-
40,001 BCE
Paleolithic Age
Was around 2.5 million years ago. To be more specific 40001 BC to 35000 BC. They lived in caves or huts. It started in eastern Africa. -
10,000 BCE
Neolithic Age
Was around 12,000 years ago and ended as civilization started to rise. This period is sometimes referred to as the New Stone Age. Started somewhere in the middle east where they took up farming. -
532 BCE
Ancient Greek Theatre
Began with honoring the gods, such as Dionysus, the god of fertility and wine. Started out with an orchestra at the foothill. Started with 50 men singing with oriental music called Dithyramb. Used masks to tell the difference of character. Built a skene for the people to change character. Skene became permanent in the 4th century.
Refernce:
http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Theatre/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQOPFxuiaWQ -
55 BCE
Roman Theatre
Rome was founded in 753 BC, but the first permanent theater was built in 55 BC. The ones before that they were temporary wooden theater. They made the seats out of stone and were divided in 10 sections for the 10 tribes. When Alexander took over the city states, plays were no longer performed except for festivals. In Greece theater was seen as a symbol of democracy, while in Rome it was deemed as a threat. -
401
Medieval Era
This era from the 5th century to the 15th century. There was a lot of social dances. Some popular dances were the Pavan and farandole.The period is from the falling of rome and the renaissance. The Black Plague happened during this time period. A man named Thoinot Arbeau wrote orchesographie, which talks about the five positions of ballet and details of the dances. References:
https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/middle-ages
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thoinot-Arbeau#ref281332 -
Baroque Era
This era ended around 1750. Some dances during this period was the courante, saraband, allemande. A lot of these dances influenced what ballet looks like today. In the court they used dancing as a way to show off their fashion like shoes and jewelry.
References:
http://baroquedance.info/what.html -
Broadway
The first show to come out on Broadway was The Black Crook, it came out in 1866 and was 5 1/2 hours long. There are a lot of people who made an important impact during Broadway. Like Fred Astaire, 1899-1987, he started with doing sibling acts with his sister on Vaudeville. After he stopped working with his sister he met Ginger Rogers where they worked together in several films. Such as, The Gay Divorce, Top Hat, Follow the Fleet. Their last show was Swing Time. Ginger Rogers, 1911-1995. -
Broadway Pt.2
Ginger Rogers also started her career in Vaudeville. In those films with Astaire and Rogers, they combined tap and social dancing. There was Jerome Robbins, 1918-1998, he was known as the show doctor. He worked well in all genres. In 1944 he started creating stage works, the most known show is West Side Story in 1961.
When Broadway started you were able to take out the songs and dance number and you were still able to understand the story. hen Showboat came out (1927). -
Broadway Pt.3
When Showboat came out, that is where all the dancing, songs, and speaking came together to make a story. They needed to have the songs and dances.
Then their was the Golden Age of Musicals. Starting with Oklahoma! (1943), it was a huge piece that combined ballet and musical theater. It was choreographed by Agnus D'amille (1905-1993). It was the first time the dance furthered the story without words. Then there was Rodgers (1902-1979) and Hammerstein (1895-1960). They created Show Boat together -
Broadway Pt.4
Rodgers and Hammerstein also created South Pacific, The King and I, Oklahoma!, and The Sound of Music. In their work you needed the music to continue the story of the show. Then there was rock musicals, the first rock musical was The Rocky Horror Show-1975. During the 80's and 90's people didn't go see musicals as much until The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast came out. -
Classical Ballet
One of the most famous classical ballet choreographers was Marius Petipa from 1818- 1910. He created over 50 ballets, including the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. There was also Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929) who formed the Ballet Russes in 1909. The Ballet Russes always had a Russian mentality. Even if the dancers weren't Russian they would change their names. Sergei created the ballet The Rite of Spring in 1913. -
Classical Ballet Pt.2
Vaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950), was a russian ballet dancer and his choreography emphasized straight lines and inverted feet. One of his works was Afternoon of the Faun that is based on a poem. -
Romantic Ballet
Romantic Ballet developed after the revolution. The dancers skirts were lengthened. Ballet were dream like, and the stories were about magic. Ballerinas were starting to be worshiped. We have Fellipo Taglioni to thank for romantic ballet. He was the choreographer of the first romantic ballet La Sylphide, which came out in 1836. This ballet starred Marie Taglioni, Fellipo's daughter. Another romantic ballet is Giselle which was performed in 1841. Giselle is one of the best known ballets in Paris. -
Romantic Ballet Cont.
The choreographer for Giselle was Jules Parrot, he did a lot of dramatic movement. The dancer for this ballet was Carlotta Grisi. Then there was Pas de Quatre which was not a romantic ballet but Parrot choreographed it. Taglioni, Grisi, Cerrito, and Grahn were the dancers. The last romantic ballet was Coppelia, it came out in 1870. This ballet broke a lot of rules, the love interest was played by a woman and it did not end in death. -
Modern Dance Pioneers
Loie Fuller (1862-1928), she danced with pieces of fabric. She even made a dance called Serpentine Dance and wore 100 yards of silk.
Isadora Duncan (1877-1927), Her performances were often improvised and liked to reference nature.
Ruth St. Denis created the Egyptian Dance in 1931. Both her and her husband, Ted Shawn, created the Denishawn Dance Company. -
People in ballet pt2
Kurt Jooss 1901-1979: Mixed classical ballet with theatrical. Most famous work called The Green Table in 1932.
William Forsythe 1949- Present: Known for not having plots in his ballets. One of his works is called In the Middle Somewhat Elevated in 1988.
Jiri Killian 1947- present: Director of the Netherlands Dance Theater. A work of his is called Sleepless in 2004.
Edouard Lock 1954- present: Canadian dance choreographer, founded the La La La Human Steps. Made a piece called Amelia in 2000. -
People in Ballet
Antony Tudor 1908-1987: His ballets were more psychological. His first ballet was Cross-Gartered 1931. His most famous works are Jardin Aux Lilas (1936), and Dark Elegies (1937).
Fredrick Ashton 1904-1988: His most famous ballet was La Fille Mal Gardee which was created for the Royal Ballet in 1960.
Margot Fonteyne 1919-1991: Royal Ballet Prima Ballerina. She was in Ashton's ballets La Peri in 1956 and Ondine in 1958. She also starred in the adaptation of The Nutcracker. -
Ballet Russes
Ballet Russes had a Russian mentality, even if the dancers weren't Russian they would change their names to sound Russian. The founder/creator of the Ballet Russes was Sergei Diaghilev. People referred to Sergei as a chinchilla. He was not a dancer but he was really good at blending other art forms together with dance. Sergei produced the ballet called The Rite of Spring, which came out in 1913. The first choreographer at the Ballet Russes was Michel Folkine. -
Ballet Russes Cont.
Michel Fokine was a new choreographer that danced in Russia under Petipa. He wanted to make new stuff instead of reconstructing old stuff, he also wanted the dancers to be barefoot but others would not allow that so he went to the Ballet Russes. He composed The Dying Swan for Anna Pavola and created The Firebird in 1910. An important dancer at the Ballet Russes was Vaslav Nijunsky. He was Sergei favorite for a moment. -
Ballet Russes Cont.3
Vaslav Nijinsky was a Russian dancer who was great on stage. He could embody each characters, he looked different while being in those roles. He was known to be a very sexual dancer and his choreography emphasized straight lines. He choregraphed a ballet called Afternoon of a Faun in 1912, he even danced the main part. When watching is was very slow and controlled, it was sort of uncomfortable to watch but I could not take my eyes away. The Ballet Russes end in 1929, running for only 20 years. -
Jazz
Jazz dance was influenced by social dance during the slave trade. The white Americans loved the slaves dances that they started Minstrel shows. Minstrels are where white entertainers painted their face black to imitate African Americans. There are a lot of people who have influenced danced in their own way. Jack Cole was known as the father of theatrical dance. Luigi, The father of teaching jazz dance, he felt the need to keep moving or he thought he would go stiff. -
Jazz Cont.
There was Bob Fosse, his dancing was known to be more sexual like than the others. Dancers wore hats, gloves, and the women wore hit cut leotards. Gus Giodano, he danced with a lot of well known dancers. Did freeze frames, jazz hands, isolations. -
People in ballet pt3
Ohad Naharin 1952- present: He is from Israel and is the director of the Batsheva Dance Company. He made a new style called Gaga.
Mats Ek 1945- present: He is a Swedish choreographer, dancer and stage director. Create a piece called Apartment in 2000. -
Post Modern Dance
It deconstructed dance, some did not even look like dances. A group of people created The Judson Church in 1962, they began a huge center for innovated dance. Steve Praxton is considered the father of contact improv. Twyla Tharp often uses gestures and created pieces like Push comes to Shove 1976 and In the Upper Room 1986. There is a company called Pilibolus that started in 1971, it was a very physical dance company. They lso used humor in their partnering and made interesting shapes. -
Hip Hop
Hip hop has four elements; breaking, DJing, MCing, and graffiti. There is a man who was credited from originating hip hop and his name was DJ Kool Herc. After DJing happened breaking started happening. Breaking is the movement of hip hop, it is usually with a group of people taking their turn to dance in the middle of a circle. Breaking had a lot of power moves. They did lots of spinning on their heads and were upside down most of the time. -
Hip Hop Cont.
I did not have enough space on the other one.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hip-hop-is-born-at-a-birthday-party-in-the-bronx https://virtuousdancecenter.com/9-iconic-hip-hop-dance-styles-virtuous-dance-center/ -
Post Modern Contemporary Dance
Anna Teresa de Keersmaker, she works more with women and created Achterland 1990 and Rosas Danst Rosas. Pina Bausch was a German dancer who used humor to convey tragedy, created Full Moon (2006). Lloyd Newson is the director of DV8 Theatre, uses text and bad language. Some pieces are Strange Fish 1994 and Cost of Living 2003.
