ELEMENTS OF DANCE (B.E.A.S.T.)
RELIGIOUS / CULTURAL DANCE
COURT DANCE
BALLET
MODERN
WILD CARD
100
This Element of Dance focuses on the primary tool used in dance. It is both the instrument and the canvas.
What is the Body?
100
This dance is a representation of this type of religious dance.
What are Dances of Imitation?
100
This culture's contributions to Medieval dance include: the celebration of youth & athleticism, the intellectual value of dance, specific gods/muses of dance & choreography.
Who are the Greeks?
100
This political figure is known as "The Sun King" and made a number of contributions to ballet, including establishing a royal academy of dance, and codifying dance steps, terminology, positions, etc.
He also really liked showing off his calves.
Who is King Louis XIV?
100
This dance movement began in America and emerged as a rejection against ballet, instead favoring freedom of movement and expression. In fact, one of the pioneers of this movement, Isadora Duncan, is famous for having said "I am an enemy to the ballet, which I consider a false and preposterous art."
What is Modern Dance?
100
In ancient Hawaii, the best male dancers would often be chosen for this job/role because of the skills they developed through their dance training.
What is a Warrior?
200
This Element of Dance focuses on beats, accents, meter, and tempo.
What is Time?
200
The belief that dance can restore the health of an individual by warding off evil spirits or by pleasing a specific god or goddess is apparent in this type of Religious Dance.
What are Medicine / Healing Dances?
200
Dance was an important part of this culture because of its: Love of mass spectacle & entertainment, self-indulgence, hedonism, & need for pantomime (to overcome the language barrier of its expanding empire). Early Christian leaders opposed this type of dance.
Who are the Romans?
200
Created by Catherine Medici, these dance performances were used to celebrate the power and prestige of the monarchy, to glorify the king, and to keep the nobility occupied, distracted, and out of political matters.
What is Ballet de Cour?
200
Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, founders of Denishawn dance school, traveled around the world seeking ways to achieve spirituality through dance. Their travels led to their particular style of modern dance being heavily influenced by this.
What are Ethnic / Cultural Dances?
200
The four parts of a dance duet in a Classical Ballet are: The adagio, the man's variation, the woman's variation, and the coda.
What is the Grand Pas de Deux?
300
Percussive, Sustained, Explosive, Suspended, Collapsed, Swing, & Vibratory are all examples of which Element of Dance?
What is Energy?
300
The study of dance in its social and cultural context.
What is Dance Ethnology?
300
People of this profession rose to acclaim in European Courts, and were responsible for teaching and rehearsing nobles for courtly balls, arranging dances to new musical forms, and codifying the steps / elements that constitute a dance
What is the Dancing Master?
300
This style of ballet followed the French Revolution. It introduced pointe shoes, and began using lightweight skirts.
This style of ballet relies heavily on pantomime to convey meaning.
This style of ballet uses medieval & supernatural themes in its storytelling, such as: magic, witches, ghosts, dancing to death, etc.
La Sylphide is an example of this style of ballet.
What is Romantic Ballet?
300
This dance pioneer is known as the "Mother of Modern Dance." She is famous for her belief that "movement never lies" and choreographed pieces that explored myth, history, & psychological themes. She believed that the body was the instrument for communicating on behalf of the unconscious, instinctive self.
Who is Martha Graham?
300
Many people might practice a dance from a culture that is not theirs (such as hula) because it offers things their own traditional dances do not, such as:
Acceptable answers include:
What is emotional expression?
What is use of the entire body?
What is discipline of training?
What is cultural camaraderie ('ohana)?
What is the pleasure of performing in a group?
What is cultural music?
400
In class, we discussed two types of Actions (the "A" in B.E.A.S.T.). The first type of action is Locomotor, which is movement that travels through space from one point to another. What is the other type of action called, which is movement around a central plane of the body that doesn't locomote?
What is Axial?
400
These dances might involve an entire community. They are used to celebrate important events, including: significant calendar dates (solstices) and/or milestones in an individual's life (birth, maturation, marriage, death). These dances are also used to preserve the history of a group, especially in non-literate cultures.
What are Commemorative Dances?
400
The symbolic representation of death in art, literature, and dance. Originated in the wake of the Black Death in the 14th century. A powerful motif reminding all that death is inevitable and indiscriminate. Used in European Middle Age Dance and makes a reappearance in Romantic Ballet
What is Danse Macabre or Dance of Death?
400
This style of ballet was developed in Russia.
This style of ballet is known for being EXTREME.
TECHNIQUE: more difficult technique (more turnout, faster & more intricate steps, more difficult pointe work)
NARRATIVE: long stories with multiple acts (sometimes over 2.5 hours long)
COSTUMING: tuts get shorter & more bell shaped to show off the extreme leg lines of the dancers
Examples of this type of ballet are: Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty.
What is Classical Ballet?
400
This movement of the 1960s challenged the definition of what can be considered "dance" and who are "dancers." Choreographers of this movement experimented with minimalism and pedestrian movement. They embraced chance and randomness in their creative process, often creating works that were focused on movement for movement's sake, rather than trying to communicate a narrative or an emotional or psychological theme.
What is Postmodern Dance?
400
This Africanist Aesthetic is the idea that movement can emanate from multiple centers of the body, including: the pelvis, the spine, the ribcage, and the knees.
What is Polycentrism?
500
The empty space around and between the dancer(s) or parts of their body.
What is Negative Space?
500
The best type of evidence that exists for dance among ancient peoples.
What is indigenous societies that continue to perform dance rituals today?
500
Christians in the Middle Ages were discouraged from dancing, partly because of this belief in "denying the body to exalt the soul."
What is Asceticism?
500
Created by Serge Diaghilev and Vaslav Nijinsky, the Rite of Spring was a ballet that included abstract movement / narrative and non-traditional techniques. In fact, this ballet was so controversial that it caused a riot in Paris on opening night. The Rite of Spring is an example of this type of ballet, which was a rejection of classicism. This type of ballet could be viewed as the start of the modern dance movement.
What are Les Ballets Russes?
500
These political changes of the early 20th century influenced the modern dance movement by popularizing the rejection of old world systems, like ballet. These tenuous times also led to the creation of many modern dance works that explored the human struggle, psychological tension, and the emotional intensity of living during this period of change.
Acceptable answers include:
What is WWI, Russian Revolution, Decline of Monarchies, Rise of Republics?
500
A major event that changed hula.
Acceptable answers include:
What is the arrival of Captain Cook (or Westerners)?
What is the death of Kamehameha the Great / change from feudal chief system to European monarchy system?
What is the ban of public hula dancing by Christian missionaries?