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Task 7: Discussing descriptions and performances

In the previous task you have become aware of what is entailed and how it feels to perform some fundamental ballet movements and have thought about words to describe them. In the activities for this week you will be examining the concepts of musicality and rhythm.

This is a black and white photograph of a row of 5 ballet dancers moving together. They are standing on their left foot and their right foot is stretching backwards touching the floor with their point shoe. They are wearing long white tutus and are arching both arms upwards with their heads tilted back and facing to their front left diagonal.

Activity 7.1

In this activity you are going to reflect on the meaning of the concept of "musicality".

1

First, write a description of your own understanding of what musicality is.

This is a black and white image of a dancer jumpling. She is performing on a stage with some old buildings in the background. She is wearing an adorned dress and her hair tight at the back with a bow. Her feet are pointing down together while her arms ar lifted upwards. She is facing up slightly to her right.

This is an open answer. Responses will vary.

You can go to this online reference site Memidex (opens in a new window) to read various definitions of 'musicality' from different online dictionaries.

Check your answer

Activity 7.2

Read Tully's text below and post your answers to these questions in the discussion thread "Musicality" in the module forum.

  1. Tully identifies music as "the prime mover in the dancer's volition", do you think this is always the case?
  2. Do you agree with the idea that all movement has a rhythm?
  3. Would you say that the dancer is like an instrument in the dance?
  4. Do these thoughts apply to all dance genres? Explain your responses.

"This [...] indicates the prime mover in the dancer's volition: the music. The time-space relation between movements has a rhythmical pattern suggesting music of its own. When this accords with the music, the two become one and the same. Then does the dancer experience 'being danced' the dance flows through him, the instrument, and his delight and the delight of the audience are one."

(Tully, 2011, p. 23)

Activity 7.3

In this activity you are going to watch a video in order to attend to the use of space, time and music.

2

Watch again the first scene of the performance of Theme and Variations (opens in a new window) and this time pay attention to how Balanchine constructs:

  • the relationship of the dancers to each other through the upper body and port de bras.

Where is there an accent or an applied emphasis in the physical action? How does this relate to the overall phrase of movement? How is this related to music?

The gestures of the dancers' upper body and port de bras reference both the audience and each other. They move towards and away from each other and in a figure of eight pattern that interweaves their positions in space. You might have been able to sense a downbeat or connection through the body with gravity (along the line of the aplomb).Check your answer