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This 19th Century choreographer collaborated with the composer Pytor Tchaikovsky on The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.
Who is Marius Petipa?
This innovative hip hop choreographer was one of the first to bring urban dance to the concert stage with Rome & Jewels; one of his most recent creations is a celebration of funk called Funkedified.
Who is Rennie Harris?
A choreographic device where the same move (or moves) is repeated sequentially, one person after the next.
What is canon? (What piece could you use as an example?)
A technology that allowed ballerinas to rise up on their toes; they are NOT made from wood but rather layers of fabric and glue.
What are pointe shoes?
This Baroque composer's Double Violin Concerto has been used by both Paul Taylor and George Balanchine.
Who is J.S. Bach?
This choreographer of Revelations was interested in highlighting the African American experience.
Who is Alvin Ailey?
Known for his 'meticulous musicality,' this modern dance choreographer is perhaps most famous for Esplanade, a dance work set to the music of Bach.
Who is Paul Taylor?
A performance where all the corps de ballet are dressed in white.
What is a ballet blanc? (Can you give an example?)
According to dance historian Marion Kant, this era in Western Civilization promoted a change in costume - mass produced fabric allowed a corps de ballet to all wear the same thing.
What is the Industrial Revolution?
Another term for a solo, which frequently follows the 'couple-dance' component of a classical pas de deux.
What is a variation?
This British ballet choreographer was fascinated by human psychology and created full-length narrative works like Romeo & Juliet, Manon and Mayerling.
Who is Sir Kenneth MacMillan?
This composer and life partner of choreographer Merce Cunningham was known for chance procedures and the infamous 4'33" - four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence.
Who is John Cage?
The fast, furious and nearly always virtuosic ending to a classical pas de deux.
What is a coda?
This female tap dancer and choreographer has her own concert dance company (coming to USC's Visions & Voices Spring 2020) and recently won a MacArthur Genius Grant.
Who is Michelle Dorrance?
A choreographic device where two ideas (phrases or movement motifs) are put in dialogue with one another at different timings.
What is counterpoint? (What is a dance work you could use as an example?)
Working for Diaghliev and the Ballets Russes in his early career, this composer may have caused a riot with his 1913 Rite of Spring.
Who is Igor Stravinsky?
He is considered by many to be the most virtuosic male ballet dancer of the late-20th Century.
Who is Mikhail Baryshnikov?
In the era of Louis XIV, this kind of spoken word performance would accompany the dancing to explain the story to the audience.
What is declamation?
This African-American choreographer is also the Artistic Director of LINES Ballet in San Francisco, and has been known to use scores of nature sounds - like in his piece Biophony.
Who is Alonzo King?
Generally the first female dancer given credit for successfully dancing on pointe.
Who is Marie Taglioni?
One of the most famous names in post-modern dance, this choreographer declared her strong opinions on dance-making with a "NO Manifesto" in 1965.
Who is Yvonne Rainer?
His 'Swan Lake' is well-known for having male swans; it is going to be performed at the Los Angeles Music Center this upcoming December 2019.
Who is Sir Matthew Bourne?
A choreographic choice to limit habitual choices, instead employing the use of playing cards, dice, the I-Ching, drawing ideas out of a hat, etc...
What is Chance Procedure?
This female choreographer and proponent of German tanztheater uses repetition to deepen the audience's emotional response, like in Café Müller.
Who is Pina Bausch?
When a dance style or technique is written down in a common language that can then be shared.
What is a codified technique?