Dance

Revision questions on each of the professional works: Ghost Dances, Still Life at Penguin Café, Nutcracker and Rosas Danst Rosas.

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Ghost Dances

  • Who choreographed this piece? Christopher Bruce.
  • What year was if choreographed? 1981.
  • Which company performed it? Rambert Dance Company.
  • What is the theme? Political oppresion in Chile.
  • What is the structure? 7 sections, each has different piece of music or song.
  • Who is the costume designer? Belinda Scarlett.
  • What are the costumes like? Ghosts wear wigs and rags, skull masks, painted bodies. Dead people wear everyday individual clothes.
  • Who was the lighting designer? Nick Chelton.
  • What is the lighting like in this piece? Gloomy and shadowy, side lighting highlights ghosts, changes signify dead.
  • Who was the set designer? Christopher Bruce.
  • What is the set like? Painted backdrop of rocky plane and cave opening. Rock like structures on stage.
  • How many dancers are used? 5 women, 6 men.
  • What is the movement content? A blend of contempory and ballet with elements of folk and social styles. The piece is thematic and episodic with narrative and strong characterisation.
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Still Life at the Penguin Café

  • Who choreographed this piece? David Bintley.
  • In what year? 1988.
  • Who was the costume designer? Hayden Griffin.
  • What are the costumes like? Combination of animal and human characteristics in a dream-like way. Masks and headdresses have animalistic features.
  • Who is the composer? Simon Jeffes for the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
  • What is the accompaniment? Orchestral classical, rock and country influences.
  • Who is the lighting designer? John B Read.
  • What is the lighting like? Lighting changes scenes, follow spots on dancers, colour used to enhance mood. Bright in the first half and dramatic towards the end.
  • Who was the set designer? Hayden Griffin.
  • What is the set like? Set in the café, colourful backdrops give a sense of environment, climate and location.
  • How many dancers? 9 soloists and corps de ballet.
  • What is the movement content? Modern ballet with a mix of social and cultural styles to suggest geographical locations. English Morris, Latin American, Carnival and African. This piece is episodic and uses characterisation and humour.
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Nutcracker!

  • Who choreographed this piece? Matthew Bourne.
  • In what year? 1992.
  • What is the structure? 2 acts, 9 episodes in each.
  • Who is the costume designer? Anthony Ward
  • What are the costumes like? Colourful and over the top to show characters. Cultural influences and literal references to sweets.
  • Who was the composer? Pyotr Ilyish Tchaikovsky.
  • What is the accompaniment? Classical orchestral composed in 1892 for original Ivanov ballet.
  • Who was the lighting designer? Howard Harrison.
  • What is the lighting like? Theatrical to create atmosphere.
  • Who was the set designer? Anthony Ward.
  • What was the set like? Partly realistic, larger than life, cartoon like. Orphanage frozen lake, Sweetie Land, wedding cake.
  • How many dancers? 24 dancers.
  • What is the movement content?  Contempory and balletic, exaggerated but realistic use of gestures. This piece is a reworking of a traditional ballet. Narrative and comic, influenced by film and theatre. Clost relationship between dance and music.

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Rosas Danst Rosas

  • Who choreographed the piece? Anne Teresa de Keermaeker.
  • In what year? 1983 but film was 1997.
  • What company performed it? Rosas.
  • What is the theme? Human behaviour, rage.
  • What is the structure? 5 Sections.
  • Who was the costume designer? Rosas.
  • What were the costumes like? Drab, everyday skirts and tops, black leggings, socks and shoes. Loose fitting and functional. They appear institutional.
  • Who was the composer? Thierry de Mey and Peter Vermeersch.
  • What is the accompaniment? Electronic, percussive, minimalistic music, with natural sounds from the dancers actions.
  • Who was the lighting designer? Remon Fromont.
  • What is the light like in the film? Natural light through the windows.
  • Who is the set designer? Keermaeker.
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Rosas Danst Rosas

  • What is the set like in the film? Takes place in the corridors and rooms of a large, school in Belgium. Windows and doors frame the action. Some wooden chairs are used in section 1.
  • How many dancers? 4 women.
  • What is the movement content? Post modern, physical with pedestrian action and repetive, compulsive gestures. Energetic and dynamic. This piece highlights single parts of the body, drawing attention to small human gestures. Movements are patterened and structured to create rhythms and achieve perfect unison.
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Comments

Aida Abdul-Raheem

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Thanks for these, I'm writing about Rosas in my exam tomorrow and this helped ^w^

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