DANCE APPRECIATION LECTURE OUTLINE WEEK ONE Important to Mark Calendars Now for Mandatory Performances Submit Athletic Department Schedules Immediately Note that posting of lecture outlines on blackboard will be made by the weekend prior to the scheduled week of classes Save these to use as study guides for exams and quizzes General Stage Theatre Information Proscenium Stage Arena Stage Stage Directions From Perspective of Performers Downstage Upstage Stage Right Stage Left Center Stage Gradation of Stage Directions Apron Cyclorama cyc Scrim Backdrops Raking of the Stage or the Audience Space Wings Legs Borders Batons Trees Orchestra Pit Light Booth Spot for Dancers Lighting Front Light Back Light Side Light Overhead Light Directional Light Spotlight Specials Color Gels Gobos Color of Lights Indicates Mood Time of Day Location Live Music versus Recorded Music Set Pieces Props Artistic Collaborators Lighting Designer Costume Designer Set and Scenic Designer Composers and Musicians Other Collaborations Primitive Period Up to 3 000 B C Dances of Imitation Celebration Initiation Medicine Commeration Spiritual Connection Imitation Often of Nature wind water fire rain earth etc or Living Creatures birds wolves bears etc Primitive Music chanting bells rattles early variations on drums and reed instruments Costumes or Clothing often animal skins hides and fur feathers Dancers were predominately male Patterns were often circular Movements or steps were natural not technical and included running hopping skipping jumping leaping twirling tumbling walking rocking undulating swaying etc Celebration Dances include those to honor births deaths marriages coming of age etc Medicine Dances performed to appease the gods ward off evil spirits and protect individuals or groups from danger or disease Dances with Spiritual Significance also done to honor or appease the gods and to give thanks for rain sun a good harvest a good hunt etc DANCE WAS A WAY TO COMMUNICATE before the advent of spoken language Proof that dance existed in primitive cultures is found in a series of rock cave paintings from the Paleolithic Age 30 000 10 000 B C E a painting in a tomb depicted a harvest dance Dances were often ritualistic and passed down or taught in the absence of a common verbal language the movement of the body could express thoughts and feeling No narrative in the early dances of the primitive period THE ANCIENT PERIOD 3 000 B C to 400 A D Periods or Eras overlapped with aesthetic sensibilities permeating each successive era Civilizations began to develop spoken language written language organized religion centralized governments class systems artistic advancements in theater literature music visual arts and dance Greece Apollonian dance and Dionysian dance a pyrrhiche or pyrrhic tradition Rome Mime Pantomime pyrrhic tradition China Court Dance Dragon dance Lion dance the Silk Road Bharata Natyam an ancient temple dance still practiced today that required grace skill and stamina known for exact head and eye gestures intricate footwork and symbolism 1940s Temple dance approved for secular viewing academia and in the theatre Areas of Ancient Civilization included the Middle East Asia Africa the Mediterranean Greece and Rome Dancers often were women Dances often geometrical and symmetrical representing a balance between soul body and mind and a balance in the cosmos Dance still honoring or paying homage to the gods and consistently being used to communicate Text Part l The Art of Dance Chapter 1 Dance as an Art Form Part 4 Related Topics Chapter 11 Dance Production Behind the Scenes of a Dance Concert Video Dancing The Power of Dance American Indian Dance Theatre Classical Indian Dance