Introduction to Dance

M/W 3:30-4:50pm ~ Sci-Tec 209

Instructor: John Dixon

DANCE PERFORMANCE AND CRITICAL RESPONSE:

From Experience to Interpretation

(Reading Dancing, Susan Leigh Foster, 1986)

In this lecture we take a look at viewing dance with an eye towards critical engagement
and response.

Layers of Art Criticism

1. Description
a. What happened?
i. Physical Elements
1. Gestures, movement phrases, associated qualities, images,
tableaus, choreographic devices (see lecture #2), etc.
ii. Design Elements
1. Costumes, lighting, music, set design, props, etc.
2. Analysis
a. How were the materials used?
i. Looking for relationships between the elements
ii. Are they compelling or coherent?
iii.
3. Interpretation
a. What do you think the artist was trying to say?
b. NOTE - there can be many, many meanings derived from most works of
art, so your interpretation is more important (to you) than figuring out the
artist’s exact intention.
i. What did the work make you think about?
ii. How did the work make you feel?
iii. How does it relate to your life or actions or events around you?
iv. How do your thoughts and feelings connect to your description and
analysis?
1. In general, more successful works of art will offer multiple
connections between the physical elements, the
4. Evaluation
a. What is your response to the work?
i. Was it successful to you or not?
ii. Is it important to the world in some way
Experience and Interpretation start with...

Different devices used to communicate to an audience:

1. The Frame
o The way the dance sets itself apart as a unique event.
2. Mode of Representation
o The way the dance refers to the world.
3. The Style
o The way the dance achieves an individual identity in the world and its
genre.
4. The Vocabulary
o The basic movements (“moves”) from which the dance is made.
5. The Syntax
o The selection, combination and overall sequencing of movements, phrases
and sections.

The Frame…
• Begins with information about the show received before the performance:
o Online
o Posters
o Advertisements
o Reviews
o Associated Images and Text

• Even location and price send a message about the kind of performance.
o Less expensive or donation in small theaters or loft performance spaces
 Experimental, marginal, less traditional, lower production values
o Large theaters, more expensive
 More traditional, mainstream, higher production values
• Exceptions!
• Local values and curators.

• Proscenium Stage
o Situates action in a different world from the viewer
o Suggests a separation of audience and performer
o The “Fourth Wall”
 Imaginary wall or boundary of separation between the audience and
performer
o “Breaking the Fourth Wall”
o Actions that permeate or completely break down the separation.
Examples
o Looking directly at audience in a purposeful way.
 o Moving through or beyond the edge of the proscenium.
o “This world doesn't end here. It's your world too.”
o Phantom of the Opera
o Cirque de Soleil

• Program Notes
• Titles
o Cave of the Heart
o Agon
o Amelia
o Revelations
o Dance for Three People with Six Arms

Other Framing Devices:

Programming
o The sequence of dances during the concert.
o Placement of the dance in relationship to the other dances on the
program.
 An “intense” piece between two lighter works.
 A high energy dance to uplift the audience at the end of a show.

Beginnings and Endings

o Beginnings
 Lights up on action
• You are seeing into a world that has been going on for some
time.
 Lights up on stillness or empty stage
• Here is a world presented for you.

When watching a dance, notice if you feel included or if you feel like you are “looking
in” on the action? How does that affect your experience and response?

o Endings
 Lights out on action
• The world of this dance continues beyond this moment
 Lights out on stillness
• This moment is important as a lasting image of the dance
Focus or Gaze
• At audience and dancers directly
o We're all in this together.
• Into some other space (often out and above the audience)
o This is a special world where something unique is happening.
• At other dancers, but not at audience (up and out)
o We're in this world together, but there are differences between us.
• Inward focus
o We’re sharing some deeper experience.
o “Allowing yourself to be seen.”

MODE OF REPRESENTATION
• Situates the dance within a realm of communication that relates to the general
choreographic intent.
• These modes often blend in more complex or longer works.

Literal
• Specific referent, often of the physical components of the image.
• Meant to be recognized and, perhaps, judged on it's likeness
• Pilobolus
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHJuRSlXvCM
• Example – The image of a river portrayed by many dancers in flowing blue
costumes running through a winding spatial pathway across the stage.
Metaphoric
• General referent
• One overriding quality or concept
• Communication of the referent is important, but less so.
• Meant to give a sense of cohesion to the whole
• Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations”

Conceptual
• Series of specific referents
• Group of related qualities or ideas
• Communication of the referents tends to be less important than the precision of
the physical vocabulary and choreography
• The intention is to elucidate the connections between related concepts or
ideas
• Example - La La La Human Steps (Choreographer Eduoard Lock)
Abstract
• No referent or loose relationship to referents
• Tends to focus on the body as the primary source for movement generation
 • OR on pre-existing codified movement vocabularies (ballet, specific forms of
modern or jazz) as the primary source for movement
• Example – The work of choreographer Merce Cunningham

STYLE
• A specific range of attributes relating to a distinctive manner of expression
• Attributes commonly associated with “style” are qualities and dynamics
• Can be applied to:
• Individual dancers
• Individual choreographers
o Note - defining individual style is often considered to be one of the
most important tasks for a dancer or choreographer
• Dance Idiom – embody certain “style”
o Cultural identity – placing the work in various realms of culture
Movement Vocabulary
• Specific movements used to make up the dance as a whole.
o Individual gestures/actions/phrases
• Different dance idioms have various degrees of consistency in their vocabularies
• Classical ballet – codified range of movements used
• Contemporary ballet – greater range of movements used
• Early Modern
• Jazz

Sequence or Syntax
• Order and relationship of movements
• Elements of Choreographic Design (see lecture #2)
o Time
o Space
o Variation
o Contrast
o Use of Vocabulary
 Repeated gestures/actions/phrases
 Larger sections and their relationships
• Is there a change in value in relationship to the repetition or
shift in patterns?
• Does the information become more or less important?
• Do you understand or feel the impact of the action/phrase
more or less from its repeated use?
Gestalt
o The experience of the dance as a whole – it's cumulative effect
o A sense of wholeness where the total value is greater than the sum of its parts.
o “a structure, configuration, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological
phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not
derivable by summation of its parts” Merriam-Webster

Exceptions, Exceptions, Exceptions!!!

When you are watching a dance performance (or video), look for the variations on
these general guidelines. What do they suggest to you? How does the break from
these standards inform your viewing? How do they affect your view of the
choreographer’s intention?

There is no “wrong” answer to these questions. However, the fullness of your

engagement and reflective consideration of the work will directly affect the depth and
richness of your response.

One more concept:

EVALUATION = your on the work.

Alvin Ailey “Revelations – Section #1: Pilgrim of Sorrow”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce5pQkUZdWI

Alvin Ailey “Revelations – Section #3: Move, Members, Move”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT8SX35m0lU&feature=related

hubbard street – “extremely close” by Alejandro Cerrudo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI0qnUwAt3c&feature=related

nacho duato “programme bach”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td6b2yUFUSU&feature=fvw

hubbard street – “lickety-split” by Alejandro Cerrudo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb76wKOmDus

sytycd – jeanine and phillip hip hop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx8RkHGWakY&feature=related