Sarahs Key Essay Example for Free

Sarahs Key Essay The dance ‘The Oppression of the Jewish Race’ was based on the stimulus ‘Schindlers List’ directed by Steven Spielberg. The dance is in narrative structure based on the journey of the Jewish race from freedom to oppression. The feelings within this dance vary. In the first section, the dance begins with a light playfulness where happiness and hope are portrayed by the dancers. This hopefulness gradually fade however, as the dance steadily progresses into bleakness and has a numbing quality to it. The dancers continue in this despair with outwards signs of pain being expressed. The feeling in the end section of the dance is one of utter hopelessness and anguish. The dance concludes with this feeling as it is how the Jews felt by the end of the Holocaust and as many of their lives ended when the Holocaust was taking place during World War II. This was the motivations that the choreographer used to choreograph this dance. The overall choreographic intention is to convey the oppression of the Jewish race. Through five sections of the dance this is displayed as each section gets progressively worse in a narrative structure that depicts different parts of the Schindlers List movie the stimulus. I was given the role, by the guest choreographer, of a teenage Jewish girl who is a similar age to me. Using the Stanislavski techniques I developed my character for each section of the dance. In the beginning I am happy and free, using emotional memory to get into character before I begin dancing. As the dance progresses my character becomes less and less happy and free. By the second section, I have lost all emotion and my movements are no longer free but more mechanical. My facial expressions slowly transform into those of pain and my movement reflects this as they are bound. When in the gas chambers I brought the idea of pain in my movements and expressions as my character passes away. I brought the understanding of what the Jewish race would have gone through during this time, through my character. Section 1 – The Beginning The beginning section of the dance is acting. There are seven dancers on stage, each interacting with someone. One dancer (a small boy character) runs onto the performance space from stage left to find his toy car, which he finds and then plays with. Another dancer runs on from stage right (a small girl character) with her toy doll. The boy then snatches the doll away from the girl and teases her with it as she chases after him. The boy’s mother then enters (third dancer to enter the stage) from stage left and tells off the boy for being mean to the girl. The girl’s mother then enters the performance space and supports the girl as she is apologised to by the boy. At the same time as this apology is taking place. A grandmother and her granddaughter are making their way through the space beginning from upstage right. This is when I enter the performance. I run onto the performance space from upstage left, waving as I enter. I move through the space to interact with two of the other dancers, by hugging both of them as they are my grandma and friend. I then walk down stage with the grandmother and friend and my focus is on the other dancers who are greeting each other, the mood is light and free. The dancers then make their way down stage to form a line. They then take whatever prop that they have with them (e. g. the car for the boy) and have it in their hand. Activity One Choreographic Intention The dance ‘The Oppression of the Jewish Race’ was based on the stimulus ‘Schindlers List’ directed by Steven Spielberg. The dance is in narrative structure based on the journey of the Jewish race from freedom to oppression. The feelings within this dance vary. In the first section, the dance begins with a light playfulness where happiness and hope are portrayed by the dancers. This hopefulness gradually fade however, as the dance steadily progresses into bleakness and has a numbing quality to it. The dancers continue in this despair with outwards signs of pain being expressed. The feeling in the end section of the dance is one of utter hopelessness and anguish. The dance concludes with this feeling as it is how the Jews felt by the end of the Holocaust and as many of their lives ended when the Holocaust was taking place during World War II. This was the motivations that the choreographer used to choreograph this dance. The overall choreographic intention is to convey the oppression of the Jewish race. Through five sections of the dance this is displayed as each section gets progressively worse in a narrative structure that depicts different parts of the Schindlers List movie the stimulus. I was given the role, by the guest choreographer, of a teenage Jewish girl who is a similar age to me. Using the Stanislavski techniques I developed my character for each section of the dance. In the beginning I am happy and free, using emotional memory to get into character before I begin dancing. As the dance progresses my character becomes less and less happy and free. By the second section, I have lost all emotion and my movements are no longer free but more mechanical. My facial expressions slowly transform into those of pain and my movement reflects this as they are bound. When in the gas chambers I brought the idea of pain in my movements and expressions as my character passes away. I brought the understanding of what the Jewish race would have gone through during this time, through my character. Section 1 – The Beginning The beginning section of the dance is acting. There are seven dancers on stage, each interacting with someone. One dancer (a small boy character) runs onto the performance space from stage left to find his toy car, which he finds and then plays with. Another dancer runs on from stage right (a small girl character) with her toy doll. The boy then snatches the doll away from the girl and teases her with it as she chases after him. The boy’s mother then enters (third dancer to enter the stage) from stage left and tells off the boy for being mean to the girl. The girl’s mother then enters the performance space and supports the girl as she is apologised to by the boy. At the same time as this apology is taking place. A grandmother and her granddaughter are making their way through the space beginning from upstage right. This is when I enter the performance. I run onto the performance space from upstage left, waving as I enter. I move through the space to interact with two of the other dancers, by hugging both of them as they are my grandma and friend. I then walk down stage with the grandmother and friend and my focus is on the other dancers who are greeting each other, the mood is light and free. The dancers then make their way down stage to form a line. They then take whatever prop that they have with them (e. g. the car for the boy) and have it in their hand. Each dancer, in time with the music, kneels down and places their prop on the ground and has one last moment with it. The dancers focus stays on the ground as they all stand up and then simultaneously they raise their heads, their focus up and out. This concludes this section. I learnt this section by getting into character and portraying the emotions that a teenage Jewish girl would. I interact with the other character and I had to really make sure that I used ensemble awareness when getting into the line so that there was equal space between the dancers next to me and to be in a straight line. I portray the intentions of the dance by interacting with the other dancers, showing my relationship with them – this portrays that Jewish race was free to be who they are. My interaction with my prop shows how the Jewish race is still holding on to its individuality but has to eventually let it go. Section 2 – Free Motif This section involves free and flowing movements. The focus of the dancers is all on the movements as it begins with a series of retire step with arms open and moving in a circular motion (half of the dancers go upstage and the other half continue to move toward stage right along down stage), into a drag turn with the left leg and foot is out and the arms are extended on a diagonal, with the body on a tilt. The dancers then run forward and reach toward the sky before they bend and contract their bodies, running backwards with their arms curved alongside their torsos. This is followed by many flowing movements, with the opening of arms, reaching out and looking up. The section finishes with the dancers dropping to their knees with their arms out in front of them. As they get up the pain on their faces begins to show as they enter into the Hitler salute and lifting the right leg at the same time and then coming together to shuffle along with our hands placed on one another shoulders. This ending of the section shows the Nazi regime tightening and sending to Jewish people to concentration camps, their freedom being taken away from them. This section also involves many contemporary contractions and I have had to work on ballet technique. When practising the retires I needed to focus is on pointing my feet, keeping my left arm extended in second and staying up on releve. Through the use of focus and expression I brought the idea across that I was free yet not happy as I know that something is wrong, being in the ghettos. Section 3 – Mechanical Motif The dancers facial expressions in this section are completely blank when completing the dance moves, almost, no sign of any emotion, almost like a robot. Their focus is directly out or in the direction they are moving to. This reinforces the idea that they are losing the very essence of who they are, their humanity and individuality and are beginning to live as though they are like machines. This section is performed through twice. The first time it its completed is in complete unison, the second time they are dancing the same movements but repeated different moves three times so it looks like each dancer is doing something different though they all end at the same time. This section involves a series of isolations of the arms, feet, legs and body as the dances move mechanically. After the isolations is a back bend. The dancers place their hands on the small of their back; tilt back and head facing the sky. This is the only place in this section when the dancer’s faces show expression – pain, with mouths open to show the intensity of it. The dancers then hunch over with knees bent, walk forward and then stand up with hands clasped up by their shoulder, before they drop to the floor. Once on the floor the dancers sit back on their knees and circle round in a back bend and then stand up. This whole sequence is repeated as stated before except for the circled backbend and that concludes this section. I had to practice the sharpness of the movements and keeping myself void of Each dancer, in time with the music, kneels down and places their prop on the ground and has one last moment with it. The dancers focus stays on the ground as they all stand up and then simultaneously they raise their heads, their focus up and out. This concludes this section. I learnt this section by getting into character and portraying the emotions that a teenage Jewish girl would. I interact with the other character and I had to really make sure that I used ensemble awareness when getting into the line so that there was equal space between the dancers next to me and to be in a straight line. I portray the intentions of the dance by interacting with the other dancers, showing my relationship with them – this portrays that Jewish race was free to be who they are. My interaction with my prop shows how the Jewish race is still holding on to its individuality but has to eventually let it go. Section 2 – Free Motif This section involves free and flowing movements. The focus of the dancers is all on the movements as it begins with a series of retire step with arms open and moving in a circular motion (half of the dancers go upstage and the other half continue to move toward stage right along down stage), into a drag turn with the left leg and foot is out and the arms are extended on a diagonal, with the body on a tilt. The dancers then run forward and reach toward the sky before they bend and contract their bodies, running backwards with their arms curved alongside their torsos. This is followed by many flowing movements, with the opening of arms, reaching out and looking up. The section finishes with the dancers dropping to their knees with their arms out in front of them. As they get up the pain on their faces begins to show as they enter into the Hitler salute and lifting the right leg at the same time and then coming together to shuffle along with our hands placed on one another shoulders. This ending of the section shows the Nazi regime tightening and sending to Jewish people to concentration camps, their freedom being taken away from them. This section also involves many contemporary contractions and I have had to work on ballet technique. When practising the retires I needed to focus is on pointing my feet, keeping my left arm extended in second and staying up on releve. Through the use of focus and expression I brought the idea across that I was free yet not happy as I know that something is wrong, being in the ghettos. Section 3 – Mechanical Motif The dancers facial expressions in this section are completely blank when completing the dance moves, almost, no sign of any emotion, almost like a robot. Their focus is directly out or in the direction they are moving to. This reinforces the idea that they are losing the very essence of who they are, their humanity and individuality and are beginning to live as though they are like machines. This section is performed through twice. The first time it its completed is in complete unison, the second time they are dancing the same movements but repeated different moves three times so it looks like each dancer is doing something different though they all end at the same time. This section involves a series of isolations of the arms, feet, legs and body as the dances move mechanically. After the isolations is a back bend. The dancers place their hands on the small of their back; tilt back and head facing the sky. This is the only place in this section when the dancer’s faces show expression – pain, with mouths open to show the intensity of it. The dancers then hunch over with knees bent, walk forward and then stand up with hands clasped up by their shoulder, before they drop to the floor. Once on the floor the dancers sit back on their knees and circle round in a back bend and then stand up. This whole sequence is repeated as stated before except for the circled backbend and that concludes this section. I had to practice the sharpness of the movements and keeping myself void of expression of emotion during this section so that I could effectively portray the end of the Jewish races freedom through my movements. Section 4 – Bound Motif This section has the dancers focus mostly on the hands. There is a mixture of point and flexing of the feet as the hands are cupped. The dancers then contract and then lift up, back flexed and hands flat above head. Then the chest and stomach concaves as the dancers turn and then lift their leg. They then swoop the arms while bending to the right. The dancers then swing around to push out their cupped hands. They then turn again, still with the arms cupped and circle their head around while raising the cupped hands. The dancers then walk back into a cluster as this section conclude. I had difficulty alternating between flexing and pointing my feet and I had to practise this to be able to show the bound movements that are the constriction that the Jews are going through. Section 5 – Gas Chamber Scene This is the section where all of the dancers act/dance their death in the gas chambers. Our black dresses are taken off and the dancers are ‘naked’. Each of the dancers begins by raising their heads in unison as if to look at the ‘shower heads’ that release the gas. The expression is a mixture of hope and utter despair. The music then drops and the dancer’s shoulders hunch over and it is if they had been punched in the stomach. All the dancers then interact with one another as they slowly die. The last person dies as the violin ends, with a single lifted hand that comes shakily down as the dance ends. This death symbolises how the Jews dies as one group, their dignity stripped away and their race slandered. I had to practise this is a lot with another dancer and working together to try and project the death of our characters. This help to show the intention of how they still helped each other even as they were dying. When I performed I used weight bearing in the death scene as I hold one of the dancers who fall onto me. This is to show the support that the Jews are still giving one another. Throughout the different sections my focus varies from out at the audience, to my hands and then focusing on the different movements. This is to enhance the ideas of going from freedom to oppression. There are many relationships with the other dancers through interaction with the other dancers. This is particularly in the beginning section and in the death scene. I interact with two of the dancers at the beginning as I hug them and walk with them. In the death scene I hold one of the dancers and then with my ‘grandma’ we clasp hands and hold her. expression of emotion during this section so that I could effectively portray the end of the Jewish races freedom through my movements. Section 4 – Bound Motif This section has the dancers focus mostly on the hands. There is a mixture of point and flexing of the feet as the hands are cupped. The dancers then contract and then lift up, back flexed and hands flat above head. Then the chest and stomach concaves as the dancers turn and then lift their leg. They then swoop the arms while bending to the right. The dancers then swing around to push out their cupped hands. They then turn again, still with the arms cupped and circle their head around while raising the cupped hands. The dancers then walk back into a cluster as this section conclude. I had difficulty alternating between flexing and pointing my feet and I had to practise this to be able to show the bound movements that are the constriction that the Jews are going through. Section 5 – Gas Chamber Scene. This is the section where all of the dancers act/dance their death in the gas chambers. Our black dresses are taken off and the dancers are ‘naked’. Each of the dancers begins by raising their heads in unison as if to look at the ‘shower heads’ that release the gas. The expression is a mixture of hope and utter despair. The music then drops and the dancer’s shoulders hunch over and it is if they had been punched in the stomach. All the dancers then interact with one another as they slowly die. The last person dies as the violin ends, with a single lifted hand that comes shakily down as the dance ends. This death symbolises how the Jews dies as one group, their dignity stripped away and their race slandered. I had to practise this is a lot with another dancer and working together to try and project the death of our characters. This help to show the intention of how they still helped each other even as they were dying. When I performed I used weight bearing in the death scene as I hold one of the dancers who fall onto me. This is to show the support that the Jews are still giving one another. Throughout the different sections my focus varies from out at the audience, to my hands and then focusing on the different movements. This is to enhance the ideas of going from freedom to oppression. There are many relationships with the other dancers through interaction with the other dancers. This is particularly in the beginning section and in the death scene. I interact with two of the dancers at the beginning as I hug them and walk with them. In the death scene I hold one of the dancers and then with my ‘grandma’ we clasp hands and hold her. Activity Five Technique Contemporary ballet is a form of dance which incorporates elements of both classical ballet and modern dance. It takes its technique and use of Pointe work from classical ballet, although it permits a greater range of movement that may not adhere to the strict body lines of ballet technique. Many of its concepts come from the ideas and innovations of 20th century modern dance, including floor work, balletic movements and turn-in of the legs Most contemporary ballet focuses on the movement rather than a storyline, though this dance is an exception. Contemporary ballet does not focus on symmetry, and having a stage that is unbalanced is characteristic of the style. It focuses more on a physical interpretation of a theme. Contemporary ballet dancers curve, twist and bend their upper bodies, which is different to ballet, which is all about having perfect posture and control. This dance has a series of contemporary ballet based movement like contractions, curved backs, flexed feet and abstract movements Activity Five Technique Contemporary ballet is a form of dance which incorporates elements of both classical ballet and modern dance. It takes its technique and use of Pointe work from classical ballet, although it permits a greater range of movement that may not adhere to the strict body lines of ballet technique. Many of its concepts come from the ideas and innovations of 20th century modern dance, including floor work, balletic movements and turn-in of the legs Most contemporary ballet focuses on the movement rather than a storyline, though this dance is an exception. Contemporary ballet does not focus on symmetry, and having a stage that is unbalanced is characteristic of the style. It focuses more on a physical interpretation of a theme. Contemporary ballet dancers curve, twist and bend their upper bodies, which is different to ballet, which is all about having perfect posture and control. This dance has a series of contemporary ballet based movement like contractions, curved backs, flexed feet and abstract movements Two movements/moments that I found difficult: Moment/Movement one: I had to work quite a lot on my retire in the second section. I needed to make sure that my left arm is support and is strong in second position. I also to make sure that my left foot connects with my right leg on the side of my knee. I need to focus on my left hand as my right arm is circling around. In the performance, because I practised them, I performed this movement with clarity and confidence, whilst think of how I practised it. Moment/Movement 2: In the beginning I had to work on becoming my character, the teenage Jewish girl who is happy and free. Using Stanislavski techniques, I remembered a time when I was feeling happy and free, using my emotional memory to get into character before I begin dancing each practise. During the actual performance I got into character before entering the performance space, remember how I was happy and free from the practises prior to the performance. Breath My breath is used to show my emotion in the dance. In section one and two my breath comes easy and is free flowing like the movements. In section three it is sharp and restricted as the movements and isolations are causing this. In section four and five my breath is laboured and shaky as I am in pain and in despair. Two movements/moments that I found difficult: Moment/Movement one: I had to work quite a lot on my retire in the second section. I needed to make sure that my left arm is support and is strong in second position. I also to make sure that my left foot connects with my right leg on the side of my knee. I need to focus on my left hand as my right arm is circling around. In the performance, because I practised them, I performed this movement with clarity and confidence, whilst think of how I practised it. Moment/Movement 2: In the beginning I had to work on becoming my character, the teenage Jewish girl who is happy and free. Using Stanislavski techniques, I remembered a time when I was feeling happy and free, using my emotional memory to get into character before I begin dancing each practise. During the actual performance I got into character before entering the performance space, remember how I was happy and free from the practises prior to the performance. Breath My breath is used to show my emotion in the dance. In section one and two my breath comes easy and is free flowing like the movements. In section three it is sharp and restricted as the movements and isolations are causing this. In section four and five my breath is laboured and shaky as I am in pain and in despair.