West Side Story Dance Techniques

critics were invited to vote on their top 100 choices. West Side Story, directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, made it onto the top 100 movies list, ranking as number 41. Natalie Wood (Maria), Richard Beamer (Tony), Rita Moreno (Anita), and George Chakiris (Bernardo) star as main characters in this film. West Side Story’s cinematography and unique techniques helped it to become number 41 on the AFI greatest

The Lion King, Dancin’ and West Side Story. The musical Chicago, choreographed by Rob Marshall came from Bob Fosse, the original creator of the musical Chicago. Dancers within this musical learned to how to execute detailed movements through training in modern dance, ballet, and jazz dancing. During the musical, fosse used movements of dance to tell the story and the mood of the musical. Just like Fosse’s work of Dancin, in Chicago he developed concepts creating dance sequences that were completely

West Side Dance Studio is a dance studio in Pembroke Pines, Florida. I used to dance in that studio for four years. Out of the four years, the most important concept I learned is that dancers do not use their words to express emotion, they use their body. The teachers at West Side Dance Studio always express how important it is to tell a story with our bodies. That is why we dance, to express emotion and tell a story to our audience when performing and even in class. Dancers at West Side Dance Studio

West Side Story can be seen as a Musical which tells a story through music and dance-not only music. It has massively influenced Musicals and film to the extent in which this was almost seen as the new standard. It also went on to inspire a whole generation. Allowing people of that time and of modern time; to think and to challenge injustices. Bernstein highlighted the faults but also showed the stories of both sides to bring understanding and not judgement (He brought reality to Musicals). This

West Side Story originally premiered in 1957 but was remade into a film in 1961. The film revolves around gang violence taking place in New York City. Despite being a Hollywood film, West Side Story is not afraid to break typical film tropes. The film introduction includes an 8-minute exposition that contains minimal dialogue. The film’s prologue is able to explore the themes and the premise of the movie using usual and unusual techniques and also use dance to convey emotions that cannot be properly

Jerome Robbins’s incredible dance history and background is what has left him ranked so highly in the musical theater industry today. From working to dazzle his audiences, Robbins can be held responsible for the industry’s serge in popularity over a short amount of time. It can be said by many that Robbins took a fresh approach to choreography to introduce to the world with a more energetic and dynamic performance to display. Robbins creative work elevated the role of dance in musical theatre, which

Jazz dancing has evolved from so many varieties of dance styles from the late 1800’s to modern day. Gus Giordano states that “jazz dance came to America by the way of the slaves, their music and dances that were born from living and came from the soul” (Giordano, Gus v). Since the time that this style of jazz dance has brought its way over to the United States it has evolved greatly and has made drastic change in its particular style. Jazz dance started originally with tap dancing, then in the twenties

and Juliet Andy Warhol once said, "They say that time changes things, but actually you have to change them yourself." Two hundred fifty years passed between the original Romeo and Juliet and the premiere of West Side Story on Broadway in 1957. However, time did not change the message of the story, simply the creators’ unique visions evolved. Shakespeare’s delivery of the timeless tale of desperate love in his classic Romeo and Juliet proves to only intensify through retelling and modern interpretation

Romeo and Juliet is regarded as the love story of the ages, its tale of lust and tragedy a classic in the literature world. The Shakespearian writing has been changed and shaped over many centuries in to multiple different ways over its 500 years of creation. Two examples of adaptions of this iconic play are Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and Wise and Robbins ‘West Side Story’. All three of these directors created a modernised version to suit their individual time zones of eras in order to appeal

I believe that the (1961)‘West Side Story’ film version of Romeo and Juliet is superior to the later version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ directed in 1968 by Franco Zeffirelli. Jerome Robbins, the director of ‘West Side Story’, having a different aim/ representation of Romeo and Juliet has used various effective techniques to produce his film – which I consider to be more successful. Robbins chose it to be a transformation of Romeo and Juliet & not the original play from Shakespeare, but that’s not the

West Side Story written by Arthur Laurents is actually a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The West Side Story is set in Upper West Side Manhattan. It is about rivalry between two teenage gangs of different backgrounds. Anton, a member of the white gang, fell in love with Maria, the sister of the leader of the rival Puerto Rican gang. Romeo and Juliet is undoubtedly the most popular romantic love story to ever hit the literary world. It talks about intense passion between the

West Side Story has been repeatedly produced into remarkable performances over the past few decades. It recites a tragic story of Tony and Maria, who fall madly in love and struggle to stay together due their backgrounds. The protagonist, Tony is the ex-leader of the mischievous and trouble-causing New Yorker gang, the jets. While Maria is the beloved sister of Bernardo, who leads the Puerto Rican gang, called the Sharks. Naturally, both parties are strongly opposed to the idea of Maria and Tony

an end. In the BBC adaption, the plot stayed true to the original and the style of the play gave it more of an original feeling. However, in the West Side Story adaption, the plot remained similar to the original plot, but the mood and style of the movie was altered to give it a modern feel with the addition of gangs and the issue of racism. West Side Story is set in 1950s New York with an Aryan gang, the Jets, and Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks, as the opposing groups. Despite the large contrasts between

Contemporary Ballet Ballet is a formalized kind of performance dance which originated in the Italian Renaissance Courts of the 15th century and further developed in France, England, and Russia as a concert dance form. One of the genres of ballet is Contemporary. It is defined as a form of dance that is influenced by both classical ballet, modern dance, lyrical, and jazz (Wikipedia). It takes its technique and is used of point work from classical ballet, although it permits a greater

1 Rachel Cubbler Mrs. Hamilton English 12 April 28, 2016 Mr. Balanchine: Revolutionary Choreographer Without George Balanchine the dance world might not be what it is today. He combined the technique of classical ballet and his modern movements to shape and mold the many styles of dance. He is remembered as the foremost contemporary choreographer in the world. George Balanchine choreographed over four hundred ballets. George Balanchine, a revolutionary ballet choreographer, began his career