dance
Evolution is not necessarily a good thing, and unfortunately, dance is an ever-changing art form, especially evident in the twentieth century. In my first paper I wrote dance can adapt to different environments; however, after viewing the twentieth century ballets I wish this statement were not so true. I do not mean to attack the art form in the mentioned era (20th century), but with the exception of "The Nutcracker" and "Cinderella" I truly disliked the ballets namely "Petrouchka", "Revelations", and "Billboards". These ballets just tried too hard in my estimation. "Petrouchka" was far too concerned with political and social commentary. I understand this piece is a metaphor for communism, but I believe Stravinsky and Benois focused too much
Alvin Ailey's "Revelations", had a more close to home message than "Petrouchka", but I did not like the slow, very hypnotic interpretive dance within this ballet. Though I appreciated the soulful hymns, my impression was that this piece seemed to last forever due to the slow choreography. It seemed the trend of twentieth century dance was to shy away from the escapism element and focus more on content within the work. I will, however, give credit for good use of symbolism throughout the ballet, but overall I felt the work was extremely disturbing. Unlike the two above-mentioned ballets, "Billboards" seemed to not have such a strong message, which is maybe why I liked this piece more than those two dances. If this were baseball, I believe I would be labeled a purist, but I am a firm believer of that which is not broken does not need fixing-then again, my knowledge of dance is limited so take my responses for what they are worth. This work was not concerned with making a statement, but rather, showing dancers enjoying what they do and having fun doing it- which is the whole point to dance! However, I did not like all aspects of this production, such as, the sexually driven choreography and the "modern" costumes (which were a little dated); however, good choice of music. I believe this work was not initially well received because of the shock value, and I can appreciate this reception because I had the same response. What better music can be used to accompany erotic-like dance than Prince (or is it the Artist or the Artist formerly. I had to fight the desire to want to go to sleep while viewing "Revelations" which is very telling of my dislike. on the message rather than preparing a storyline conducive to dance.
Common topics in this essay:
Artist Artist,
Ailey's Revelations,
Dance Evolution,
Stravinsky Benois,
Revelations Billboards,
Nutcracker Cinderella,
twentieth century,
century dance,
art form,
twentieth century dance,
|
Acceptance Essays
