Section 1. Little Red Rooster

Question 1

What is the aural setting?

Answer 1

• Blues number by Willie Dixon
• Little red rooster

Question 2

What dancers are involved in this section?

Answer 2

• 5 males and 1 female
• at end of section whole cast enter

Question 3

What is the physical setting?

Answer 3

• Set: A bare stage, with black floor and background
• Lighting: Fairly dim and moody throughout, use of spotlight on alpha male initially
• Males costume: black trousers, coloured shirts and velvet jackets, with coordinated ties, black jazz shoes
• Female costume: Sleeveless black chic dress, with red box pleat inserts, sheer black tights, black jazz shoes, hair down

Question 4

Describe the rooster strut

Give an interpretation of this movement

Answer 4

The male dancer walks in a direct pathway, straightening his back leg then letting it drag behind him. His arms are in a parallel position at the front of his body with drooped wrists. On each step forwards, he just his head forwards sharply.

Interpretation: Animalistic, appears like a rooster, alpha figure and leader

Question 5

1. Describe an animalistic movement from this section

Give the interpretation

Answer 5

Movement: the alpha male cirles his right knee out twice, then stands with the weight towards his right hip, hands on lapels of jackets, and he circles his elbows forwards twice, then rasies his arms above his head in a circular motion. As he does this he flicks his front leg into an attitude derriere, tipping his head back and opening his mouth like he’s crowing

Interpretation: circling of elbows is reference to bird wings of a rooster, and crowing is making his mark and asserting his dominance

Question 6

2. Describe another animalistic movement from this section

Give the interpretation

Answer 6

Movement: Travelling towards stage right, the alpha male does a stag leap with his hands on the tops of his lapels, then does 5 sharp juts forwards with his head and torso, in a semi circle towards stage left. The juts are exactly on the 5 rapid guitar chords, and have a strong and aggressive dynamic to them.

Interpretation: Appears like a dog barking, potentially warning the rest of the pack off in the farm yard

Question 7

3. Describe another animalistic movement from this section

Give the interpretation

Answer 7

Movement: Alpha male slides himself down onto the floor to end in a prone position. He pushes himself up on his arms and circles the front leg around from the knee, with the foot pointed. As he does this, the other male dancers stood on stage begin swaying side to side, in time with the twang of the guitar

Interpretation: appears to be a dog wagging it’s tail. He has hypnotic power, with the other dancers under his control

Question 8

4. Describe one of the preening gestures from this section

Give the interpretation

Answer 8

Movement: alpha male does a turn then runs his fingers through his hair, facing the audience

Interpretation: he is making sure he looks good, shows males attitudes of self obssession and belief they’re superia

Question 9

5. Describe another of the preening gestures from this section

Give the interpretation

Answer 9

Movement: alpha male holds his tie and jolts his head to the left twice, like he’s adjusting it

Interpretation: He is smartening himself up and again shows his self obssession with his appearance and narcissist attitudes

Question 10

6. Describe another of the preening gestures from this section

Give the interpretation

Answer 10

Movement: alpha male looks down at his shoulder and flicks his hand like hes brushing off dirt, then lifts his knee and flicks dirt of that, then does the other shoulder

Interpretation: He is brushing away the dirt ensuring he stays cleans and looks pristine, showing his self obssession

Question 11

7. Describe a movement example of where one of the key themes male chauvinism is seen in this scetion

Give the interpretation

Answer 11

Movement: The male dancer in the blue jacket grabs a hold of the female dancers hand as she slides down into splits, underneath him, onto a low level. She then wraps her arms around one of his legs and as he lifts his knee up, with his hands in a dropped position, she dramatically falls onto her side. Male dancer then performs rooster strut exiting upstage right.

Interpretation: The difference in levels shows the difference in males and females status, with the male gender being superior, and females being inferior. She is asking for his attention but gets knocked down by him, highlighting her insignificance and unimportance to him.

Question 12

8. Describe a movement example of where one of the key themes male chauvinism is seen in this scetion

Give the interpretation

Answer 12

Movement: Female dancer circles her arm around and then relaxes it over her head, then performs a series of circling hip isolations as she side steps travelling to stage right. The 2 male dancers are positioned upstage centre, and are staring down at her as she performs this sequence

Interpretation: The males are looking at her like shes an object and just a thing, not a women. This therefore shows male chauvinism and their belief they are superior to the female.

Question 13

9. Explain how the costumes contribute to the specific movements in the choreography of this section

Give the interpretation

Answer 13

Movement: Female dancer does a high attidue position on the side of the male dancer with the blue jacket, stood on a bent supporting leg with a low centre of gravity. This position clearly shows the bright red box pleats on the females dress as they hang downwards

Interpretation: Indication of her underlying love for the rooster

Question 14

10. Describe a movement which shows the use of general space in section 1 to show the key themes

Give the interpretation

Answer 14

Movement: The 4 male dancers are spaced at around the stage in a tableau, with 2 stood upstage, and the other 2 side by side the left side of centre. The alpha male travels between stage right and centre stage until the other males begin to dance.

Interpretation: Shows how he is hard to keep track of due to his constant movement and tha he is not commited to the female

Question 15

11. Describe a movement where music is used in this section to ehance the choreography and communicate the key themes

Give the interpretation

Answer 15

Movement: Music visualisation is seen when the female lifts her arms into right angles upwards, then inverts them to face downwards,, and then turns out of it. These 3 notes come on the 3 notes of the harmonica

Interpretation: cretaes a blues feel showing that the female is sorrowful and feeling down that her rooster has left

Question 16

12. Describe another movement where music is used in this section to ehance the choreography and communicate the key themes

Give the interpretation

Answer 16

Movement: Bruce has used the lyrics to generate a movement motif. On lyrics ‘please drive him home” the female dancer runs her hand down the side of her face and body, letting her head and hair hang too. This movement comes on the elongated ‘please’ showing she is begging to find her male

Question 17

13. Describe a movement where contrast is seen between the 2 gender groups in this section

Give the interpretation

Answer 17

Male movement: The males dancers all perform the rooster strut in very linear, direct pathways. : The alpha male does the rooster strut to SL, then sharply turns the corner to rooster strut towards US

Interpretation: The male gender all have narrow definite intentions on what they want/require from the females.

Female movement: Females travelling movements are fluid, fast and elongated showing her emotion in finding her rooster. : She does a ball change backwards pushing her hands out in front of her, then sweeps arms over her head, lifting one leg up to ritire. Towards SR she does a small hitch kick with straight legs out in front of her, with her arms wrapped around her chest, then windmills her arms back to roll forwards over her toes on to her knees

Interpretation: She is desperately pleaing for he rooster to return back to her

Question 18

14. What are some of the lyrics in this section?

Answer 18

• “i am the little red rooster”
• “keep everything in the farmyard, upset in every way”
• “the dogs begin to bark and hounds begin to howl”
• “little red rooster is on the prowl”
• “if you see my little red rooster, please drive him home”
• “i had no peace in the farm yard since my little red rooster’s been gone”

Question 19

15. Describe a movement of contact work from this section which is considered a highlight

Give the interpretation

Answer 19

Movement: Female does an attitude devan in turn out, placing her arm around the back of the male in the red jacket’s neck, and hops over her lifted gesture leg to land in an attitude derriere, with her hand on his knee, and the male looks down

Interpretation: can see Bruce’s blend of ballet and contemporary style. Looks like shes tying herself in knots trying to keep track of her male. This is a highlight as it is an exciting contemporary lift.

Question 20

16. Describe another contact movement which is a highlight

Give the interpretation

Answer 20

Movement: 2 of the males pull her from side to side, holding onto her arms, and she throws her head with a sharp and sudden dynamic, then gets lifted up in the air and does a hitch kick, weaving her leg back through into an arabesque as she lands

Interpretation: The erratic changing of levels is memorable. The males are manipulating her as she is the inferior gender. Could show the multiple partners torn between different lovers. One minute she is worshipped and made to feel special, then she is discarded on the floor.

Question 21

17. Describe the transition into the next section

Answer 21

All 5 male dancers perform the rooster strut in time to the harmonica rhythm in direct linear pathways across the stage, whilst the female dancer repeats the motif of relaxing her arms over her head and hugging herself, travelling at a fast pace around the stage. The 4 other female dancers walk onto stage, then walk to upstage as the next section begins.