A&C Dance explore and expand

• CKV/AC
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

DANCE

DANCE - explore

Dance is the art of movement. If you look around, you will find dance everywhere: on the Internet, on television and in film, in advertising, at the gym, at parties, at festivals, on the street and in the theatre. Dance can

have different goals: to celebrate something, to blow off steam, to express feelings or to make a pass at someone. Theatre dance is dance with an artistic intention, when professional dancers perform for an audience.

00:00

The evolution of dance

Watch this video and answer the questions

00:30

Almost everyone likes to dance sometimes. For example, at a party, at school, at a concert or festival. Maybe you even take dance classes. When and where do you dance? I dance ....
And how do you feel about dancing? I think dancing is ...

02:11

Have you ever been to a dance performance?

YES

NO

04:32

Small children usually start moving when they hear music, but at a certain age people stop doing that.
Can you explain that change?

Read this slide and do the assignment on the next slide

1. Classical ballet: also called romantic ballet, a system of dance based on formalized movements and positions of the arms, feet, and body. Especially designed to enable the dancer to move with the greatest possible agility, control, speed, lightness, and grace. The subject may be romantic, realistic, often based on a fairytale or mythological story. 

2. Modern dance: This emerged in the early 20th century. It broke whatever rules had been laid down by its predecessors. The dancers make everyday movements like running, falling and rolling. The choreographers were interested in presenting the inner self and all of its complex emotions on the concert stage, and discarded the costumes and artificiality of classical ballet.

3. Jazz dance: Jazz dance is an umbrella term encompassing several different styles of dance that became popular in the early 20th century. Though jazz dance has mixed roots in both African and European traditions, it is a uniquely American creation, which developed simultaneously with jazz music in New Orleans. Today jazz dance continues to evolve and blend with other dance styles — for example, street jazz, musical dance and show dance.

4. Urban dance: This dance style started in The Bronx, in New York City, during the Seventies. Urban Dance is an umbrella term for several dance styles, and evolved mostly from Hip hop and Funk styles. It includes breakdance, streetdance, popping&locking.

5. World dance: This is any dance form which can be identified as originating with an ethnic culture and expressing the movement aesthetics of that culture. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj11GuedXDc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeiYtTFM3UY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vByc0K1wHes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk00gbDwGqM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9vcjn1iSnA

classical ballet

urban dance

modern dance

world dance

Jazz/show/musical

Read this slide and do the assignment on the next slide

Space: This compositional element refers to the way the dancer moves through and interacts with space. Within this compositional element, we must consider the actual direction of the movement (sideways, forwards, backwards, diagonally). Because this is a three-dimensional art form, we must also consider levels, or the connection of the body to the floor. Do dancers always stay with two feet on the floor? Can they lie on the floor, or leap high above it? All of these movements define the use of space in dance.

Time: This compositional element deals with the dancer's interaction with time, and again there are many ways to do this. Dance is generally set to music, which defines the tempo and rhythm of the dance, but the dancers can accentuate or reject this through their own movements. Does the dancer move slowly or quickly? Does he or she move with the beat or against it? How is a sense of rhythm developed and maintained? These questions help define time in dance.

 Strength: Two dancers who are moving slowly through the same space may have embraced the elements of slowly and lazily but with grace, while the other was slow and time and space in the same way. So how can we make these two compositions look completely different? What if one moved jerky but powerful? This energy and dynamics of movement are part of the compositional element of strength. Strength can be the difference between a manic, energetic dance and one that seems relaxed and effortless, even if both utilize the same tempo and basic movements. Strength describes the intensity of movements. A composition with flawless technical performance can still fall flat if the audience doesn't feel the right energy.

Space

Time

Strength

Gravity

Repetition

To lift

Beat

Arrangement

Energy

High/middle/low

To slow down

DANCE expand

AMUSEMENT AND ENGAGEMENT DIMENSION

1. Often dance is a form of entertainment. You go to a performance to be entertained. Or you

dance yourself for your own pleasure. Sometimes choreographers want to raise an important social issue, which we call engagement.

2. Dance can be narrative, but can also be just about movements and shape, without the need to tell a story or share a message with the audience. Sometimes it is a combination of these.

3. Dance can also have a supporting function, for example in musical, opera or dance in a video clip for a song.

00:00

SYTYCD

Watch this video and answer the question on the next slide afterwards.

01:42

So you think you can dance, a competition for talented young dancers was first broadcast in the US in 2005. In 2008 the first Dutch version of this competition was broadcast by RTL5.
Some people feel that 'dance' in TV programs can only be entertainment. Others say that dance programmes on TV can really show dance as an art form or can even show engagement. What do you think?

Dance in tv shows can only be entertainment

Dance in tv shows can show dance as en art form

Rosas danst Rosas

In 1983 Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker became well known internationally with Rosas danst Rosas. This piece consists of repeating abstract movements. In this dance we find a big contrast between the very plain gestures inspired by everyday life, and the fierce energy the dancers display while executing them. Rosas danst Rosas is extremely feminine: four female dancers dance themselves, and copy each other over and over again. 

Now watch the next video and answer the question.

0

What gestures,
inspired by everyday life
did you see in this dance?

Ballet for life

Ballet for life by the choreographer Maurice Bejart, composed to be danced on music by Queen and Mozart and with costumes designed bij Versace, is dedicated to those who died young. Ballet for life starts with a choreography for the entire dance company on the touching song It's a beautiful day by Queen. This first dance is breathtaking, and so are all the following parts, each charged with emotion; love, hope, humour and sadness alternate. Culminating in a projection where the screen show images of the song I want to break free from the  performance 'Life at Wembley, 1986', with the now deceased Jorge Donn, former solo dancer of Béjart's company. Now watch the next video and answer the question.

0

The choreography is a mixture of classical and modern.
Which classical dance elements did you see?