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Reflection paper regarding “Shall We Dance?”
Dancing is regarded with suspicion in Japan because public display of affection and intimacy is considered indecent and outright scandalous. Even married couples had to restrain from temperate public display of affections, such as holding of hands, saying “I love you”, or even dancing, because it was thought to be “beyond embarrassing”. Thus it would be safe to say that dancing with someone else other than one’s wife is even more disreputable and appalling. To American audiences, dancing may seem like no big deal, but apparently in Japan, ballroom dancing is frowned upon as another vulgar, low-culture import from the West.
This mentality of the Japanese towards dancing and open display of affection was constantly reflected in this movie. The scenes of where Sugiyama had to hesitate before enrolling into dancing class, had to look around before going upstairs to make sure that no one sees him, had to keep this a total secret from family and co-workers all convey Sugiyama’s attitude, which here represents the Japanese culture’s attitude as a whole, on dancing. Apparently, he felt that his association with the art of dancing was deemed shameful, and he had a good reason to believe that. Not only did he hear from Donny, a close friend and co-worker of Sugiyama who had practiced the art of dancing for 5 years, that dancing is a “Dirty lecher”, he also saw the banter reactions of his co-workers when they f...
Considering descendants’ effort to bring this culture back in society, this entire dancing performance, masks, and the idea of interacting with the outside world must not have been merely correlated to their religious and spiritual ritual. It might have been their identity; a symbolic of their society which their ancestors had built and passed down to them.
Ramsay, B. (2000). Dance theory, sociology, and aesthetics. Dance Research Journal, 32(1), 125-131. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1478286
Li’s passion for ballet shows on and off stage through his arabesques, flexibility, fouettés, grande jeté and pirouettes that were nothing less than perfection. I understood that becoming a dancer requires commitment, passion and having a great memory as there’s many moves, routines and ballet terms that you need to learn. When I was performing on stage, I felt free and that I could own the stage as it felt like it was my second home. I also felt complete within myself just as Li felt. To perform on stage, you need to be light and graceful along with connecting to the music using precise steps, poses and formal gestures. The film used dance, music, scenery, and costumes to portray a story characterised by Li’s dance. Classical ballet dancers require the utmost grace and I’ve found that you also need a tremendous level of concentration and memory. This portrays when his choreographer Ben Stevenson asked Li Cunxin to replace the main male role due to an injury on the day of the performance to memorise new dances and perform them in front of an enormous crowd. Many of my performances have been in a group where we all need to be in sync and work together. This film highlighted that in order to become a professional ballet dancer, you have to prepare to work extremely hard no matter how gruelling the schedule is in order to
To begin with, many of the social dances that are popular today are come from dance instruction songs made relevant by popular culture. Dances such as the “Dougie” and the “wobble” have become popularized through the sharing of there accompanying music videos and songs. The music video for the song “Wobble Baby” by V.I.C has over twenty three million views on Youtube. The movement of the “wobble” is a slight lean while slightly bouncing the body up and down. I find the performance of dances at clubs and parties such as the “wobble” to be both embarrassing and entertaining. It was an interesting experience to watch my peers learn the social dances during our hip-hop class. Many of my peers appeared to be very uncomfortable while learning the
New Dance is described as a developing art form; this dance was articulated in the early 20th century. According to Chapter 8 in History of Dance book, “the new dance emerged as a response to the ballet that populated the variety shows and music halls, which had a rigid formula of steps and poses” (Kassing). The New Dance was a product of several strands that interlaced together dancers’ studies and backgrounds; these strands and others were woven together in a historical, political, and societal framework. For instance, one strand of New Dance consisted of the concepts, techniques, costumes, and stage settings from around the world. These strands influenced major dancers and choreographers, such as, Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, Ruth St. Denis, and Ted Shawn.
Geisha are defined as arts people who study classical Japanese music and dance, perform music and dance for parties, and are registered officially with a central office. (Foreman, 34, 2005, Prasso, 200, 2006) The combined proficiency at music and dance with a sense of elegance, tact, and grace that wins the respect and admiration of patrons. (Groemer, 159, 2009). They were high-end performers, and could not be afforded as entertainers by the common people. They are expected to be witty, flattering, excellent conversationalists, and have to endure long years of strict training in traditional dance or in playing the shamisen, a three-stringed instrument (Struck, 2000) Only those who were very rich could pay for the accompaniment of a Geisha. Overall, the Geisha should be interpreted as performers, just like in the west, ho...
Alvin Ailey, a dancer born in 1931, founded what is known today as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Born in Texas, Ailey faced intense racism and discrimination growing up. As a result he strove to created a multi-racial company where dancers were judged upon ability and not their race or background. This was groundbreaking since at the time racism led to limited opportunities for African American dancers. At 22 Ailey joined the Horton dance company where he would eventually become the artistic director after Horton’s passing. Ailey founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958. Popularizing modern dance, Ailey became known throughout the world as he traveled internationally with his dance company. Emphasizing the theatricality of dance, Ailey utilized intricate costumes, stunning lighting displays and makeup in his performances. The style of Ailey’s choreography incorporates aligned ballet legs with a more loose, “modern” torso. Ailey choreographed 79 pieces for the company before his death in December of 1989, one of the most acclaimed being Revelations. Revelations was created by Ailey in 1960 and brought fame to the company. The highly acclaimed piece is still preformed today by the company’s dancers. Ailey died of AIDS in 1989 after choreographing countless pieces for his own company and others such as the American Ballet Theater.
Cofer, Judith Ortiz. “Silent Dancing.” Encounters: Essays for Exploration and Inquiry. 2nd ed. Ed. Pat C. Hoy II and Robert DiYanni. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000. 145-51.
Saturday night, May 15, 2004, was Lemoore High School's prom. As Lemoore principal Jim Bennett looked around the dance floor, he saw most of the guys dancing behind their dates, grinding their hips against the girls as the girls gyrated back against them. They were freak-dancing, which is how most people dance to hip-hop, but Mr. Bennett had always felt it was too sexual for a school event. "It's [the same as] foreplay," he says. During the last song of the night, a girl got on all fours and rubbed her butt against
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 ...
Every dance that is created by a choreographer has a meaning and or purpose behind it. The dance choreographed could be used to send a political, emotional, or a social message. Regardless of the message being sent, each dance created possesses a unique cultural and human significance. This essay will examine and analyze two dance works from history and give an insight into what each dance work provided to the society of its time.
The first social dance explored was ballroom dancing. Ballrooms were a place of courtship; therefore, these dances were always performed by a male, female couple. Traditional gender roles began the dance as the men always asked the women to dance. As the dance began, the bodies were transformed into vehicles to connect these opposite sex partners. However, societal rules applied to this dance because partners must be from within the appropriate class, the intentions proper, and the movements executed in a specific manner. The woman’s role was essentially to avoid a misstep of tripping on the man’s feet, since the male always led the dance.
You expect a ‘comedy’ to tickle your funny bone so you can walk out chuckling. Yes, Shall We Dance does raise laughs. But - it also raises some interesting questions. The DVD says it’s ‘A New Comedy About Following Your Own Lead’ and a pun like that is bound to appeal to the individualistic age we are supposed to be living in. It does indeed – and yet, what is happiness and contentment? Is it a lovely, loving and loved spouse and all the trappings of a comfortable settled life? Can there be a sense of incompleteness in spite of having ‘everything’? Is that then ingratitude? Should one be allowed to pursue individual goals? At what cost?
“Dance, the art of precise, expressive, and graceful human movement, traditionally, but not necessarily, performed in accord with musical accompaniment. Dancing developed as a natural expression of united feeling and action.”
Also, the performers are constituted with same number of men and women. They imply the importance of equality through the performance. The female and male dancers use the same movements to show that they are equal. The message being conveyed here is important, on the grounds of its social influence and giving the whole performance a deeper meaning. The thing makes dancing different and odd to other occupations is the fact that most famous and well known dancers are mostly females, since on other social circumstances males tend to dominate more realms. Here, besides all the female masters, the male dancers appear as much as the female artists do and they also showcase what they are capable of. As I watched more of the performance, the interactions between dancers and the LED lights became more appealing to me. Dancers use their bodies to interpret the connections between human beings and technology. Moreover, the background music also plays a vital role in the production of this whole piece of art. The tempo of the music, the dance movements, as well as the frequency of the lights going on and off together appeared to the audience as a desirable combination. I love how the dancers do every movements according to the rhythm of the music and how they two fit perfectly. All of those things together made a great show to watch and