Is the author’s claim that unfit dancers are less likely to get hired indicative of an injustice within the dance industry (similar to the modeling industry), or does that logic not apply because dancing is a physical activity that tends to lead to a certain body type regardless?
How could choreography possibly express a love of “plant life” when plants don’t even move? (207)
How is the emphasis on the dancers’ eye movements affected when they perform in a large hall where the audience members are far away from them?
The word “energy” is used a lot. What does it mean in regards to dance?
Tamar Lichter
When choreographers are forced to make a dance for a date, does it end up with the same emotion as when they make one from fun? (206-207)
Is there a specific body type, such as longer limbs, that make dancing look better? (208)
-Lawrenzo Lue
Is there any one aspect of dance that is more important than another? Also, what is the difference between performance art and dance?
The author describes dancers as a very athletic breed of people, yet I know many people in the dance community as well as theatre community that do not seem to be as athletic as one might think they would need to be in order to be a great dancer. So, I guess my questions are:
1. Does an athletic body really mean toned muscles and a nice extension, or can it really be referring to an energetic state of mind that all dancers must be in in order to achieve greatness?
2. “Excess energy is necessary only for playing a specific character…” Why does the author think this? Shouldn’t a dancer be putting 110% in at all times, yet look like it is effortless?
When the author states ” the audiences sometimes will say “that was a great choreography” when what they really mean is that the dancers; performances of the steps pleased them. Others might say, “that choreography was difficult” but what they really mean is that the steps were difficult to perform”. Does he mean that the steps are separate from the choreography? Aren’t the steps the ones that create the choreography ?
1. The author states that a dancer must be in perfect physical health to perform well, many dancers are underweight, which is clearly not healthy. How does one justify hiring underweight and underfed dancers if it is necessary for them to be in perfect physical health?
2. Although the author says that there’s no such thing as bad movement in dancing (192). However, he includes so many rules and qualifications for how the dancer should move that there seems to be no room to have “bad movement” because a dancer has to follow so many specifics otherwise he/she is not even dancing.
How can a choreographer use a “logical basis” (211) for his or her dance, and yet create an abstract dance? Wouldn’t the “exaggeration, distortion, substitution, and symbolism” (214) contradict the logic behind the dance?
In discussing a dancers performance and the audiences response the author says, “I clearly remember the embarrassment I felt as an audience member in a discomfiting mismatch of choreographic intentions and audience perception of technique” (189). Does this mean that the messages and story of a dance can get lost in a performance too full of “tricks”? Why, as an audience, are we so used to looking for fun rather than more in depth meanings in dance, and even other art forms? This also brings up the question, what is more important, the artist’s (in this case dancer/choreographer) intentions, or the audiences interpretation?
I found it interesting when the author mentions the difference between when the audience saying the choreography was difficult and the actual meaning of that phrase being that the steps were difficult to perform. Is the fact that the steps were difficult really different from saying that the choreography was difficult, despite the fact that the steps being difficult to perform is stated as not being a part of the process of the dance’s composition?
