Since the 1930’s when George Balanchine choreographed the Rogers and Hart musical On Your Toes, dance in musical theater has been used as a tool with which to tell a story. Balanchine, one of history’s most famous ballet choreographers, used the movements of classical ballet in combination with the positions of jazz dance to create the musical’s notable dance numbers. The Russian choreographer’s usage of dancing that was firmly linked to the production’s plot to convey a key aspect of the narrative was common place in ballet, but unprecedented on the stage. The importance of dance in productions as a further method by which to unveil the plot only grew in the following years with the creation of musicals like Oklahoma!
Each dance that the choreographer Agnes de Mille created in Oklahoma!, one of the most successful musicals of all time, not only contributed to the plot, but revealed aspects of the show’s characters. The show signaled a withdrawal from the traditional use of tap dancing on stage and a new focus on a form of expressive dance customized to fit the demands of musical theater that incorporated aspects of folk, ethnic, jazz, ballroom, classical ballet and many other dance styles. De Mille continued to bring this new form of dance to the stage by choreographing works like Carousel and Brigadoon.
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Brecht called his theatre epic theatre, and his opinions on performance were completely the opposite of Artaud. His plays or performances were those of which were almost a story, he would tell a story usually historical, on a large scale, including a number of people in a series of events over a long period.
Brecht tried to make the audience feel as if they were observers and tried to remind them that they were almost scientists trying to form an opinion on what they are seeing, not on their emotions. Whether it be a sad or happy event he wanted the audience to not be engaged by the actors.
At the heart of all Brecht’s performances is the idea of alienation. He attempts to make things strange by either strange actions or words in gobbly gook. The idea of this was to constantly surprise and challenge the audience whilst reminding the audience that the meaning of this is to simply tell a story whilst putting forward a profound a political point.
By using certain pieces of furniture Brecht was able to set a scene or even a complete location. Brecht had no front curtain and sometimes would, in front of the audience’s eyes change the set to move the scene along.
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David Hockney is an English painter/photographer (the most highly publicized British artist since the Second World War) who has moved over to the United States of American (California) to live and work. He started off as a well-known painter in his earlier years but is now concentrating more on his photography work than his painting.
His phenomenal success has been based not only on the flair, wit, and versatility of his work, but also on his colourful personality, which has made him a recognizable figure even to people not particularly interested in art: a film about him entitled A Bigger Splash enjoyed considerable popularity in the commercial cinema. Read more…
