In “Errand into the Maze”, Martha Graham utilizes the classic Greek mythology of the Minotaur to display a tale of quelling sexual fear in the midst of the most terrifying of adversaries. The expert use of contraction to reflect pain and discomfort coupled with the sharp and irregular movements of the dancers, fills the audience with the unique sense of unpleasantness and dread that one would experience conquering his or her own fears and makes this one of many influential pieces that Martha Graham choreographed within modern dance. In Greek mythology the Minotaur was said to dwell in the center of a complex maze; similarly, in Errand into the Maze, the female protagonist uses a staggered and misaligned rope in place of an actual maze suggesting that her endless string of thought is indeed the maze within the dance. She travels along the rope franticly until, somewhere near the end of the rope, a nearly naked Minotaur appears. A battle ensues and the …show more content…
female protagonist tries with all of her might to overcome the sheer physical strength of the Minotaur, but the creature eventually overwhelms her. This battle repeats multiple times with different outcomes. The abrupt movements within these battles seems to convey not only fear but, more specifically, a deep sexual fear of the unknown. (01:15) The female protagonist is standing facing the audience with her hands folded, seemingly covering her sexual organs, with every muscle within her upper body clenched. She continues these contractions as she turns to her left and takes a lengthy step with her right foot, pivots on that same foot into the position she was in prior and repeats these series of movements one additional time. She then thrusts her head upwards and to the right, then left, and finally downward before repeating the previous walking movements two additional times. Within these movements the character seems to be pondering something possibly sexual in nature and is rather conflicted. She seems uneasy and nearly violent towards her own thought processes. The repeating elongated steps followed by turning towards the audience may symbolize a progression in thought that is either considered taboo or at the very least not generally acceptable. (01:32) As the female dancer faces the audience, she inhales sharply while flexing her abdomen and her hands begin to raise rhythmically, accompanied by more sharp inhales and abdomen flexing, from her pelvis until finally she is seemingly free from the shackles of perceived taboo sexuality. She then extends her arms to opposite sides, tilting her head slightly to the left, and begins spinning slowly at first and then increasing in speed until her moves seem mechanic in nature. This section seems to demonstrate that without cultural pressures, it is much easier to face the fear of progressive thought, even if that thought is sexual in nature. The struggle to fully raise the dancer’s hands demonstrates the effort one must subject themselves to when reconstructing engrained social norms. Additionally, the mechanic like movements that follow demonstrate the fluidity of the human mind without the presence of social pressures. (01:55) The dancer thrusts her right foot onto the left side of the rope then, pivoting on the ball of her foot, thrusts her left foot onto the right side of the rope all while her arms are raised to her sides slightly bent at the elbow.
While pivoting, she only moves her lower body and everything from her torso upwards stays almost completely stationary. She performs this set of movements in a progressive manner down the length of the rope, while moving her feet in a distinct pattern and putting emphasis on every fifth and sixth step. The dancer’s destination at the end of the rope seems to be a large stone like structure that is almost phallic in nature. This section signifies that even after defeating engrained social norms, one must travel through the maze of his or her own fears and doubts during deep and progressive thought. Furthermore, the emphasis the dancer puts on ever fifth and sixth step within this progression may symbolize more deeply the doubt the dancer experiences within her own
thought. (03:18) The Minotaur, finally making his first appearance, runs onto the stage towards the female protagonist. He has a staff like object held behind his neck and at the bends of each arm that seemingly force his hands to be in a raised position. He stops a few feet shy of the female dancer and extends his left leg outward at the hip forming a perfect ninety-degree angle while balancing entirely on his right leg. He then bends his extended leg at the knee and takes an exaggerated step towards the female dancer and immediately extends his right leg in the same previous fashion. The female dancer is turned away from the Minotaur and is visually in distress with one hand on the front of her hips and the other bent at the elbow and hiding her face from the beast. The Minotaur continues this movement around the female dancer in a circular pattern while she shifts her feet and struggles to stay hidden from the creature. The Minotaur ends his march right behind the female dancer, and while both dancers are now facing the audience, the female protagonist seems visibly shaken by the physical presence looming behind her. This section uses the Minotaur’s large physical presence to symbolize a rarely visited inner conflict that terrorizes the central character. Seemingly more difficult to deal with than doubts or weaknesses, are the true inner demons that one may combat during any type of progressive thought. (05:51) The female protagonist, who has seemingly escaped the Minotaur for the time being, is standing within the stone like structure that the rope leads to. She looks left and right to see if the Minotaur is present. After confirming her seclusion, she begins reeling in the rope towards herself, pulling with her right and left hand in an alternating fashion to convey her distress. After gathering all of the rope, she begins wrapping it around the stone like object in slow exaggerated thrusts of her arms with her head following, almost in a flailing motion. This section signifies that the protagonist is attempting to hide within her inner thoughts and doubts to avoid attending to the much larger concern of her inner most demons. Reverting back to what she originally progressed passed makes this the first sign of actual regression within the dance. While Martha Graham’s inspiration for this piece was seemingly her own continuous inner conflict, it was imperative that the world around her reflect on their own inner dialogues. In 1947, the year in which “Errands into the Maze” was created, World War II had just ended two years prior giving the entire world great reason to analyze courage, fear, and inner conflict. America specifically was still fighting small battles to end the monumental gender inequalities experienced by so many, giving further meaning to the choices in gender on stage within “Errands into the Maze”. However, the essential inspiration for this piece was simply to show the world the inner feelings of Martha Graham. Graham had to create a new style of dance to express the raw emotion she was feeling. She replaced graceful movements with jagged contortions and smiles with blunt and sometimes angry expressions. Compared with other choreographers of her time, Martha Graham’s style of choreography may be reminiscent of the baroque time period. However, with any revolution of the arts understanding is hard to come by. Graham needed to create these new style of movements to simply express feeling, not search for understanding. While there is no way of knowing for certain whether the sexual undertones within this dance were meant to be explicitly known, for these references to be a coincidence is ludicrous. The world was still warming up to the idea of the new woman in 1947 and Martha Graham, inspired by the mythology of the Minotaur, found a way to express her feelings towards a, still, male dominated society. This message becomes obvious given the nature of the movements, the props, the lighting, the excessively masculine figure of the Minotaur, the distress of the female protagonist, and the eventual defeat of the masculine figure. The quelling of sexual fears is in essence a battle for equality rather than a dominant party being present. Graham simply knew that the mythology of the Minotaur was perfect to display her message and her feelings.
The dancers begin in unison in a large clump. They dance together with slow movements; reaching up with their arms straight and palms open. It is to be noted that when they stretch their arms up, they tilt their head and look up as well. Throughout the piece the dancers repeat this movement, which represents reaching and praying to God. The dancers are constantly reaching up, embodying their despair and their yearning for help. As the dance progresses, the dancers repeatedly break out of the clump in the center and do different movements and their own sequences. After this, they always go back to their clump and do synchronized movement. Their constant breaking away from the group symbolizes their continual want to be free, as well as their persistency. On the other hand, their constant going back to the group shows how African-Americans will always be joined together by their culture, prayer, and hardships. Additionally during the piece, multiple dancers will run up to another dancer and jump or hold onto them, and then they do a couple of movements together. This shows how they are reliant and dependent on each other, and how they need each other throughout their suffering. Lastly, Much of the movement in this section possesses the downward energy characteristic of African dance, which symbolizes a connection to the earth. The choices Ailey made choreographically communicates all
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).
Her goal was to move, not dance. She challenged the notions of what a quote on quote “female dancer” was and could do. Dance to her was an exploration, a celebration of life, and religious calling that required an absolute devotion (pg. 11, Freedman). She considered her dancers “acrobats of God”. An example of a dance which symbolized the “essentialized” body was Martha Graham’s Lamentation, choreographed in 1930, which served as an expression of what person’s grief, with Graham as the solo dancer in the piece. The costume, a tube-like stretchy piece of fabric, only allowed her face, hands, and feet to be seen, and, as Graham stated, “The garment that is worn is just a tube of material, but it is as though you were stretching inside your own skin.” In the beginning of the piece, she started out by sitting on a bench with her legs wide spread and arms held tight. Her head was going back and forth as if she was feeling sadness or maybe replaying thoughts in her head. By the way she was holding her hands so tight and close to her body, it symbolized the deep pain within her––the essence of her piece was grief, and she danced it from inside out. Russel Freedman, the author of Martha Graham A Dancers Life, stated, “She did not dance about grief, but sought “the thing itself”- the very embodiment of grief (p. 61).” Graham, dancing with strength and power, was encapsulated with her movement and was completely surrendered
People do not have to fly to be hero, it takes much more. Many heroes of today are shown to have supernatural powers that makes them acquire amazing abilities, flying, super strength, skills to manifest anything, the list goes on. Our heroes in the present time are perceived by the audiences' mindset to have special powers but there are times where being a hero does not need to have all the extra tricks. Thomas, a character in The Maze Runner is thrown unconsciously with no memory into a place of the unknown called the Glades, consisting of only teenagers inhabiting the area. He would soon find out the whole place is bordered by a big wall that closes by night and day to protect them from the maze that are filled with demonic machines that will kill on sight. This begins his adventure, eager to learn what is out there and willing to become a maze runner which is equivalent to being a tribute for the greater good in their little homemade society. Having powers might help to become a hero, but in the dystopian novel The Maze Runner, by James Dashner, his protagonist Thomas demonstrates the hero journey in a more natural way by crossing the threshold, meeting a mentor, and lastly having tests, allies and enemies.
In the lines “they liked to hear me “speak pieces” and sing to see me dance the paraseme-la, and give me generously of their small silver for doing things,” (22-25). In these lines the author describes how she was entertaining tourist, which she was dancing for them and showing her affection about the art such as dance and music. She was not asking tourist for the money, her main goal was to show people that dancing was one of the best way to show the talent and it was a very important for her to show others how awesome was the
Movement then, is a complex issue in the Comedy. And yet, difficult as it is to unravel, it plays a crucial schematic and poetic role in the work. The dual relationship between the internal and external examples of motion increases the poetic and ideological intricacy of the eipc. Within the individual canti, movement is used as either a vehicle for punishment, penance or reward. This coupled with the drama and the implicit order of the overall structure creates the backdrop and props for a poetry and philosophy which can quite reasonably be labelled `divine'.
Hey you, Yeah… YOU! Would you want to live in a society where you live in a box for your entire life, and mean absolutely nothing to the just about anyone? For science right? NOPE! Obviously, Societies fall as a result of a corrupt government, Failing Social Structure, and Sickness. It is due to these factors that many great societies such as Greece, Rome, and the society depicted in the book Maze Runner fall.
Contemporary 20th century choreographer Paul Taylor used the components of dance -space, time and energy to explore the struggle of an individual versus the conformity of the masses in his dance Esplanade. In addition, Taylor intertwined the principles of contrast, repetition, and resolution throughout Esplanade to portray the emotion, which accompanied this isolation. This esplanade (a long, open, level area usually by the sea) represented the journey of an independent women’s movement against the societal norm of heterosexual couples within the masses.
In the title “In This Strange Labyrinth”, the labyrinth is symbolic of love’s maze-like qualities. The speaker describes her predicament by saying, “In this strange Labyrinth how shall I turn/Ways are on all sides” (1-2). A different path on every side surrounds her, and every way seems to be the wrong way. She is confused about which way she should go. Wroth is conveying the theme of love in a decidedly negative way, for according to myth, the Labyrinth was where the Minotaur lived and before it’s demise, death was evident for all visitors of the maze. The speaker is struggling with every choice she may make and cannot rest or find aid until she finds the best way: “Go forward, or stand still, or back retire;/ I must these doubts endure without allay/ Or help, but travail find for my best hire” (10-11). She has several choices and each one is confusing and leaves her feeling helpless.
The theatre is full of young men and women. The gas lanterns dimly light the room and the silhouette of a figure can be seen in the shadows of the stage. As she emerges, she is like a dream: a tall, elegant body with a form fitting bodice and tutu. She is entrancing on her tiny pointe shoes as she floats across the stage. Love and passion fill the air as she moves in such a way that is almost magical. The Romantic Ballet Period introduced the aspects of theme, costume, and new technique to the dance world and its influences are still seen in contemporary works in ballet.
I have always loved to read. While most children prefer watching television, I would rather read a book. About two years ago I read the book The Maze Runner, by James Dashner. After reading this book, I realized just how much Christ effects literature. I learned that we can see aspects of Christ in books written by secular authors. You can find Christian allegories that the author didn’t even realize they were writing.
...d from. Minor questions which require very little difficult to answer, slowly Bausch would begin to ask more complex question to draw emotion. Creating an environment where the dancers are constantly being questioned on how they move and what their intentions are behind each movement. Bausch asked these questions so that her performers simulate real experiences. Bausch would never ask her performers to recreate a moment that they had experienced but explain it, explain why and what? Why did they feel that way? What did your body go through when they went through that certain emotional experience? This then converts past experiences into a representative form. Rather than receiving strict and confining direction, Pina Bausch’s technique had the ability to let her style of theatre transcend due to her representative restoration through her performers past experiences.
In The Maze Runner, Thomas and a bunch of other guys from the glade are stuck in a giant maze with no way out. Thomas is the main character and this is how he follows the hero’s journey and becomes a hero. Reasons are Call to adventure, Ordeal, Death\, and rebirth, Crossing the threshold.
In dance, the tenets of embodied cognition may explain how choreographers invent ‘dancely’ movements. An example problem is to imagine what it is like to have an rope connected to your shoulder. The rope is pulled and released. To solve this problem a dancer works with a partner some distance away. That partner is notionally holding the rope and pulling it. The dancer then generates mental imagery associated with the movement of the rope. Most of this imagery will be about the somatic or kinesthetic feelings of being pulled and released. The pattern of somatic or kinesthetic priming of these images created serves to bias the next somatic or kinesthetic images in the dancer’s imagination. Batson and Wilson are of the opinion that “researching
A ballet dancer’s general intention when performing any piece is to convey a message to the audience. A message is relayed through the dancer’s strategic facial expressions and body movements. Each movement has a purpose in articulating the dancer’s energy, and confidence within themselves to express the emotions and inspire the audience (Lucas). A dancer’s energy and