This is a dance review of ‘Cinderella’ at the Edinburgh International Festival.
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Donna Uchizono's Seminar 1 Class
This is a dance review of ‘Cinderella’ at the Edinburgh International Festival.
This New York Times dance review by Roslyn Sulcas of the dance, “Cinderella”, follows the Feldman Model of Criticism outlined by Wendy Oliver. The four main components of a dance critique are present: description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation. Sulcas describes the background of the dance to help the reader better understand the Edinburgh International Festival and how this Russian ballet performance is different from previous renditions of Cinderella. The dance critique also included descriptions of the 1920s costume for the women, the stage with chandeliers, and other components of the “industrial, nonrealist aesthetic of the ballet’s design” (Sulcas). There were analyses of how these aspects (costumes, stage, and composition) affected the melancholy tone to the play, as interpreted by the writer. The overall thesis of the writer was simply said that this was not your average glamorous narration of Cinderella through dance but rather a darker and more complex version of the story.
Wendy Oliver explains many other components come into play when trying to fulfill the purpose of writing a dance critique. A dance critique should explain the dance to interest ticket buyers or inform of its characteristics. One of the key elements to a dance critique is the use of evocative words to help the reader image movement or other aspects of the dance. Sulcas includes a description of movement through her description of Cinderella and her prince: “Mr. Kolb has a beautiful classical line, a big jump and perfectly placed pirouettes. Ms. Vishneva, one of the world’s major ballerinas, is justly famed for her exquisitely mobile back and arms, her fluid lyricism and effortlessly light jump”. Another way to effectively write a dance critique is to include unique characteristics of the dance. Sulcas reflects on many distinct traits of the dance from the personalities of the characters to the “hints of sexual discovery and suggestion of self-empowerment”. The critique covers all its bases and the writer asserts her disappointment of the performance with many supporting observations.
In her dance review of “Cinderella,” Roslyn Sulcas uses the model of critique writing given in Oliver’s “Writing About Dance.” She uses Feldman’s model of description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation throughout the review. Sulcas mentions the creator, Ratmansky, and the origins, Marinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg. She also uses a great amount of description for the performance of “Cinderella” which she saw at the Edinburgh International Festival. Oliver says that the description is the most important part of the critique and must be used throughout to support analysis, interpretation, and evaluation. Sulcas describes the characters and the plot, and she gives readers an idea of what the performance looked like. She describes the design as industrial with staircases on either side, a huge chandelier, and elegantly simple costumes. She describes different movements of the dancers as well.
Sulcas uses these descriptions to further support the other points of her review. She compares the characters of this version of “Cinderella” to those of other renditions. She also says that another version will soon be made and that she is eager to see what will be done in that performance. Sulcas also uses the description to show her almost mixed feelings about the production, showing what she feels are the weak points and the strong points. At the end of her review, Sulcas wraps up her ideas like Oliver describes should be done at the end of a dance critique.