"grandmother of ballet"

brought singing, poetry, dancing events to france

*no stage

*6 hours long

*French monarchy

*audience is above dancers

*Queen Louise participates

*Recitations and songs

*Plot: French monarchy: king & queen are most important part of society

*formations are important

Symbol:

Triangle

Symbol:

3 circles inside each other

Symbol:

Three circles connected like olympic rings

King Louis XIV

First public performance

&

When he stopped dancing

age 7

&

age 32

King Louis XIV

Nickname

The Sun King

Planets revolve around sun; center of the universe

1669

Now serves as Pans Opera

1st one was Academie Royale de danse

Louis XIV's tutor

dancing lessons > grammar

*Dance master at Academie Royale de danse

King Louis XIV

Ornamentation

&

Importance of dance in his life

*Ornamentation is very important to him

*He required courtmembers to be skilled in dancing.  If they missed a step, they would be ranked lower, maybe kicked out of apartments

*Separated dancers from audience

*The stage was raked

*Revealed more of the dancers' bodies - royalty sat in a box above the audience

*Pierre Beauchamps

*1st-5th positions

Pierre Beauchamps

it came from fencing which was popular at the time

*"Christian ballerina"

*Light, angelic

*more masculine than Marie

*very lively on stage

*gypsy-like

very long

when gas lamps were in use, it caused some problems with the long skirts catching on fire

Romantic Ballet

Themes

1. Relationship of Human and Spirit world

2. Exotic Locations

3. Rural/Peasant life

Romantic Ballet

Layout

1st act - Daylight

2nd act - nighttime (often in a forest)

*Romantic ballet ended in tragedy

*shortened tutu

*show off the legs - show off the work they did

Russian Ballet:

Dancers =

Dancers = imperial servants

Guys wouldn't go into military; dance = military

1. classical dancer - purest performer (highest level)

2. Character dancer - folk

3. demi-character dancer - combines the other 2 styles

*Prime dancer in Russia

He sees Isadora dancing and writes a dance for her.  He submits it to a guy and says that "french ballet forms are stale and expressive dancing should be what is on stage." His manifesto was rejected, but he was still permitted to choreograph. In this first ballet, it had Greek themes - 1908 - Une nuit d'Egypte.  Dancers had bare feet and you see the profile of the dancer.  He can't fully express what he wants to, so he moves to Paris.

Director/Producer of Ballet Russes

Not a dancer, musician, or visual artist

*he invites popular artists/musicians to participate

*Group orgy and massacre onstage

*adolescent sex

*Faun is a young boy

*Music was stravinski and choreographed by Nijinsky

*People flipped out - opening night, a riot broke out in the audience - fist fights - Stravinski runs out of theater and Nijinski stays

*After that, the show is only shown once or twice

Ballet Russes on tour

(Nijinsky)

*Nijinsky met a dancer and fell in love

*they get married

*Diaghilev is jealous, so he fires Nijinski

*Diaghilev goes crazy and spends the rest of his life in an asylum - he dreams of having his own company w/o being run by higher power

*Russian

*Worked for Ballet Russes before moving to US

*raised in Russian Ballet schools - left home @ 10 to train in Imperial Ballet - life is hard in Russia at this point

*After Ballet Russes, he forms his own company in 1933 (fulfilling Diaghilev's dream)

*Opens the School of American Ballet in NYC (1934)

*In experience with Broadway, he puts power thrusts in his ballets

*George Balanchine is responsible for it

*Tall, thin, young women w/ long legs and small heads

*They perform in ballet "workout outfit" (black leotard, pink tights, maybe a belt, no tutu)

*No story or real thematic material - it is all just movement - "Do not show emotion onstage; be cold"

Social Dance Elements

&

Cultural Reflections

SDE- avoid body contact --> CR- Teasing Enticement

SDE- gendered steps --> CR- set ideas about gender

SDE- Team Dances --> CR- value of extended family

*Team dances - highly choreographed steps - work together

*Women move w/ hips side to side

*Men flap their knees in athletic way

*Women ask men to dance

Social Dancing

Muslims in Fez, Morocco

SDE- Social dance elemens

CR- Cultural Reflections

SDE- all female dance parties --> CR- Koran's teachings on women's roles

SDE- Athletic dancing for men --> CR- emphasis on male power

SDE- "Belly Dancing" for male entertainment --> CR- European influences in N. Africa

Social Dancing

Western/European dancing: the Waltz

SDE- Social dance elements

CR- Cultural reflections

SDE- in male/female couples --> CR- value marriage

SDE- Upright/poised --> CR- aristocratic values

SDE- Fixed steps --> CR- educated public

African Dance Aesthetic

vs

19th century European Dance Aesthetic

1. Improv//fixed steps

2. Polycentrism//Center is in one place (torso)

3. Polyrhythmic movement//rhythms only in feet

4. Juxtaposition of mood/attitude//composure

5. Value of youth//Value of the Court (look elegant)

6. Idea of being cool//Touch

7. Asymmetry and Vocalization//coordination of the group

"Master Juba"

"Patting Juba" - social dance

Minstrel player

Died at 27 b/c of harsh performance schedule

He could copy ANY dance and add his own flare to it

Daddy "Jim Crow" Rice

"Blacking up"

White and Black Mistrel teams

Started in 1940s and by 1970s, blacks were doing it

Daddy "Jim Crow" Rice

Thomas D Rice (white)

1930s - mimicked crippled, black neighbor

started blackface minstrelsy as entertainment form

Vaudeville Era - Variety acts-->main act= minstrelsy

*Turkey Trot and the Tango banned by pope in 1914

*Vermon and Irene Castle attmept to tame dances

*They started a school in New York in 1914 to teach "proper dancing"

*Attempted to "refine" social dances of the day - LOTS of "dont's"

*1926- opens in Harlem - integrated club

*Battle of the Bands

*Cat's Corner = best dancers

*Whitey's Lindy Hoppers - he was a bouncer and saw the dancers in Cat's Corner - started a group that travelled

*Breakaway steps - significant in combo w/ african and european - two dancers dance together, split up and dance alone then come back

*Frieda Washington/Freddy Manning create air steps

*New Dance floor every 3 years

*Lindy Hop- term Lindy comes from Charles Lindbergh's flight over Atlantic

South central, LA

"clowning"-->crumping-->stripper dance

hip-hop video parody

"Window Licker"

*Clive Campbell

*Grandfather of hip hop

*Moved to Bronx from Jamaica at 12

*dance halls - Jamaican - homemade sound systems

*Break beat - funk and soul era - people danced to break beat

*Extended break (1973) - scratching 2 turntables - vocalize which began rap

*Latino

*1970s - lots of gang violence

*dancers use streets as their stage

*DJ - sound designer, musician

*MC - poet, rapper

*Graffiti Artist - Painter, visual artist

*B-boy/b-girl - dancer

*Kevin Donovan

*battles w/ Herc and grandmaster flash

*1973 co-opts Savage 7/Black Spades and creates Zulu Nation

*Leader of savage 7/Black Spades

*Afrika Bambaataa co-opts Savage 7/Black Spades

*Belief in one God called by many names

*Belief in the Bible and the Qur'ah

*Inclusive - anti-racism

*The first b-boy crew

*B=Break, beat, or Bronx

*Zulu Queens were quick to follow

*1980s DJ Afrika Bambaataa

*"Rappers Delight" by Sugarhill Gang

*"Hip Hop y'all and ya don't stop"

*Don Campbell ("Campbellrock")

~Creates lockin' 1970

~Dances on Soul Train

*Sam "Boogaloo Sam" Soloman

~Creates poppin' 

~Establishes the Electric Boogaloos (1977)

*Created by "Boogaloo Sam"

*West coast funk dance group

*Soul train performances

*Poppin' - ability of dancer to pop the muscles to the beat

*Lockin' - you move and then lock and an move then lock, etc.

*Rock Steady crew and the Electric Boogloos are cast in movies

*"Break Dancing" - a term created by the media

*Ken Swift creates head spin