ICDB Flashcards
What are the seven characteristics of ICDB?
1) Eclectic movement
2) Embracing cultrual similarities/ differences
3) Historical/ socail refferences
4) New forms of staging
5) Collabirations
6) Political statements
7) Cross over with other art forms
What is new dance?
Not defined by a style
Could be anything
No boundaries
Undefined, freedom, liberation
A way of thinking
What influence did the place have on new dance?
Home of LSCD and LCDT
Open to any kind of influence
Many of its students had little dance training and came from different disciplines (art, flim, music)
Students were under no pressure to conform to a particular type of dancer and were free to create their own style and choreography
What was strider?
Small scale inndependant company
Freedom to experiment and not fit under the pressure to appeal to large audiences
What was the X6 collective?
A place for dancers and choreographers who were no longer with large companies like the Place
Held classes and workshops for anyone who wanted to attend in a range of technqiues - Tai Chi, Cunningham, contant improvisation, gymnastics,
All classes were taught in a relaxed, non- competative way and dancers were encoraged to develop their own personal style of movement
What was introduced inthe 80s and 90s to ICDB?
Technology, film and TV
Political statements
Social attitudes and issues
Functional dance
Black dance
Physical theatre
What are the five new dance philosophies/ ideaologies?
Dance takes many forms all of which should be treated as seriously as ballet
Dancers and choreographers should be able to work freely outside of established companies
Dance should be acessible to everyone (Can do co)
Dance should not be divorced from the real world, dancers should be encoraged to think about politics, economics and making a statement challenging audiences
Dancers and choreographers should be given equal status and funding as the artists working in other forms
Exert from AQA spec about Matthew Borune
Matthew Bourne uses choreographed body language and a variety of dance and movement styles
to tell stories, supported by the design and the music.
Exert from AQA spec about Hofesh Schechter
Hofesh Shechter’s musical background is reflected in his involvement in the musical compositions
for his dances. The soundscapes provide powerful backgrounds for his contemporary style of
movement and interest in aspects of contemporary life.
Schechter background/ training
Born in Jerusalem, Israle
Interested in piano and folk dance
Took classes in ballet and modern
Conscrpited to the Israel defence forces
Studied percussion - played drums in a rock group
Studied music in paris
Bourne background/ training
British choreographer
Known for his uniquley updated versions of traditional ballets
No formal ballet training in childhood - began dance classes at 22
Took on choreohraphic work for TV, theater and dance companies
Schechter influences
Musical background - music is an essential part of his work
Experiences from the war and the conflict in Israle
–> intersted in social power - who leads and who is being led (Political mother)
Intrested in
- political leaders are only powerful becuase we follow them
- the relationship between violence and freedom
- dichotomy
Influence from using film…
When we are watching a film we are passive observers of reality - less acountability/ responsibility
Bourne influences
Nature (the aggrsiveness of the swans in swan lake)
Alfred Hitchcock - influenced him by the use of extreme facial expressions to show emotion
Current afairs - Swan lake was influenced by Charles and Camillas marrage and the film ‘the birds’
MGM musicals - used large colourful set, costume and lighting, facial expressions and narrative
Carry on flims - use of slapstick comedy and humor to tell a story
What is the significance of the dancers in Fragments?
Shechters first choreographic work (2003)
Represents the dynamic between a couple
One of the pieces performed by Shechter Juniour - an apprentice company made of small group of young dancers (shows him working with young people)
Describe Fragments
(2003) about the dynamics between a couple
DANCERS
A man and a woman
MOVEMENT
Very slow and fluid - pedestrain movement of walking, standing still, lying on the floor - lots of floorwork, rolling and dragging themselves
Movement fits with the voice
‘Look at yourself’ - the dancers turn their heads to stare at the audience - conftrontational - political?
Standing on opposite ends of the stage from each other most of the time - little contact between them - rarely doing the same thing - like two solos in the same space
Couple fighting part - both in a wide stance with arms curled in as if to throw a punch - starts jabbing each other
Later the woman actaully slaps the man across the cheeck
VISUAL
Set - black box stage
Costume - woman - long sleeve knee length plain red dress, socks, man - casual brown trousers and long sleeve white shirt, socks (typical of shechter)
Lighting - very dim, lots of shadows, one red spotlight on the woman and one blue spotlight on the man
AURAL
By Shechter and collabiration with J.S Bach and Eric Idle
Use of speaking - distorted - not undertandable - sounds like speaking through a radio
Sounds like a man and a woman but they are having sepearte conversations - the womans voice is understandable
Piano starts to begin - slow, relaxed, deep pitch, sad tone
Repeatative drum beat starts to begin and the movement becomes quicker and more energy
RAVE influence seen
More complex drum beat comes in like music at a rave
The man has a solo with his body pulsing and hands jabbing in the space infront of him - quick random steps, looseness of the head (RAVE DANCE)
MAN DYING PART
The man stops raving and looks as if he is being electroducted or having a seziure by jolting his body quickly and falling backwards
At the same time there is a crash on the symbol and it sounds like a man shouting - this turns into a repeated beat with loud drums including the crash
When the man ‘dies’ there is a blackout and the music continues in darkness
The crazy music stops and the rave beat comes back on with the man raving again - this repeates 3 times
The third time the woman is with him and he tries to approach her raving but he is ‘electrocuted’ for a couple seconds as the crazy music comes back then goes back to rave - as if she is the one causing him to be ‘hurt’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKIHTjTEv7M&t=134s
Describe Cult
Shechter (2004)
Takes a dark look at the powers that steer us in todays society
By the Shechter Juniour group too
DANCERS
3 female 3 male
VISUAL
Set - black box stage, very dark lighting
Costume - women - sleeveless short plain red knee length dress, men - brown suits and white shirt
Lighting - very dark/ dim sometimes with spotlights on individual dancers
AURAL by Shechter
Similar to fragments with voices whispering/ laughing, can’t really understand them
MOVEMENT
Rave inspired movement - shaking the shoulders up and down looking straight up with head loose
Motif - hunnched right over with chest almost touching knees arms curled up small walks from side to side
Movement + music
Pedestrain - all stood still - start swaying back and forth gently - start to move when the voice comes in ‘Something to fight for, something to die for’ - war refference?
At the start there is a real divide between the mens group and the womens group - showing their differences
MAN SOLO
One man breaks off from the group and is put in a spot light as the music (drum beat) fades he leans his upper body backwards and throws his head back with his arms infront of him almost like a zombie - showing hes possesed with whatever power drives him - showing the powers of one person vs the group
Describe Uprising
(2006) About the childish and competative nature of men
DANCERS
7 men
VISUAL
Set - plain black
Lighting - around 10 large white spotlights in a line across the stage
Begins with them all on - intense/ confrontational
Costume - casual beige trousers with all the men having different coloured plain long sleeve tops
AURAL
Begins with a single continuous loud drum beat that echoes - unsetteling/ builds suspense
Layers of other instruments are introduced like more drums and other percussion
MOVEMENT
All men march on to the stage in a line with purpose and confidence towards the audience and hold a pose with one leg bent up with their foot on their knee and arms held out infront - like a yoga pose - looking at the audience
Two men ‘fighting’ - have each others hands on their shoulders pushing each other trying to assert dominance in the end one gets the other in a head lock position - this is then repeated but this time on their knees like children fighting
Repeated motif - monkey crawls - animalistic
Someone running in circles around the stage with his arms straight out behind him - like a child
Lots of movement which look like they are suffering - walking on toes - back arched - head back - arms out infront - as if being strangled or shot?
Describe Political Mother
(2010)
For this piece and others Shechter allowed the audience to stand up and move around to create a rave like atmosphere allowing the audience to be almost part of the piece too. It is about political indoctrination and totalitarianism which relfect his experiences growing up in Israel
Roles
The politician - played by Shechter shouting at the audience but can’t understand him
Describe the end phrase of political mother
At the end of political mother Shechter creates a conster/ rave like scene on stage
There is a balcony at the top where the musicians can be seen playing the music mostly consiting of different percussion instruments. There is on person in the middle dressed in black who seems to be in charge or controlling them as he is waving his arms like a conductor.
The dancers are on the stage below them with their backs to the audience looking up at the balcony. It looks as if they are all doing random movements inspired by rave culture with quick, rapid, energetic and chaotic movement, at points some were jumping up and down and kicking their legs mid air and punching the air. There is a repeated motif they do in unison where they are stepping side to side and flicking their arms/ hands out beside them whislt bobbing up and down with their heads loose. They also run frantically in a circle with their arms up straight in the air. There is a sentence hand written in yellow lights in all caps saying ‘Where there is pressure there is folk dance’.
The music is chaotic and loud with many percussion and drums layering each other and quitarres
What are some typical things of Schechter?
Plain black box theater
Creates his own music
No costume just casual everyday clothing with socks
Use of folk dance/ movement inspired by rave
Music often includes complex drum beats/ music donimated by percussion of set with violins
Usally dark/ serious theme challenging politial/ social veiws
Use of text/ speaking in his work
Describe the costume of political mother
There are three groups of people defined by their costumes
Losers - all wearing similar plain wear of beiges and browns
Entertainers - colourful inspried by circus
Samari warrioirs - protected by their armor
The musicians
The rock band - anarchist look
Drummers - military uniform
Describe the visual of Grand Finale
Classical musicians seen on stage playing in the shadow of a huge black pannel (maybe the tombstone of this dying world)
The pannels - moved by the dancers behind the pannels so look as if they are moving by them selfes - could be percived as negative (create divisons, fear, hostility) or positive (boundaries, saftey)
As they move around there is a deep rumbling noise like the sound they would make when being dragged across the floor - bright blue spotlight behind them casting huge shadows
Describe the orphanage setting in the Nutcracker
Minimal dark and gloomy colours (black,white,grey, beige)
Floor is chequered squares of white and black
The walls are slanted tilting inwards and have cracks running down them
The whole set looks unstable and crooked
There is one narrow window to the left of the back wall which almost reaches floor to ceiling and a clock next to it very high up on the wall
Next to the clock is a narrow wooden cupboard which gets thinner at the top almost like a triangle shape
There are almost no parallel straight lines in the scene they are all on a diagonal/ crooked
There are beds towards the back of the stage that are held up by metal frames, they are single beds with white bed sheets and pillows all made up
When the nutcracker saves them the walls start cracking and breaking there is one crack down the centre which opens up and reveals the xmas tree which is against a white background and the black tree covers the whole wall the moonlight is shining at the top and a part of the ceiling appears to be falling
Props
buckets, sponges and brooms for the orphans to clean
Box of xmas ornaments - wreaths, paper chains, balloons all bright and colourful, xmas tree which is just a small stick in a plant pot
Scarfs in the scarf dance
In the rebellion: hula hoops, skipping ropes, play knives,
Sugar and fritz bring on colourful paper xmas hats
Describe the orphans costume in the Nutcracker
Consist of only dark grey and white
Shapeless, thick, loose, black tights, black jazz boots,
Girls - long sleeve, floor length, flowy, dark grey dresses, Black tights and black shoes
Boys - dark grey shirts with darker dungarees, black jazz boots
Clearly childlike hairstyles bunches, braids, orphan uniforms
Twins
Clearly twins with matching thin rimmed circular black glasses - play with time as normally orphans wouldn’t have them as they are expensive - done on purpose
Boys night costume - oversized grey button up shirt long sleeve with a white sleep hat with a bobble on the end
Describe the costume of the Nutcracker
Nutcracker
Same clothes as the nutcracker doll
Black blazer with thin white lines making squares, big red buttons, red pocket square with polka dots, white dress shirt underneath with the collar showing with a red bow tie with white polka dots
White close fitting trousers and white boots, white gloves
Rubber mask with the nutcracker face on, heavy makeup and short ginger hair
Costume change: white trousers, braces, bare chested, just taken off the mask - same for the other six men
Non traditional contemporary in the nutcracker
There is a lift section where all the orphans lift Sugar and Fritz into the air and sort of throw them. The orphans are huddled around them in an oval shape and Sugar and Fritz are holding hands laying on their side and smiling at the audience. They throw them in the air twice
The orphans are lined up in two lines horizontal to the stage with Sugar and Fritz in the middle. The front line have their front arm curved are are scooping them up and down and Sugar and Fritz are making rowing motions with their arms simulating a boat on water
