, symbolizes the socialization of persons in Western civilization concerning gender roles. In the beginning there are gestures that are separated from emotion and full-embodiment, but as the dance progresses the gestures become more meaningful and recognizable. The lighting starts out very specific and narrow, then the light encompasses the entire stage, and eventually the dancers are silhouetted as they return to a familiar movement motif in the end. The music is mainly instrumental with occasional soft female vocals, and the lyrics suggest emotion, which is interesting because the dancers do not convey emotion until