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A midsummer night's dream
The midsummer nights dream
Midsummer night's dream
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On the 18th of March, 2016, Miami City Ballet performed Shakespeare’s sublime play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This casting took place at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami Beach, Florida. A Midsummer Night’s Dream followed the romantic adventures and misadventures, quarrels and reconciliations, of two pairs of mortal lovers, as well as the King and Queen of all the fairies. Throughout the course of this paper, an analysis of the choreography, demonstrated principles of dance and the effectiveness of the message conveyed during A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s will be discussed in detail. According to an article posted in The New York Times entitled “Balanchine and Shakespeare Catch Some Waves in Miami”, A Midsummer Night’s …show more content…
During the performance, the principle of spacing was demonstrated when the dancers scattered themselves across the stage and used excellent spacing. As each scene approached, they respectfully stationed themselves in their allotted positions. Never was the stage oddly spaced or bare. Also, the core principle of dance was demonstrated by using rhythm/time. This referred to the speed of moment of the dancers. Throughout the play, the time of the dancers fluctuated. There were times of excitement when the dancers expressed feelings of joy and therefore they had a fast speed but there are other times when the dancers were confused and uncertain and as a result, their speed were much slower and calmer.
Additionally, they used the principle of shape to create illusions to entice the crowd. Some parts of the play instructed the dancers to form inanimate objects using their bodies. This was a creative way of capturing the audience’s attention and retaining their interest. Another core principle of dance which was demonstrated by the dancers were movement intention/dynamics. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream the movements were smooth, sustained and fluid. Every movement seemed to melt into the next one. In fact, the movement never stopped, it was continuous and the dancers were
For example, when Demetrius goes into the forest after Hermia, Helena follows him. She informs him that she needn’t be anything more to a dog to him, and that he may treat her in such a way that he would treat a dog (2.1. 210-15). However appalled most women would be by the example, it is still important to know and understand that demeaning yourself is never ok. The most important reason teenagers should read a Midsummer’s Night Dream is to be able to understand the significance of symbolism. Oberon plans to use a flower to make his wife fall in love with the first thing she sees. He wants to distract her so that he may take the child for himself. He informs puck about the flower’s powers and asks him to put it in Demetrius’ eyes, so that he may fall in love with Helena (2.2. 265-673). Magic plays a very big factor in the play, and most of the magic is concentrated in the woods. The woods’ represents a place without rules, where anything can happen. When the characters begin to go into the woods unexplainable events take place, as a result of the lack of structure that a township provides. By entering the woods the characters leave behind rules, and tend to reveal things about themselves they wouldn’t have before. The use of symbolism makes it an essential play for teenagers to read. To teach them that you cant
Throughout the years, America has pursued the performing arts in a large variety of ways. Theatre plays a dramatic and major role in the arts of our society today, and it takes great effort in all aspects. Musical Theatre, specifically, involves a concentration and strength in dance, acting, and singing. This is the base that Musical Theatre is built upon. For my Senior Project, I helped choreograph multiple scenes in a community musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie”. Choreography is a way of expressing oneself, but it has not always been thought of for that purpose. Agnes de Mille’s expressive talent has drastically affected how people see choreography today. Agnes de Mille’s influence in the world of dance has left a lasting impact in the Performing Arts Department, and her revolutionary works are still known today for their wit, lyricism, emotion, and charm.
A predominant feature within this theatrical element is the incorporation of lyrical movement within the acting scenes. A group of lyrical dancers move in and out within the scenes and are used as a foreshadowing method to emphasize situations that hold a current or upcoming significance to the overall theme of the play. For example, in the beginning of the play, the dancers along with Onya are represented through an apparent dream that Elgeba, Onya’s young neighbor, has about Onya being swept away by the currents of the water. The dancers impressively portrayed this concept as the silent waves that were holding Onya up and taking her away. This foreshadowing dream shows Onya’s ultimate destiny and fall from her increasing hardships.
Fairies, mortals, magic, love, and hate all intertwine to make A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare a very enchanting tale, that takes the reader on a truly dream-like adventure. The action takes place in Athens, Greece in ancient times, but has the atmosphere of a land of fantasy and illusion which could be anywhere. The mischievousness and the emotions exhibited by characters in the play, along with their attempts to double-cross destiny, not only make the tale entertaining, but also help solidify one of the play’s major themes; that true love and it’s cleverly disguised counterparts can drive beings to do seemingly irrational things.
Staging A Midsummer Night's Dream With an Emphasis on the Influence of the Spirit World on the Human World
Order and disorder is a favorite theme of Shakespeare. In A Midsummer Night's Dream the apparently anarchic tendencies of the young lovers, of the mechanicals-as-actors, and of Puck are restrained by the "sharp Athenian law" and the law of the Palace Wood, by Theseus and Oberon, and their respective consorts. This tension within the world of the play is matched in its construction: in performance it can at times seem riotous and out of control, and yet the structure of the play shows a clear interest in symmetry and patterning.
Learning about Dance: Dance as an Art Form and Entertainment provides visions into the many features of dance and inspires scholars to keep an open mind and think critically about the stimulating, bold, ever-changing and active world of dance. Learning about Dance is particularly useful for those who do not have a wide and diverse dance contextual, such as students in a preliminary level or survey dance course. This book consists of twelve chapters. Chapter one dance as an art form focuses on the basic structures of dance. Dance is displayed through the human body, it has the control to communicate and induce reactions. Dance can be found in many different places, it enables the participants and seekers to touch and knowledge the joy of movement. Dance is discovered as being one of the oldest art forms worldwide. Dance existed in early cultures was recognized in a sequence of rock paintings portrayed dance. Since this discovery of rock paintings, several other forms of art have been found that depict dance. People used rituals in order to worship the gods and believed that the rituals held magical and spiritual powers. During the ancient period civilizations sentient decisions began to be made with regard to dance. Other periods that had an impact on dance were the medieval period, the renaissance period, and the contemporary period. Chapter two the choreographer, the choreographer is a person who comes up with the movements created into a dance routine. The choreographer expresses themselves through choreography because this is their way of communicating with the audience. In order to be a choreographer you must have a passion for dance. Each choreographer has their own approaches and ways of making up a routine. Choreographers ...
In conclusion, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare effectively uses the motifs of the seasons, the moon, and dreams to show that love, irrationality, and disobedience directly cause chaos. By calling to mind the seasons in unnatural order, describing the moon behaving strangely, and discussing the dualistic, irrational nature of dreams, Shakespeare effectively evokes a sense of chaos and disorder. Linking each of these motifs to the themes of love, irrationality, and disobedience allows Shakespeare to illustrate the disarray that is bound to result from any romance.
In dance, contrast is the side by side comparison of space, time and energy, in order to identify differences. This contrast was best exemplified by the stark difference in tempo which was alternated from allegro to adagio in each sequential Part. The tempo changes enabled the dancers’ to vary their use of space and energy. Throughout the allegro movements, space and energy were maximized. In contrast, as the tempo slowed to adagio, the utilization of space and output of energy decreased. Taylor expanded contrast in Esplanade to include the costumes. The female apparel consisted of pastel flowing short skirts, which differed from the male’s neutral tight fitting costumes. Although the free flowing costume complimented the allegro tempo, it contradicted the slow, confined movements throughout the adagio tempos. Repetition or the duplication of movement created a cohesiveness of the mass dancers and established the individual as an outsider. Whether in the slow paced repeated walking movements in Parts 2 and 4 or the sequential lifts and leaps in Parts 1, 3, and 5, repetition established unity. The isolation of the woman was also established by her repeated unsuccessful efforts to interact with the mass dancers by running and circling each dancer in Part 1. The repetition of walking steps throughout the dance created continuity,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most popular and frequently performed comical plays (Berardinelli). The play transformed into a cinematic production by Michael Hoffman has not changed in its basic plot and dialogue, but the setting and some character traits have. The play setting has been gracefully moved from 16th century Greece to 19th century Tuscany (Berardinelli). The addition of bicycles to the play affects the characters in that they no longer have to chase each other around the woods, but can take chase in a more efficient fashion. As far as characters are concerned, Demetrius is no longer the smug and somewhat rude character we find in act 1, scene 1 (Shakespeare pg. 6, line 91), but rather a seemingly indifferent gentleman placed in an unfortunate circumstance set to delay his wedding to Hermia. Perhaps the most noticeable change in the character set from stage to film occurs in the characters of Puck and Nick Bottom.
In the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, by William Shakespeare the contrast between both setting and character are well explained throughout the play. This play is mostly about four young Athenians whose lives become a total disaster because of the fairies in the forest, strange situations in the city of Athens, Greece and mixtures of love potions. The main setting of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is in Athens, Greece. In Athens, the Duke Theseus plans his marriage with Hippolyta. In contrast, the forest is where all the drama happens between all the characters. The four main characters of this play are Hermia, Helena, Demetrius and Lysander.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream portrays magic through many places in the text. Magic is a key component to the plot of the story. Magic can make a problem disappear, or it can intensify the problem. There are many reasons magic is powerful, but one of the main ones is because not everyone understands it. Magic in one way or another affects everyone in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but the perspective with which each character views magic is different. The power of magic is something that is hard to understand, even those who use magic often cannot fully understand magic because in many ways it is irrational and inexplicable.
After I began to learn to dance ballet, I found out that these elegant movements actually require a lot of strength, flexibility of the bodies and brain’s participation to make it looked elegant. The dancers’ movements in the performance were so fluent and elegant and it is not hard to imagine how hard they had practiced, stretched and use the strengths to do all the ballet poses with their bodies look longer and longer. Their expressions also impressed me a lot. By looking at their expressions, the audience can easily understand the scenes and blend into the story. The performers actually not only are required to have good dancing skills but also are required to have some talents to be actors. Moreover, they also have to be good at expressing their feelings on the
Considered to be the greatest playwright to ever have lived, William Shakespeare’s works continue to fascinate and entrance audiences around the world. Imbued with imagery, his comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream is perhaps one of his more fantastic but none the less intricate plays. Presiding over the proceedings, the moon is the uniting feature of the play. With its multi-layered symbolism it is the thread that connects the different characters and weaves the tale together.
William Shakespeare has become one of the most famous and influential writers in the English literature, and his work has been reenacted and studied all over the world for several decades. However, we often do not get the chance to admire all of his other plays as the school curriculum in high school only covers his four most famous tragedies plays like Rome and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello. Now, as a college student, I am able to appreciate his work more as my have recently seen Shakespeare Midwinter Night’s Dream which is based on Shakespeare’s real play Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, a comedy that portrays the events that surround the marriage of a Duke, the love of four young lovers and a group of amateur actors that must put an act for the Duke on his wedding. In this version of Shakespeare Midwinter’s Night’s Dream, all of the original characters and the dialogues were left