INTRODUCTION TO DANCE

answer the questions in the Study Guid while you read the text and view the videos
Study Guide
Week  3
Video 3 – Chapter 3 (Part 1 of 2)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQR1RHYh3HA
Video 3 – Chapter 3 (Part 2 of 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IQZxPDy0uI
Video 5 – Chapter 5 (Part 1 of 3)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQBjFEYpXIo
Video 5 – Chapter 5 (Part 2 of 3)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YApE_V9bbg
Video 5 – Chapter 5 (Part 3 of 3)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XErqU9wgJ9w
Dance serves many functions within a culture or group of people and in this course we will examine four of those functions.  In Chapter 1, we examined how dance serves

as an emblem of cultural identity.   In Chapter 2, we explored dance as an expression of religious worship.  Dance opens up a direct channel of communication with the

gods and ancestors.  In Chapter 3, we will explore the use of dance as political tool of state.
(Start viewing at 1:12)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN9pIBH7EdQ
(Start viewing at 3:05)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I5LX4rOEok
1:  Why do you think the president and the first lady are the first to dance at the inauguration ball?
2:  What do you believe is the purpose of the 1st dance at the inauguration ball?
3:  What political purpose is served (if any) by having the president and the first lady dance first at the inauguration ball?
4:  With respect to the movement, is there any difference between the 1st dance at the inauguration ball for George Bush and that of Barak Obama?
5:  How would you describe their movements?
(e.g. are the movements fast or slow, do they dance separately or together, etc.)
6:  While dancing does the president and the first lady:
A:  move their hips in an exaggerated manner?
B:  move their shoulders in an exaggerated manner?
C:  move their arms in an exaggerated manner?
D:  move their head in an exaggerated manner?
E:  move their feet in an exaggerated manner?
7:  The Ashanti people say that a king looks more majestic when he moves slowly and with deliberation.  If the president and the first lady were doing the latest

country line dance or the latest hip hop dance with wild abandon, how would that change your perception of the inauguration ball or your perception of the president?
8:  How would your perception of the president and the first lady change if while they were dancing, he tripped and fell or he kept stepping on the first lady’s feet?
9:  What does the president’s dance moves tell us about the person we have chosen to lead the country?
10: Are there any similarities between the use of dance in our inauguration ball and the use of dance in the courts of Louis XIV?
Chapter 3 (page 72 –   81)
Book name is “Dancing: The Power, Pleasure and Art of Movement” by Gerald Jonas.
Dance as a tool for political powerand as an expression of social order (how people behave in society – what is classified as “right” and what is classified as

“wrong.”)
Life at court was often a lavish round of feasts, sports, and other pleasurable activities.  Virtually “every” event at court was an opportunity to demonstrate rank.

On many of these occasions what activity was central to the display of power?

Dancing at courts everywhere tends to be deliberate, dignified, measured, hierarchical; training is required to do it properly, and, throughout history, what awaits

those who fail to meet the court’s high standards?

The story of the young man who danced the minuet so poorly that he suffered the French equivalent of “drum censorship” is an example of the training required to dance

properly at court.  However, it also illustrates the use of dance as a political tool.  By structuring his court around the dance floor, King Louis XIV was able to do

what?

The use of dance as an instrument of political power in Europe had roots in which court spectacles?

The lavish spectacles performed at the Italian courts were called what?

What is the Italian word for dance?

To succeedat the court of Louis XIV, a man of ambition had to be accomplished in which areas?

What is the proper bearing for a courtier, according to the Baldassare Castiglione, (Il Castegiano, 1528)?

What year did dancing manuals with detailed instructions on how to perform complex ballroom dances appear in Europe?

The taste for elaborate court spectacles along with the know-how to produce them, was brought to France by whom?

Staged for the royal wedding at the Louvre in 1581, what is the name of the court spectacle that set the standard for all subsequent ballets de cour?

What were some of the spectacular elements of the ballet de cour  that was staged for the royal wedding at the Louvre in 1581?

What was the political significance of the French monarch who played the role of The Sun King (Le Roi Soleil)?

What is the name of the French monarch who played the role of The Sun King (Le Roi Soleil)?

The branle, which opened all formal court balls before the 18th century, illustrates by its “structure and form” the meanings and values of this hieratical society.

What was the structure of the branle that illustrated the high value that this society placed on rank?

What was the name of the dance derived from the French word for “small step” in which facing partners went through a kind of ritualized courtship?

By requiring the French nobility to attend an endless round of court fetes, hunts, balls and ballets while at his elegant palace at Versailles, Louis XIV did what to

this entire class of “titled” troublemakers?

In order to systematize the rules governing the kind of virtuoso dancing that he admired, King Louis XIV did what?

What occurred in 1671 that gave the newly codified court dance a public showcase under the direction of Beauchamps and Jean Baptiste Lully?

Ballet, like spectacles at court, directed the performance toward the sovereign in attendance. What was King Louis XIV’s position in the audience of the theater at

Versailles while attending the production of Les Fetes de l’Amouret de Bacchus?  What direction was the action oriented with respect to that viewing point?

Chapter 5

Art holds a mirror up to the society that produces it.

The longer an art endures, the more confident we can be that the mirror reveals what with respect to that society?

Japanese Kabuki explores the conflicts that arise between (fill in the blank) and (fill in the blank) in a convention bound society

Both ballet and kabuki are considered “classical” forms because?

What are the basic requirements for classical dance theater?

George Balanchine was the ballet master for the NYC Ballet.  As ballet master his responsibilities were to what?

Why was George Balanchine’s choreographic style labeled “neo-classical?”

The ballerinas of the Romantic era symbolized the yearning for release from what?

La Belle au Bois Dormant (The Sleeping Beauty) is one of the standards of the nineteenth-century classical dance.  What Western ideal does the ballerina in the title

role of Princess Aurora embody?

The story fromLa Belle au Bois Dormant (The Sleeping Beauty) can also be read as what?

“Embodied in the style form and technique of each dance are meanings and values of importance to the dancer and to those that share their world-view.”The ballet

dancer’s turnout from the hips (which ensures maximal opening of the body toward the front), the strongly frontal orientation of ballet staging, even the proscenium

stage itself can be traced to what?

What meanings and values for Western society are reflected in the 19th century ballet technique (dancing on the toes or en pointe)?

What ballet technique became the hallmark for the 19th century female dancer?

Performers in early court entertainments, whether aristocratic amateurs or trained professionals, were careful never to turn their back on the royal “Presence.” When

ballet moved from the ballroom to the theater, the Presence took up residence in the royal box.  What technique reflects the strongly frontal orientation for ballet

staging that traces its roots back to the European court tradition?

Which tsar brought ballet to Russia?

Using what you know about dance reflecting meanings and values within a society answer the following question:  In NYC (1840) Fanny Elssler, Austrian-born star of the

Paris Opera Ballet, so embodied this Western ideal that she caused an outbreak of “Elssler-mania.” Admirers fought to drink champagne from her slippers.  Watching her

dance in Boston, Margaret Fuller said, “This is poetry” to which  her companion Ralph Waldo Emerson replied, “No, this is religion.”  What Western ideal did Fanny

Elssler embody to elicit such a response from Emerson and the men who were stricken with “Elssler-mania?”

Japan’s kabuki theater achieved class status by a diametrically opposite route from that of ballet.   By which route did kabuki theater achieve classical status in

Japanese society?

What is the original meaning of the word kabuki?
What is the difference between the image of female beauty projected by kabuki verses that of ballet?
In ballet, women always move like women and in kabuki, the women sometimes move like men
What is an onnagata in kabuki theater?
Known for his most famous role in the kabuki classic MasumeDojoji (The Dancing Maiden at Dojo Temple). What type of actor is Bando Tamasaburo?
When Bando Tamasaburo turns his heavily made-up face to the audience while performing in the kabuki classic  MusumeDojoji (The Dancing Maiden at Dojo Temple), what is

the response of the women in the audience?

Before the recent innovation of kabuki schools, what was the traditional method of training in kabuki theater?

When and why did the government ban women from kabuki theater?

The shoguns built a social order but there was a cost to personal freedom. The social order of the Tokugawa Shogunate “barbarian-subduing great general” rested on the

twin pillars of what?

What was the most important virtue under the Tokugawa Shogunate?

For a samurai, which came first, obedience to (fill in the blank)?
Does kabuki theater make a rigid distinction between dance and drama?
Why is the focal point of the kabuki performance different from the focal point in ballet?
Kabuki theater is life imitating art and art imitating life.
How are the meanings and values of a Shogunate-based society reflected in the moral of the stories presented in kabuki theater?

All theater strives for that paradoxical moment when performers and audience share an aesthetic experience that transcends the moment.  Classical theater preserves and

refines these experiences so that they can be shared (fill in the blank.)

Study Guide; Chapter 2:

When the gods dance – it is not surprising that dance should be an offering to them
Dance opens up a direct channel of communication with the gods and ancestors.

What is the name of the Hindu god of creation and destruction?
It is Kalika

Throughout India, what classical name represents the Hindu god of creation and destruction?
It is Sanskrit.

Bronze icons found in south Indian temples and shrines show this 4-armed deity ringed by fire.  What does his raised left leg symbolize?
It shows destruction ad restoration.

What is the name of the Hindu god who has long been worshiped in his incarnation as Rama and Krishna?
He is sakshat or shaktyavesa-avatara.

Sango and egungun (Nigeria), candomble (Brazil), vodun (Haiti), santeria (Cuba, New York & Miami) are all religious dance traditions which have their roots in Africa.

These religious dance ceremonies share a common goal.  What is the goal of the ceremony?
Their goal is to make the countries in which they operate Christian.

What are the benefits of being “mounted” by a god for the initiate and for the community?
It gives the priest the holiness that they need in order to influence the followers. It also gives people the divine connection to god.
The five steps below refer to what?

1:  The initiate undergoes a long period of instruction and training
2:  The initiate dances to invite the god to visit the world of the living
3:  Signaling acceptance of the invitation, the god takes possession of the initiate’s body
4:  The god begins to dance with its characteristic movements and energy
5:  During this time, the initiate remains in a state of suspended consciousness or trance
They are steps of conversion into a voodoo priest.

The basic vehicle of dance is the human body.
When and how people dance is shaped by their attitude toward the body.
What is it that has a profound impact in the way that it shapes people’s attitude toward the body and ultimately toward dance?
It is the people’s belief.
What is the Judeo-Christian world-view regarding the religious use of dance?
That it was for evil.
Did the early Hebrews share E. Louis Backman’s view of dance as a means to influence and contact invisible powers?
It did for the few that practiced it.

How did the early Hebrews’ desire to distance themselves from their neighbors and early Greek and Roman thought on the subject of dance influence the early Christian

attitudes about the dancing body?

They distanced themselves through critique that the society was made to bow to.

In which arenawas dance in the West allowed to flourish as a result of the internal debate between the proponents and opponents of Christian liturgical dance? It was

in the arena of Galatia.

Judaism’s ambivalence toward the dancing body is recorded in the earliest scriptures.  King David danced with all his might before the Ark of the Covenant.  This is an

example of what kind of dance?
It was liturgical dance.
According to rabbinical law, Jews have a commandment to do what at weddings?
It was to celebrate though songs and dance.
The Greeks danced:
at religious ceremonies
to insure fertile fields
to insure fertile women
to prepare for war
to celebrate victories at war
to celebrate weddings
to celebrate funerals
to overcome depression
to cure physical illness

Greeks feared the energies released from “wilder” forms of dance as exemplified in myth by dance-intoxicated devotees of whom?
It was the devotees of Galatea.
The Greek’s desire for a constructive channel for the wilder energies released by dance gave rise to the development of what? It gave rise to development of

civilization.

Plato (427-347 B.C.) and Aristotle (384-322 B.C. ) unanimously recognized both the constructive and disruptive power of dance.  However they disagreed on how such

power should be safely channeled.  They both knew that the wilder forms of dancing could induce trance, possession and arouse sexual passions.  How did Plato deal with

actors and dancers?  They were respected to the tight rope.
How did Aristotle deal with actors and dancers?
They could be separated from the people so that they entered and left the skene from an isolated isle;

Plato agreed with his mentor Socrates that every educated man should know how to dance gracefully.  What types of dance were acceptable to Plato?
They were Pyrrhic and Hoplites.
What did Plato feel was the true purpose of art?   It was to imitate reality.

“Since dance, like poetry, could teach important lessons through the imitation of real-life events, and especially through the “purging” of the emotions of pity and

terror. “Which Greek philosopher believed that all Greek citizens had the obligation to attend well-executed dance performances? It was Plato.

Early Romans were partial to two types of dancing.  What were they? The court and secular dances.

What is the name of the Roman ruler who held the belief that real men do not dance unless they are drunk or insane?
He was Cicero.
The early church fathers were concerned with living a pure life, which required transcending the body or the denial of bodily desires.  Additionally, the early church

fathers subscribed to a school of philosophy which held that the world of time, space and flesh was inferior to the transcendent realms of the intellect and the

spirit.  What is the name of this school of philosophy?
Plato.
What are the names of the dances that were typically approved by the fathers of the Christian church?
Popular and court dances.
The Christian church hierarchy wanted to be sure that nothing heard or seen on consecrated ground would distract the congregation.  The fundamental issue regarding

dance in the Christian church is the issue of control.  Music can be controlled because it has a score and art once installed (created) can be controlled through its

removal.  What is it about dance that makes it inherently less controllable than music or art?
It is said to lose the purpose of the dance.

What is the fundamental issue regarding dance in the Christian church? It was the issue of control.

“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s”  (Mathew 22:21)  Based on this scripture a clear line is drawn

between the life of the spirit (sacred) and the material (secular) world.  This belief gave rise to the sacred – secular divide.  How did this divide give rise to the

creation of a purely secular dance tradition in Western Europe?
People saw it as a way of allowing the Christians to authoritically indulge in secular activities.

The Black Death that ravaged Europe between 1348 and 1351 gave rise to processions of flagellants on the Continent and in England.  Why did the dancers publicly lash

themselves with leather ropes and scourges? They did it as a sign of grief.

During the period when mortification of the body was most widely practiced in Europe, outbreaks of what was called “dance mania” reached epidemic proportions. What was

the term given to the dancers? Orgunums.

Why were the Shakers (who originated in England and migrated to the United States) considered Protestant visionaries?
They were considered so because they danced during worship, which was uncommon.

In the Yoruba tradition, how do worshipers communicate with gods and ancestors?
Through dance during ceremonies.
In the Yoruba tradition, why is the relationship between the deity and devotee thought of as reciprocal?
Because deity had to possess one in order to be his devotee.
Complete the Yoruba proverb:  “Without human beings..there is not a religion”

When the devotee is “mounted” by a deity, their movements change to reflect the nature of that deity.
What is the name of the deity whose movements are fluid and graceful?
He is Rahini.
What is the name of the deity whose movements are energetic, abrupt and angular?
He is Sango.
What is the purpose of the egungun masquerades?
It connects the world of the dead and the living.
Who does the egungun represent?
It represents concealed powers.

Worship that uses both words and the body to communicate with the deity is a strong tradition among the Yoruba.  With the singing of hymns and dancing in the pews and

the aisles, the worshipers invite possession by the Holy Spirit.  This same tradition can be seen in many present-day African-American Christian churches.  How is this

possible?
The African Americans have kept their traditions to date.

Hinduism is an umbrella term that embraces many religious sects whose differing approaches to divinity vary in both the form and the object of their devotion.  However

what they share in common is a belief in the underlying unity of existence and a determination to exclude no aspect of life in the search for the meaning of life.

In Hinduism, what is the function of dance as it relates to the realm of the living and the realm of the deities?
To connect The Hindus to their unseen gods.
What are the names of the two dance forms that exemplify the ways in which dance and religion intersect in Indian life?
Bharata natyam and Katakali.
What is the NatyaShastra?
It is an Indian treatise on arts, dance and music.

What is the name of the theater manual, spelling out in great detail all aspects of the performer’s art, from elaborate sign language of hand gestures to costuming and

make-up?
Drama- manual.
The fifth Veda states that dance drama properly performed, “emboldens the weak, energizes the heroic, enlightens the ignorant and imparts erudition to the scholar” by

showing humanity and divinity as they really are.  How is this accomplished?
Through slow movements during dance.
What is the function of universalized emotions or rasas?
It is to communicate songs to the audience.

Dr. KapilaVatsyayansays, “The Indian dancer’s preoccupation is not so much with space as with time(fill in the Blank) and the dancer is constantly trying to achieve

the perfect pose which will convey a sense of timeliness(fill in the blank).”

An Indian dancer whose career spanned more than 40 years was one of the key figures in the revival of bharatanatyam.  Her most famous interpretive piece was a poem

beginning, “Krishna, come soon and show me your face…”  What is her name?
She was Balasaraswati
What is the main difference between the classically trained Indian dancer and the classically trained ballet dancer from the West?  The classically trained Indian

dancer places his dancing emphasis on the limbs.
What is the name of the all-male Indian dance drama (story play)?
It is Kathakali.

Kathakali, the all-male dance drama or story play, tells of legendary times, when gods and heroes and demons clashed in the mighty battle of good and evil that shook

the heavens and earth and the netherworld.  What is the ultimate purpose of the performance?
Its purpose is to appease the gods.

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