Exam 1

 Dance is an art form that’s displayed through the human body using the medium of movement
 "projection of inner thought and feeling into movement"
 Has power to communicate and evoke responses
 Provides a means for self-expression and enables the participants and viewers to feel
and experience the joy of moving
 Dance is recognized as being one of the oldest art forms known to the world and dance has lived
on for thousands of years
 
 Upper Paleolithic - Neolithic Periods
o One of the strongest pieces of evidence providing that dance existed in early cultures
was discovered in a series of rock paintings depicting dance
o People created these paintings hundreds of thousands of years ago in France (most
likely in Paleolithic Age)
o Wall paintings found in the Magura cave of Bulgaria
o Marriage ritual: celebrate the transition from single to married life
o Death ritual: ensure that the deceased's spirit would rest peacefully
o Fertilty ritual: done to ask the gods for rain, sunshine, an abundant harvest and healthy
children
o Types of dances
 Imitation
 Celebration
 Initiation
 Medicine
 Commemoration
 Spiritual connection
o Imitation often of nature (wind, water, fire, rain, earth, etc.) or living creatures (birds,
wolves, bears, etc.)
o Primitive music: chanting, bells, rattles, early variations on drums and reed instruments
o Costumes or clothing often animal skins, hides and fur, feathers
o Dancers were predominately male
o Patterns were often circular
o Movements or steps were natural, not technical, and included running, hopping,
skipping, jumping, leaping, twirling, tumbling, walking, rocking, undulating, swaying, etc.
o Celebration dances included those to honor births, deaths, marriages, coming of age,
etc.
o Medicine dances performed to appease the gods, ward off evil spirits and protect
individuals or groups from danger or disease
o Dances with spiritual significance also done to honor or appease the gods and to give
thanks for rain, sun, a good harvest, a good hunt, etc.
o Dance is a way to communicate before the advent of spoken language
o Proof that dance existed in primitive cultures us found un a series of rock (cave)
paintings from the Paleolithic Age - a painting in a tomb depicted a harvest dance
 o Dances were often ritualistic and passed down or taught in the absence of a common
verbal language - the movement of the body could express thoughts and feeling
o No narrative in the early dances of the primitive period
 
 The Ancient Period: About 3000 B.C. to 400 A.D.
o Periods/eras overlapped with aesthetic sensibilities permeating each successive era
o Civilizations began to develop with spoken language, written language, organized
religion, centralized governments, class systems, artistic advancements in theater,
literature, music, visual arts and dance
o Greece: Apollonian dance and Dionysian dance; a pyrrhiche or pyrrhic tradition
o Rome: Mime, Pantomime, pyrrhic tradition
o China: Court dance, dragon dance, lion dance, the silk road
o "Bharata Natyam" - an ancient temple dance still practiced today that required grace,
skill and stamina - known for exact head and eye gestures, intricate footwork and symbolism
 Has 36 parts of the dance
 Stepping on ball of foot without toes touching floor
 Lotus is very important. Very rare and important flower
 Dance of spiritual connection
o 1940s: temple dance approved for secular viewing - academia and in the theatre area of
ancient civilization included that middle east, Asia, Africa, the Mediterranean, Greece, and
Rome
o Dancers often were women
o Dances often geometrical and symmetrical - representing a balance between soul, body
and mind and a balance in the cosmos
o Dance still honoring or paying homage to the gods and consistently being used to
communicate
 
 Medieval Period or Middle Ages (dark times)
o 400 to 1400 A.D. (1000 years)
o The Bubonic Plague - The black death
 Dance or anything that glorified the body was banned. Only glorify the soul
o Danse Macabre - "The Dance of Death"
 Sezures at the end of the disease
o Fall of Roman Empire
o Early Christian Church dictated endeavors
o Dance, connected to physicality and pleasure as well as art, was frowned upon and even
banned unless created specifically to glorify the church
o Symbols of death and dying abound - skulls, skeletons, black mask and black draping
o Dance and other artistic pursuits flourished during this time in the Islamic cultures
o Aesthetic elements flourish in the East - Baghdad - cultural center of Islam
 
 Renaisance Period (rebirth)
o 1400-1700 A.D. (only 300 years)
o A rebirth- renewed interest in the arts and culture of the Ancient World
 Atlanta has a renaisance center (as well as other bigger cities)
o The long, rich history of ballet dates back to the fifteenth century
o Catherine de Medici (1519-1559)
o Woman in the court in italy not high up in court though more lower level court family
but family powerful enough to make deals with gov. made contract marriage with duke to
orleans so catherine through arrange marriage from italy to courtof fracne. When she got
there she wasn’t happy. Didn’t like there wasn’t dance. She loved dance and very bright
woman. First thing she did was sent her fav dance master from italy balthasar to france. She
gets involved polics. She becomes queen. Court dance is a combination of preballet and
social dance. Every dance witnessed by king, the dancers would bow. She talked the king
into the Ballet de Polonais, ballet of political effect. 16 royal madens, each from a diff
provances in france (almost like a pageant). Represent their provance and look good to king.
Royal entertainment to king not a contest.
 Powerful family often corrupt
 Great supporters of arts
o Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx
 Dance master from italy
o Dance Masters from Italy to France (1559)
 Ballet started in Western Europe (began in Italy moves to France, professionally
on Italy then moves to Russia then move to America)
o Ballet Comique de la Reine
 Most expensive ballet ever produced
 Cost 3.6 million french frocs (?)
 Dance entertainment of ruling class
 Poetry and music there too
 Choreo is Balthaser
 Catherine de Medici produced the ballets
o Pierre Beauchamp (1631-1705)
o Louis the 14th
 5 years old when he became king
 His father's associates helped him rule but wanted to take throne away bc
greedy
 Great student
 13 y/o he decided to rule
 He knew a lot of ppl wanted his job so he took lesson from Catherine and
decided use dance as a definite weapon of state
 Great warrior king who understood the power of dance
 Built great palace at versalis
 All royalty would stay and have meetings and talk about taxes. When
meetings were over they couldn’t leave, they had to take dance class. All
genders required up to 8 hours a day.
 Everyone Had to be well versed in dance as well as military arts
 All dances began with bows to king
 Where you stood in line defined where you stood in court (rank)
 Dance academy not military academy
 Royal dance academy
 It was to establish a professional dance academy
 Now called Paris Opera Ballet
 Extremely important to do ballroom dancing well
  How to manuals on dance were everywhere
 Ballet was recording in it
 Louis was ballets first star
 Took private lessons from tutors
 He was worlds first brand
 Called himself Sun king after apollo
 All money had logo on it
 Males leaning patterns in ballet as warfares. Battles choreo and staged
 He kept track of everyone
 Prosimian stage
 Made to prevent audience from becoming performers
 All courts all over the world are organized by ranks and where you stood in the
line(closest to king higher up in court) the higher up in court you were
 Succeed in military and on stage
 Ritual of dance preserves history
o Pierre Beauchamp
 First dancer, created 5 positions of feet and turnout
o John Goegres Noverre
 Write first dance book
 Letters on Dancing and Ballet
 Also created Ballet d'action
o Court orders by how well you collected taxes as well as dancing

 
o Dance at court (video) (20 exam questions come from this)
 He was always dancing or watching people dancing
 when army presents themselves they are dancing to attack
 Connects to pirates dance
 No ones head should be higher than sultons
 
o Video (National Dance Institute)
 Every year children from all background are brought together to dance at the New York
Dance Institute
 Russia is the world center for ballet
 Jacques D'am Benwa (director of National Dance Institute)
 Passed away in 40s from heart defect
 Dance is movement through time and space
 Human activity and its global and uses it to teach 5th graders
 Dance with NYC ballet, danced Apollo
 A child is born dancing and singing
 The way that dance teaches the kids how to work together and diciplined
 Children are from poor neighborhood, dance is a great gift to these kids
 Started out with Native Americans, then went into crawfish
 Details are important
 Class is artistic approached to details
 Teaches kids that its okay to let go, to play, to have fun
 Mission is to impower young kids to dance
 Court of Emperor of Japan
o Dance of
 Court of Sulton of Java
o No ones head should be higher than sulton
o A lot of floorwork
o Dance can chance along with sultons height
 Court of King of Ashanti - Ghana
o Call out to central place and brings their golds, umbrellas (shields head), and praise
makers
o Closer to king, the bigger the umbrellas (amount of gold and umbrella displayed showed
importance of king)