About: (Martha) Graham dance technique and philosophy.
"Dancer, Choreographer, and Teacher Martha Graham offers insight into her theories about dance while the members of her world famous troupe display a number of their dance techniques in performance."
Follow this link for the source and more information about the movie.
About:
"Imagine (BBC One) follows 16-year-old Henry Perkins, who has been declared the most talented young male ballet dancer in the United Kingdom. Disappointingly, as he progressed he became less happy with the standard of teaching he was receiving, and set his sights on Russia. The Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow accepted him and he is now training under the tutelage of Ilya Kuznetsov. He has the classic ‘artistic temperament’, and this film charts the strained, fractious, yet inspirational relationship between himself and his driven student." Source See also
I went on a little trip to visit a school I would like to apply for. It was also my first experience using Rideshare. No problems, but it takes longer than a straight train journey, of course. Beauti- and painful journey back through storm, rain, down-under and through fog, smoke, night, ice, aquaplaning and traffic jams on the highway. My heart was very still. It probably will cost me a few minutes of my life, stressful thinking like that.
All in all it was important to go as not all contemporary schools would accept me with my pure Ballet BA. I will have to make my ongoing experience of contemporary very clear.
It's time to start thinking about a choreography that I can show at the audition!
This week, three very thorough and hard (for me) pilates classes with Hannah Ma at the 3CL.
What I saw in the school:
1. The BA classes reminded me of my time at Laban, how it is to come to contemporary class each day and how ballet is taught to contemporary dancers.
2. The MA class made me want to get up and hurl myself across the floor.
Here comes to mind: I hurl it through space
and put it on the floor
as in
My body is a mess
of pinks and browns and creams
Each day a little less
Or so each day it seems
I put it into place
Each day a little more
I hurl it through space
and put it on the floor
But my body is a mess
No matter what I do
Each day supposedly a little less
Each day a little older too
I feel a little blue
Each day about the same
It seems I felt this through and through
All the way I came
3. The MA dancers were beauti- and characterful!
4. The talk made me feel slightly pressured, impatient to audition, stressed, doubtful about my potential,
5. The teacher inspired me and made me laugh and wonder!
6. The country made me a little sad,
7. But also I see opportunities for long walks in the forest, which again calmed me. It's Heine's Willis:
"Es ist die Sage von den gespenstischen Tänzerinnen, die dort unter dem Namen »die Willis« bekannt sind. Die Willis sind Bräute, die vor der Hochzeit gestorben sind. Die armen jungen Geschöpfe können nicht im Grabe ruhig liegen, in ihren taten Herzen, in ihren toten Füßen blieb noch jene Tanzlust, die sie im Leben nicht befriedigen konnten, und um Mitternacht steigen sie hervor, versammeln sich truppenweis an den Heerstraßen, und wehe dem jungen Menschen, der ihnen da begegnet! Er muß mit ihnen tanzen, sie umschlingen ihn mit ungezügelter Tobsucht, und er tanzt mit ihnen, ohne Ruh und Rast, bis er tot niederfällt. Geschmückt mit ihren Hochzeitkleidern, Blumenkronen und flatternde Bänder auf den Häuptern, funkelnde Ringe an den Fingern, tanzen die Willis im Mondglanz, ebenso wie die Elfen. Ihr Antlitz, obgleich schneeweiß, ist jugendlich schön, sie lachen so schauerlich heiter, so frevelhaft liebenswürdig, sie nicken so geheimnisvoll lüstern, so verheißend; diese toten Bacchantinnen sind unwiderstehlich." Heinrich Heine, Elementargeister, 1837
And this story of course, for those non-dancers, has been an inspiration for the ballet Giselle!
Perhaps the most celebrated ballet of the Romantic era, Adolphe Adam’s intoxicating ballet Giselle is the dramatic story of a peasant girl whose betrayal by her aristocratic lover causes her to go mad before dying and returning as a ghost.
This is Natalia Osipova's (Bolshoi Ballet) interpretation of the Mad Scene:
Also see this video, where Giselle (Natalia Osipova) appears as a Willi (or Wili in English) from her Grave. She appears to be flying!
For any actors or otherwise interested in interpretation - see also Polina Semionova in the Mad Scene:
I have found this wonderful resource for Russian ballet today! Videos from Ilya Kuznetsov's classes at the Bolshoi Academy, but also Videos from the Vaganova Academy and more.
Here are a few videos I watched - but there are more than 500 so there is food for the whole of 2011.
To all non-dancing friends. As this is what I do, I think it would be nice for me to do some educational work. The following ballet/film is the version of that ballet Swan Lake (that you might have heard of...) by Matthew Bourne:
"Thrilling, audacious and totally original, Matthew Bourne's legendary production transforms one of ballet's best -loved stories into a stylish, witty, poignant, contemporary tale with extravagant, award-winning designs by Lez Brotherston."
All I say is, save it for the evening, make some tea, and watch this. It will be a cultural AND fun watch, and a very important piece of the international world of dance. I have stolen it all from youtube, (but would you have found it on youtube yourselves?) including the text. You don't need to read it, it's just there in case you get lost (well detailed). The story should be clear enough.
ENJOY (and learn)!
Act One
In the prologue, the Prince, as a child, is awakened by a nightmare of a swan. The Prince's mother comes in to comfort him, but becomes nervous with the intimacy of the situation and leaves, looking over her shoulder indecisively.
Scene One opens with the Prince being prepared for a day of official duties by a small army of chambermaids and valets.
In Scene Two, arrayed in his full dress uniform, the Prince becomes bored by a boat christening, a ribbon cutting and other symbolic tasks.
Act One
In Scene Two his mother prods him to keep up appearances while giving most of her attention to handsome young soldiers. During this scene there is a transition from the child actor playing the young Prince to the identically-dressed adult dancer who portrays the grown Prince. This now-adult Prince is introduced to a gawkish girl called "the Girlfriend". Although the girl seems foisted on him by von Rothbart, the Private Secretary.
Act One (Scene Two)
The Prince enjoys her freshness as an alternative to his duty-bound life. The Queen finds the Girlfriend completely inappropriate.
Act One
In Scene Three, the Queen, one of her admiring soldiers, the Private Secretary, the Prince, and the Girlfriend all appear in a theatre box, where they watch a ballet that is staged for the actual audience as well for as the characters. It is a mawkish, campy send-up of a romantic ballet, in which a fairy princess fights off tree goblins and wins the love of a Tyrolean lumberjack.
Act One
Scene Four finds the disgruntled Prince drinking in his private chambers in front of a mirror, to the shock of his mother. A nearly violent pas de deux ensues in which he pleads for her attention and love and she determinedly rebukes him.
This rebuke sends the Prince into the streets and to the Swank Bar, a 1970s-style disco, in Scenes Five and Six. Here is where the choreography most obviously veers from classical ballet, with jazz forms and modern dance dominating. The Prince seeks love from anonymous strangers who reject him.
Act One
In Scene Seven, he sees the Girlfriend being paid off by von Rothbart, the Private Secretary, to disappear.
While sitting in the street at the end of Scene Seven the Prince imagines a group of swans flying towards him but the vision quickly disappears. It is the first flash of the Prince's descent into madness.
Act Two A Park in St Jame's 1/3
Disappointed that he will never find affection, the Prince contemplates suicide in Act Two, but is saved by the sight of beautiful swans on the lake of a public park. This Act is the most direct rendering from the original plot of Swan Lake, but it contains the most talked-about dancing of the ballet due to stylistic changes. Male dancers portray the swans as aggressive and arrogant animals rather than the delicate, sentimentalized swans traditionally portrayed by ballerinas. The traditional white tutus and tiaras are also discarded, to be replaced with bare chests, feathered knee-length trousers, and bold, black facial markings. Initially rejected by the lead Swan, the Prince is eventually taken into his loving embrace. This is what the Prince has always desired, and the Act ends in triumphant happiness. The swans then fly away. It is not entirely clear whether the Prince has in fact interacted with the swans, or if they are figments of his imagination.
Act Two A Park in St Jame's 2/3
Act Two A Park in St Jame's 3/3
Act Three: The Palace Ballroom 1/4
Scene One begins with princesses from various European nations and their escorts arriving at the palace gates for a grand ball. The Girlfriend sneaks in amongst them.
Act Three: The Palace Ballroom 2/4
Scene Two takes place in a proto-fascist ballroom where gigantic torchieres gripped by fists recall those of Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête.
Act Three: The Palace Ballroom 3/4
..... It commences with the arrival of the Queen and the Prince, but quickly degenerates into a debauched party of drinking and lascivious come-ons. Into this arrives the charismatic and sexually aggressive son of von Rothbart,[4] the Private Secretary, in black leather pants, who intensifies the sexual tension even further by flirting with every woman present, including the Queen.
Act Three: The Palace Ballroom 4/4
Just as in the original Swan Lake one ballerina performs the white Odette and the black Odile, the same danseur performs the white Swan and the black-clad young von Rothbart in this version. The Prince sees something of his beloved Swan in the son and he is as much attracted to his bravado and animal magnetism as he is repulsed by his lewdness. During bump and grind group numbers and a sequence of national dances, it becomes clear that the Queen is powerfully attracted to von Rothbart's son. His father, the Private Secretary, looks on with an increasingly triumphant approval. But the Prince, in a pas de deux, also tries to approach young von Rothbart, only to be rebuffed. The Prince retreats into his mind and imagines dancing intimately with him, but the Prince's confusion interrupts the fantasy, and the son's movements turn quickly from loving to violent. The Prince imagines the other guests at the ball laughing and ridiculing him. The Queen and young von Rothbart embrace and begin kissing, signalling her acceptance of him as her lover. Overwhelmed by his conflicted feelings, the Prince produces a pistol and threatens to shoot his mother. In an ensuing scuffle the Girlfriend tries to dissuade the Prince, while the Private Secretary draws a pistol and points it at the Prince. As shots ring out, the Girlfriend and the Prince fall to the ground, but only the Girlfriend has been hit. She lies unconscious on the ground and the Prince is dragged away, while the Queen throws herself into young von Rothbart's arms. He gives the pistol he had taken from the Prince to his father, the two of them laughing.
Act Four (1/2)
In the final act of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake the Prince, regarded as having lost his mind, is confined to an asylum in a room with a high barred window, and is treated by a doctor and a team of nurses wearing masks that resemble the Queen's face, in a scene reminiscent of his dressing at the beginning of the ballet. Again, the Queen is unable to fully express love for her son.
The Prince crawls into bed and appears to sleep. However, he begins writhing as he dreams of the troupe of swans emerging from under and behind, dancing menacingly around him. He wakes from his nightmare, checking under his bed and around his room for swans. His tortured expression and jerky movements convey the Prince struggling to deal with reality and fantasy.
Act Four (2/2)The Last
......His lead Swan then slowly emerges from within the Prince's bed. It is unclear whether this is happening in reality or is merely another of the Prince's visions. The Swan lovingly dances with the Prince, before the rest of the swans enter and turn on the lead Swan when he makes it clear that he values his relationship with the Prince more than he values membership amongst them. They separate the two and begin attacking the Prince before the Swan leaps in to save him. The swans descend again and begin attacking the Swan. The Prince, despite his efforts, is too weak to save his love. Heartbroken, the Prince cries and collapses onto the bed. The Queen then finds her dead son's body and breaks down in sobs. However, it is in death that the Prince and the Swan can be together; a tableau above showing the lead Swan holding the young Prince from Act One in his arms.
Yesterday this music was played in ballet class forwarded to me today and in retrospect I looked at my notes of the class and funnily enough it is there:
"Pliés: the music was simply beautiful. I think it evoked an emotional response within me. But then I think for pliés the structure is not so important because it is repetitive, legato.. in this class I was fine. (...)"
Very rough of course, but that's what these notes are like.
Excited today to get some feedback on my performance CV and even more excited to get it prepared to send off to some fabulous company I have chosen (hopefully before christmas).
Also very excited to find that people whom I have trained with a few years ago have now entered a company - very inspiring for me to try as well, although I do remember them as very hard working and most successful even then.
Dancing in a little sharing of work this week, which will be fun, and which will be the only thing that comes close to performance of this term. Of course, performance assessments next week. I am looking forward to that.
Preparing more applications, thinking about which performances to film for them, and taking some dance pictures hopefully this week.
