Fights and Flights was performed by the cast of STEPS Youth Dance Company. The choreographers of this piece were the works of Isabella Stone, Matt Cornell, Tyrone Robinson, Jessica Lewis with Kung Fu specialist Daniel King, Shona Erskine and Artistic Director Alice Lee Holland. The overall concept for Fights and Flights was first pitched late 2012 and began to develop at the start of 2013. The cast began creating Fights and Flights in the studio in January 2014 exploring themes and ideas for the final performance. It took 28 days to create the entire piece. Fights and Flights celebrates 25 years for STEPS Youth Dance Company by inspiring, engaging and empowering young dancers to succeed their life goals in dance.
The intention of this performance was to celebrate life at its best and worst moments. Fights and Flights highlights the darkest moments of our lives such as the battles and challenges in which we must face and the physical and mental obstacles that young people are subjected to and overcome. It also explores the brightest moments of our lives that are most satisfying which have lead us to achieve success. I believe that the performance successfully portrayed the concept of battles within ourselves. They achieved this through fights and the moments of freedom in flight throughout the entire show. I found the beginning highlighted the theme of ‘battle’ by using martial art movements and having chaotic fight scenes between dancers. Fights and Flights was compiled of personal stories from the the cast which they shared to create a piece that showcased experiences from their varying ages and life stories. The older and more experienced professional dancers shared their personal stories as they have overcome many challenges ...
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...Flight as we escape and enjoy. The lighting in Part 1 was dark because the theme was Fight, which suited the choreography of Kung Fu and chaotic scenes of battle. In Part 2, the lighting was brighter as the theme was Flight, especially in Power and Promise, this scene was colourful and had a more up beat tone to it as it was about being free. The costumes worn by the dancers were black with white straps across the chest and black long garments for the professional dancers. The choreographer used the white straps to symbolize seat belts that hold the body’s form to create strength.
Overall, I believe that STEPS Youth Dance company successfully delivered an entertaining piece that highlighted the moments of Fight and Flight in our lives using many different techniques such as props, colourful and dark lighting, symbolic costumes, choreography and entertaining music.
In chapter 15 from Thomas C. Fosters’ How to Read Literature Like A Professor, flight is discussed to represent multiple forms of freedom and escape, or possible failure and downfall. Throughout J. D. Salingers’ novel, The Catcher and the Rye, Holden often finds himself wondering where the ducks in the Central Park pond have flown off to due to the water freezing over. On the other hand, the ducks are symbolic of Holden are his interest in the ducks an example of Foster’s ideas that flight represents a desire to be free.
The story explores many vital concepts accompanied by beautiful illustrations. I felt a strong sense of cultural understanding, spirituality and connection to family and land as though I was on this journey too. I could sense an underlying meaning in each dance, holding great importance to Bertie’s family and a strong connection to their culture. Pryor has attempted to fuse the then and now, by speaking of changes in the land, from a once spiritual gathering place, to a now busy town street where through food, they keep the culture alive (Pryor, 2010).
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.
They would dance contemporary to Holiday’s slower jazz songs, which were also her songs with the most serious stories told in them. Performing this style of dance helped to tell the story of hers songs. The dance truly helped to accentuate the message of the song “Strange Fruit.” This song describes the horrific lynchings that took place in the Jim Crow South. The contemporary choreography to this song showed the sadness and confusion that many people felt towards the lynchings. The dancers would come onto the stage in small groups of two or three, and I noticed many of them would do a slow, controlled grand battement followed by dropping their torsos to their feet when they brought their legs back down. They would then proceed to exit the stage, and be followed by the next group of dancers. When I watched this, I felt as though the dancers were showing the pain and despair that people felt before lynchings, and how they next lynching would happen soon
Ask any Step Up movies’ fan, the chance of seeing hip hop dances performed on stage in front of their eyes is definitely in their wish list and so do I. Separated by a 15-minute break, each pieces was performed in average 30 minutes. The first performance was mainly about running, so the dancers were running like crazy from the start but in some way it highlighted the storyline through its’ choreography. There was this dance where a g...
This movie opened my eyes to how our two worlds, both ballet and color guard, are not so different after all. We are always willing to improve, even if we consider ourselves “professionals,” we are willing to adjust choreography without argument, as well as speak-up when
On a Wednesday night I saw Texas State Theatre and Dance Department's performance of A Chorus Line. The main plot of the musical entails the audition of 17 dancers for several Broadway roles on the chorus line. However, during their auditions the director Zach asks for personal stories of each dancer's life. Though the plot of this musical is seemingly simple in its twist on the traditional audition, it explores themes that reveal the human experience, the search for individuality, and the sense of self.
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
The fall dance concert, Rise, was held in the University Theatre at California State University Dominguez Hills. The individuals that helped make this concert come to life are the faculty choreographers: Amy Michelle Allen, Marco Carreon, Sarah Cashmore, Jeff Hendrix, Erin Landry, Doris Ressl Acosta, and Kenneth Walker. They were accompanied by two senior student choreographers, Alanna Neely-Sanchez and Mavra Pedraza.
These moving elements including levels and choreography, with non-moving dance elements including costumes, lighting and music. All of these elements combined allow an audience to understand the sin of ‘Greed’, (thanks to an effective portrayal created by Natalie Weir) and allow an audience to recognise the sin of ‘Greed’ within
In the heart of Miami, Miami Dade College’s (MDC) dance majors put on a performance called The Art of Dance. Under the direction of Michelle Grant- Murray, guest choreographers challenged the students of MDC. The students were also able to exhibit their own work, as this was also their student choreography showcase. The evening consisted of diverse styles such as – African, contemporary, and world dance; unfortunately, I cannot say the all of the pieces impressed me.
Through dance and movement, the storyline were expanded with the assistance of choreographer, Garth Fagan. A well-renowned choreographer...
In the beginning the dancers start out standing completely still and gradually sit down in a chair, with their heads facing down, which brings their upper bodies into a hunched over position. A few seconds later they quickly fling their upper bodies up into the air, taking them out of their seats, and then gently sit back down. When the dancers are on their chairs, their bodies tense up and with their heads facing down as if gravity and pressure weigh down the dancers, restricting them. The dancers free themselves as they break through confinement and jolt their bodies up out
...y conveyed a story based on the musical components. Through, pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, dynamics, tecture, rests, structure and mood at different parts, Harlem Shake conveyed a desensitized depiction of gang warfare in the rough Harlem district of New York during the 1920s. Perhaps the lack of emotion tries to convey a darker message. Indeed, an emotion that accepts tragedy and evil as reality because it has always been present. Yet, instead of ignoring the evil, acknowledging it and finding the positive out of it may help deal with the issue: Dancing.
Ballet is beautiful, touching and tells an enchanting story or expresses deep emotion. There will always be people who love dancing and dedicate their lives to it, losing their problems in the magic of performing. There will always be people to continue choreographing ballets, those with expansive creative genius. There will always be people to compose music for ballets, whose fount of ideas never runs dry. Of course, there will always be people to attend a ballet performance; the seats will be filled with ballet lovers anticipating the spellbinding charm of the dancing. Ballet is always changing its costumes, portrayal, music, and dancing, but its purpose and goal still remain the same. Ballet’s rich history and background are always expanding and adding new dancers, choreographers, and composers to