Essays on Ballet

“Don Quixote,” is a popular dance that excites people and brings happiness to sad souls. I find it quite interesting because it coordinates dances from a diversity of places and backgrounds. The dance takes place in a series of days and most of the time the audience comes out of the auditorium with jubilation and excitement. The dance is always successful because of the intense preparations by the gifted and well-experienced managers, choreographers, artistic directors, and artists. When all these people work in harmony, the audience feels the magnitude and the quality of the work produced.
Looking at the Continue reading...

Introduction

Alvin Ailey proved he was gifted in more than one way. Raised by a young single mother, life was far from easy for him. He rose from poverty to become a figure that greatly influenced the 20th century modern dance. Alvin Ailey’s rise from poverty all the way to the top and finally succumbing to AIDs is an interesting story. He certainly had his weaknesses, but Alvin Ailey is an individual who will forever remain in the hearts of dance lovers (Ailey & Bailey 1995).

Discussion

Alvin was born in 1931 in Texas. Being born to a teenage mother (17 Continue reading...

What are the implications?

During adolescence it’s usual for young people to think a lot about how their bodies look. During the teen years their bodies and appearance go through lots of changes and youngsters often compare their bodies with others. Meanwhile a positive attitude to your body is an important part of a healthy self-esteem.
The standards of beauty are very wobble and change from decade to decade. If we look through the pages of history, we see that for insance in Western Europe in the Middle Ages the main attributes of beauty and femininity were considered to be small height, Continue reading...

Mikhail Baryshnikov was born on 27th January, 1948 in Riga, Latvia. He is famous for dancing throughout the world. His dance is the sublime vision. Mikhail Nikolaevitch Baryshnikov began his ballet studies in 1960. He studied in Vaganova School the then Leningrad with Aleksander Pushkin. He won the top prize in the junior division of the international Varna Competition. His teacher described him as “the most perfect dancer I have ever seen”.
He made his debut at Maryinsky theatre where he danced the ‘peasant’ pas de deux in Giselle, in the group Kirov Ballet. A new instrument unique for Continue reading...

Background

“Black Swan” is about Nina Sayers, an aspiring ballerina, who had to deal with the pressure of her career, discordant relationship with her mother, and sexual advances from her mentor. Nina wants nothing more than to play lead in the New York City ballet company’s upcoming “Swan Lake” production. Her chance came when Thomas Leroy, the director, dismissed Beth, the lead, and subsequently chose Nina to take her place. Throughout the film, Nina’s psychoses surface on account of her experiences with his sexually aggressive mentor, Thomas, who also puts the most pressure on Nina to perform better, Continue reading...

The production I watched on YouTube was a modern interpretation of the classic Swan Lake ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky written circa 1875–1876. I searched in the site for more information regarding where this particular production took place, the name of the city or theater but I could not find it. There was no mention of the name of the ballet company or the names of the principal dancers. As would be expected, this dearth of information extended to the orchestra and its conductor. No credit was given to lighting, sound or set design as well. In this Continue reading...

The Little Fourteen–Year–Old Dancer is an adored impressionist piece sculptured by Edgar Degas. Degas presented the piece at the sixth impressionist exhibition in the spring of 1881, and public exhibition he ever did. Originally named by the artist, Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans, the piece has become one of the most acclaimed artworks of well-known bronze casts produced after the artist’s death. She did not attract much admiration in her first appearance. Many know Degas as an artist of dance, and some critics originally dismissed his sculptures, claiming that lacked the quality of good art. Most Continue reading...

Musical Theater and Musical shows have been around for centuries. In the beginning, a musical show was the “integration of narrative, song, and dance characteristics” that “glorified beautiful women and surrounded them with comedian, singers, and dancers” (Reynolds and McCormik). From the early 1900 to 1930’s, the theater supporter was charmed by Minstrel shows, Variety Shows, and Follies which led to musicals with dramatic action. As the theater progressed, dance numbers became more a part of the entire show. Over the next 30-40 years Broadway Musicals would hit their highs and lows, but it was all too evident Continue reading...

Socialist realism ideally refers to a realistic style developed in Soviet Union and which over time has become a dominate among the socialist states. In a broader sense, the style embraces the role of the working class in the society and the meek. It further glorifies the emancipation struggle. In the articles, the author gives a succinct and articulate review of the characteristics of the socialist realism in China. According to him, it is inconceivable that China, a socialist state is not controlled by peasants, workers and peasants, who collectively are regarded as the masters and creators of the Continue reading...

Medici played a significant role not only in politics, but also in the cultural life of Europe of their time. Like other wealthy and influential people, they ordered a work of art for the greater glory of themselves, their family, of the city and God. Under the influence of the new ideas of the Renaissance, Medici saw in the artists not only artisans. They were interested not only on a beautiful pieces and its content, but also on its creator. Not by chance, as an example of Renaissance patron relationship to the artist, Cosimo the Elder quoted words of Continue reading...

Carole Vance’s article, “Social Construction Theory: Problems in the History of Sexuality,” explains how the social construction theory can be used to help understand LBGTQ+ identities. As discussed previously, essentialism assumes that all things, at the essence, are the same or share a similar experience. However, this does not take culture into consideration, and just how far humans are constructed socially. Vance explains that the LBGTQ+ community would benefit from identifying as a socially constructed group, because assuming that sexuality is finite or natural is an essentialist argument that completely undermines people who are sexually fluid and rejects Continue reading...

The origins of the Sphinx was derived from Egyptian, Persian and Greek Mythologies. A sphinx is a mythical beast with a body of a lion and a human head. In Greek mythology, it is portrayed as a winged beast who preys upon humans who cannot answer its riddles (Pinch, 206). Early Persians also believed that the Sphinx was a guardian deity whose mission was to protect the royal Persian Gods (British Museum, n.p.). Meanwhile, the Egyptians also built a sphinx of their own. The Great Sphinx located in Giza, Egypt had been buried in the sands for hundreds of Continue reading...

Stravinsky was no stranger to pushing boundaries when he premiered the Rite of Spring in 1913. He had had immense success the previous year with his reimagining of the Russian folk tale of Petrushka. In that piece, as well, Stravinsky took liberties with his writing and the plot of the story. However, the liberties taken in the music for The Rite of Spring were far greater and more surprising than past compositions by him, or any other mainstream composer of the time. Coupled with the unusual choreography by Nijinsky, the event was understandably shocking to an audience unaccustomed to Continue reading...

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky was one of the most representative and brilliant composers from the twenty century and had a big influence on the development of the modern music. He wasn’t known only for his skill as a composer, he was also recognized as a pianist, conductor and a great and valuable musician. Throughout his composing career, Stravinsky have experimented many styles in composition using different rhythms and harmonies but musicologists clearly defined three stylistic periods in his musical evolution. The first period was between 1908- 1923 and it was called “Russian period,” the second period was between 1923- 1953 Continue reading...

2014-11-26

Swan Lake 2012
Introduction
The famous Swan Lake has been widespread throughout most of the United States or at least the few states such as Los Angeles and Boston. Swan exemplifies and bests the nation with a debut that will portray a theatrical to represent a characteristic fairytale of a Swan Queen by the name of Odette, a Prince who was known as Siegfried, and witchcraft that of which deals with the unfaithfulness and adoration, that weds them for infinity. Particularly, this feature stage play landscapes an outstanding new costume and set design, that consist of strong herbal choreography Continue reading...

Introduction

Deidre Sklar published her commentary “Five Premises for a Culturally Sensitive Approach to Dance” to provide premises as to why dance, as a form of art, is imbued with cultural values. The five premises include the following: “movement knowledge is a kind of cultural knowledgeis conceptual and emotional as well as kinesthetic,” and “intertwined with other kinds of cultural knowledge,” getting the meaning of dance requires looking “beyond movement,” and “movement is always an immediate corporeal experience” (Sklar). It is important to note said premises in further understanding the cultural significance of any given kind of dance. This study, Continue reading...

This essay will explore the compositional method and the harmonic innovations that Stravinsky used in his ballet “The Rite of Spring.” In order to capture all the ideas the essay will have three parts; the first part will be linked to the observation for the piece as a whole, the second part will be an analysis of the strategically features with examples from the score and the third part will be a cogent summary of the analysis that will imply the interpretation of the piece.
“The Rite of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky was premiered in 29 May 1913 at Continue reading...

Ballet dance at its inception was developed as a performance dance in the fifteen century. With time, however, music and choreography was incorporated and the dance itself became popular as a concert dance. In the contemporary times, the Ballet dance has since developed to a level where companies with professional composers and orchestras are trained to perform this kind of dance. On the other hand, Jazz dance was developed many years subsequent to the invention of Ballet dance. Particularly, this dance was developed in the 1900s as a vernacular dance that was performed by the African Americans who were Continue reading...

Overview of the Problem

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are two eating disorders with adverse effects on health and wellbeing. Persons with these disorders are preoccupied with their weight, in fact basing their self-esteem mainly on their body image (Suisman et al., 2012). They have an intense fear of weight gain because of a distorted belief that they are fat. For this reason, they refuse to eat and exercise excessively. Alternatively, they engage in binge eating but purge themselves after through self-induced vomiting and laxative abuse increasing the risk of malnutrition that, in severe cases, causes death (Bulik et al., 2005). There is Continue reading...

Many people are under the assumption that art exhibitions must contain paintings, sculptures, drawings, or other traditional forms of art. The artist must use paint, clay, or pencil to capture a feeling, a message, or an appeal, putting it on display for the audience. It is unclear why, but it seems that the audience cannot render a message fit for consumption unless it uses the typical artistic methods. The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology acknowledges there are other art forms. FIT displays all types of artistic fashion as an exhibition to man’s triumphs and failures through Continue reading...

Giselle is a ballet act that has been inspired by a passage about the Willis and from poem about a girl who dies after dancing in a ball. It is about Giselle, a peasant girl who falls in love with the prince that tricks her into believing that he is also a peasant like her. However, he is set to marry the princess but his heart is with Giselle. Giselle has a delicate heart and clarification about the prince’s set marriage to the princess hurts her too much that she dies. This happens during a dance when the Continue reading...

Introduction

There are many different musical eras, which have influenced music to be composed the way it is now. The eras are the baroque era, the classical era, the romantic era and the modern era. There have been a number of notable famous musicians and composers of music from various countries across from Europe and the United States of America. These composers came from different periods and have influenced one another in their music. In looking at the composition from all the eras, it is very clear that there is a difference and some similarities of the music.

Baroque era

The baroque Continue reading...

Following the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines

Abstract
This paper is on the topic of human rights. It begins by defining human rights. It also mentions important people throughout the history of human rights’ development. The paper speculates on how different countries handle human rights and the violations therein. Finally, the paper assesses what the causes, effects, and solutions are to each country having its own human rights policies.

Part I

Heading: Definition and meaning
- Human rights are a more understanding and definition ensuring that humans are allotted basic rights, such as the right to life.

Heading: Historical landmarks/people in Human Rights Development

- Abraham Lincoln – fought a war in order to free the Continue reading...

The Middle East is predominantly an Islamic society. Muslim art and architecture is heavily influenced by the religious attitudes. There is prejudice against pictorial representation of animal figure and human being due to the Prophet Mohammed teachings that are against idols and idol worship. This attitude influenced the development of geometric and stylized designs. Muslims have excelled mostly in the fields of architecture and decorative arts (Choueri 88: Ham 176: Graber 1). Islamic artists draw their inspiration from many sources: inspiration was drawn from Byzantine, Indian, Chinese and Persian models. These craftsmen then made their models in original and Continue reading...

Films play a big role in the representation of society, in the cultural, political, and social scenes in society. Various genres of the film act to different effect in the society, with some providing educative insights, political activism in film, entertainment, all depending on the nature of the film. Film has found use previously as a tool through which directors and activists have utilized in the portrayal of historical events; the intention being to present the occurrences in as much a real way as to have an impact on their targeted audience. Historical events are often mucked by unpleasant Continue reading...

Answer for part1: Components of a marketing environment

This environment is composed of five factors. The first factor is the intensity of industry competition. Intensity of competition in the industry dictates how firms align themselves strategically. Positioning determines how each firm will capture and retain its niche. The second factor is suppliers’ bargaining power. If suppliers bargaining power of is high for a firm, then it is positioned at a disadvantage. There will be cost disadvantages since such suppliers will have an upper hand. The third factor is the bargaining power of buyers. Buyers with a super bargaining power will put a firm at a disadvantage in Continue reading...

A) To test his hypothesis that ballet training will improve both the fielding and batting performance of his players, how should the coach decide which players will take ballet training and which will not? Why should he choose to assign the players in this fashion?

B) Identify/describe the different levels of the independent variable.

The independent variable in this experiment is ballet training. As described above, there are only two levels (training and no training). However, there could be more levels if the coach assigned some players to only two weeks of training, some players to four weeks of training, and some others to six weeks of training.
Continue reading...

The Chinese opera The White-haired Girl which was created in the 1940s and based on a folktale achieved a great success in Yan’an. Because of its big following, this story was further adapted to a film in the 1950s, and to a ballet in the 1960s. With the evolution of different versions, The White-haired Girl had gradually transformed from being a fantastic folk legend into a national myth concentrating on class, liberation, and revolution. In order to understand and explore such transformation, this paper will utilize the story’s 1945 opera edition, its 1950 film version, and its Continue reading...

African leaders and presidents are seriously considering pulling out en masse from the being signatories to the Rome Statute that formed the International Criminal Court (ICC) based at The Hague, Netherlands. This follows their dissatisfaction with what they allege to be a bias on the part of the court against cases touching on Africans. A case in point is where the president of Kenya, Honourable Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and his deputy, William Samoei Ruto, both of whom face serious war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in Kenya’s bloodiest post-election violence of 2007/2008, have been denied immunity by Continue reading...

Festivals make part of the lives of people in different societies whether modern or traditional. They have been manifest in all societies from time immemorial, ingrained in their belief systems and ways of life. The participants vary depending on age, economic background, social background, academic achievements and professional achievements (for instance the professional position of a rain maker in the African societies). However, the main question is; what really makes these festivals unique and keeps people interested in them. This I will try to explore in reference to my own believes experiences and expectations.

What do you think makes each and every festival special and individual?

Festivals are social events in Continue reading...

Introduction

Ballet is arguably one of the most graceful and beautiful styles of dance. It is well known by many people across the world. The art of ballet started out as a kind of dance for the wealthiest families in history. This art was born at a time when Roman and Geek Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries started which revived interest in the arts and in human too. The term “ballet” comes from the Italian word “Balla” which simply means dance. Ballet is a deeply traditional form where fixed steps are in a canonical way linked to each Continue reading...

The word opera is the plural of 'opus'. In Latin 'opus' means work, labor. When we say opera today, we usually think about a musical, drama and stage work. Opera is also a building, a theater where operas are performed and a synonym for the institution that produces opera shows as well.
Historically speaking, first operas, which were created in 1598 and 1600 in Florence, with the idea to revive the ancient drama, were composed in order to give the spoken or the recited drama text a certain rhythm and intonation which would give it a desired expression followed Continue reading...

Introduction

Mikhail Baryshnikov. The man, whose name is known to every person, who is inspired by dance, the person who has extremely strong will, the person who is exceptionally talented, the person who is the greater dancer of XX century, the person whose performance has influenced on the development of the world ballet. Mikhails is known all over the world to the unique, powerful and perfect technique. He has performed over 100 classical ballet works. And that is just a part of the list of Mikhail’s achievements.
Mikhail has been dancing since his childhood and nowadays, when he is Continue reading...

Subjective

One of the most difficult to play and difficult to conduct piece among the classical repertoires is “The Right of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky. The music opens up in a very intense, earthy, and violent mood and that same mood transcends throughout the piece right until the end. The piece is very thought provoking as it insinuates a panorama of instrumental colors. On a positive note, the piece animates rhythmic drive and power that reflects irresistible excitement and unbelievable complexity, which is a characteristic of musical scores orchestrated by some of the most renowned name in the classical genre. Continue reading...

Introduction to dance as a form of art

Dance is not just an art. It is not limited to a group of people who have been trained in the art and only they are eligible to perform. Dance is universal; it is the ultimate form of expression that anyone can undertake. People can randomly break into a small dance to express that they are happy and overjoyed. In a similar manner, one can use dance as a form to express anger, sadness, love or any of the other emotions. Dance is the only form of art that can be performed by any person who chooses to do Continue reading...

I love animals especially cats and horses. Owning a pet has been an enhancement of my self-esteem and companionship. Having cats around teaches me to be more responsible and respectful to other living beings. I also feel that owning a pet makes me more involved within the activities including sports, hobbies and chores. I have also read in books that having an animal during various therapy sessions for the ailing patients or other animal-assisted treatment presents significant improvements for the treatment procedures majorly for child suffering from such ailments (Verderber, Verderber & Sellnow, 2010). I adore horses as well and Continue reading...

Introduction

There are various ways of expressing oneself. One of the ways includes dancing, which is considered a nonverbal form of communication in our daily lives. Dancing involves movement of various body parts, in most cases towards music. It is used as a method of expressing ideas or narrating a story in both social and spiritual setups. Moreover, many people use dance as a way of educating others about their cultural practises. Many people across the world consider dance as a principal form of entertainment. Dance has overtime been classed depending on the country of origin or ethnicity. As such, Continue reading...

Biography of Mikhail Baryshnikov

Introduction
Mikhail Baryshnikov was born in 1948, in a place called Riga. In 1960, he started his ballet studies in the same place. He is a co founder of White Oak Project and a dance director. Mikhail Baryshnikov won a top prize in the junior division at a very tender age, an achievement that brought him into the lime light. He was named the ‘the most perfect dancer’ in Pushkin class, a characteristics that many others had not fitted in, in the history of that school. His unique talent and skills were noted right from then as his performance Continue reading...

Today, asking the average person to imagine a ballet dancer usually conjures up an image of a tall, statuesque woman with long, thin legs and a stern demeanor. However, what many people do not realize is that the image of a ballerina has changed drastically since the advent of the dance form. Originally conceived in the Renaissance, ballet as an art form was not initially the athletic pursuit of dancing on the toes that it is today. The art form that came to be known as ballet originated in the royal courts of the Italian Renaissance, and spread from Continue reading...

It is easy to see the beauty in classical ballet, and understanding the meaning of classical ballet pieces is merely a matter of understanding the language of classical ballet; upon becoming knowledgeable about the language of classical ballet, the wide repertoire of ballets opens up and becomes accessible to the individual. Modern ballets are often much less accessible, even to the initiated and to those who are deeply familiar with the conventions of ballet and dancing. William Forsythe was one of the premier choreographers of the last fifty years; his productions are complex and varied, often leaving the audience Continue reading...