Lily Deeg

[lilydeeg]

#10 - Krump & House

Wow. We made it. Last blog post for Dance History 2! We’ve been learning more about hip hop culture- all things that have truly expanded my knowledge on the topic and that I’ve found so valuable to understanding the culture. This week we read the articles “The Multiringed Cosmos of Krumping: Hip Hop dance at the Intersections of Battle, Media, and Spirit” by Christina Zanfanga and “C’mon to My House: Underground House Dancing” by Sally R. Sommer.

The only thing I knew about krumping before reading about it was that it was a hard-hitting style of hip hop. While this isn’t wrong, I’ve gathered a lot more context. Krumping came from Thomas Johnson, who’s considered to be the founder and father of clown dancing. From clowning, the dance developed into more serious play, and it developed and flourished within an atmosphere of constraint, surveillance, and brutality (Zanfanga, 342). The nature of krumping promotes a release of aggression and provides organized healing. I wonder what humanity would be like if everyone could access this intense manner of letting go that krump provides. Going back to my first thought of krumping, the style is vigorous with extreme spine-bending, chest-popping movements.

The style and atmosphere of house largely differs from b-boying and krumping battles. House flourished in the club atmosphere, and the vibe is the most important part of the environment. What I found most interesting about the vibe is the purpose of the music. The point of the nonstop music is so that it can drive nonstop dancing. I thought it was crazy that some of the base lines are equalized so that they aren’t heard but rather literally felt through vibrations in the body. The constant beat unifies all of the people in the club and discourages disharmony or altercations. One of the main differences I found between house versus other styles is that the dance floor is only about the dancing. No one cares about outside accomplishments or status, which is contrary to the territory marking actions during b-boying battles.

The biggest thing I’ve learned about hip hop is that there’s so much more to learn about the culture. I’ve gathered so much more context about the origins, sociopolitical influences, intricacies of the styles, and cultural significance of hip hop.

I am so grateful for the past year of learning as much as I can about the history of dance. The conversations we’ve had in class have been so valuable in sharing knowledge, challenging viewpoints, and working through some big issues and thoughts towards life. Gosh I love dance, so much.

Oh, and I finally added pictures to my profile.

[lilydeeg]

#9 - Hip & Hop

Week two of hip hop! I’m loving the amount of information we’re learning and the ability to discuss the viewpoints we’ve gathered from the readings. The articles we read this week include “Global Breakdancing and the Intercultural Body” by Halifu Osumare, “Getting off: Portrayals of Masculinity in Hip Hop Dance in Film” by Sara LaBoskey, and “The Dance Archaeology of Rennie Harris: Hip-Hop or Postmodern?” by Halifu Osumare.

This week’s readings cover a variety of different topics within the culture of hip hop. Between global proliferation, interculturalism, masculinism, sexuality, and identity, new connections were made. Overall, I’m being exposed to the deep social and political implications hip hop holds in its culture. In the first article, Osumare discusses two ideas that caught my attention. The first is performance versus performativity. From his definitions I’ve gathered that he associates performance with codified/learned movement or style and performativity with improvised movement produced from the means in which we try to understand ourselves. I usually associate performance with movement that is learned and rehearsed, and his thoughts towards performativity expanded by associations with this term. The second idea that Osumare discusses is the concept of the conscious versus unconscious willingness of the body to represent personal and cultural identity. I had to read this sentence over again to try to better understand its meaning. I think that certain learned habits from society can come out through one’s movement, revealing either their own personal opinions or ideals that were placed upon them by society.

After reading and learning about Rennie Harris, I’m able to see the amount of layers that Harris incorporates into his work as a hip-hop concert choreographer. Harris speaks to personal and larger social issues through a combination of hip hop’s improvisatory nature and the fluidity of the postmodern dance style. He’s concerned with exploring the human condition, spiritual development, and the state of the world. To me, these are pretty big topics to be discovering within dance. But that makes it so much more intriguing, involved, and intricate. Other historical context I noted has to do with the aesthetics of Africanist dance. African American social dance influenced American and European dances. For example, the characteristic of loosening the pelvis that was introduced during the disco era freed up the hips, a new sensation to some. I found this point speaks to the value and high influence of African American dance on other forms of dance in America.

Side note: these authors have referred back to authors from other articles we’ve read in this class (like Sally Banes and Brenda Dixon Gottschild).I love seeing how interconnected the dance community is.

[lilydeeg]

#8 - Hip Hop Culture & Breaking

Time to move on to hip hop!! WHOOP WHOOP! We’re now transitioning to reading and discussing the history and culture of hip hop dance. Exciting stuff! Oh, and bc of #covid19 we had our usual discussion on #webex which was #different but we’re doing the thing. This week we based our conversation on the reading “Physical Graffiti: The History of Hip-Hop Dance” by Jorge “Popmaster Fabel” Pabon and “Breaking” by Sally Banes, as well as some of our personal experience in a hip hop technique class we’re taking at the same time.

Biggest thing to note: hip hop is a culture. The four elements that make up hip hop are graffiti, DJ (disc jockey), MC (master of ceremonies), and b-boying. The term “hip hop” was coined by DJ Afrika Bambaataa in the 1980’s. Another noteworthy person is DJ Kool Herc, who’s credited with using two turntables, a mixer, and two of the same records. He also coined the terms “b-boy” and “b-girl.” The East Coast originated breaking, and the West Coast originated locking and popping. Four styles mentioned in the first reading include toprocking, uprocking, locking, and popping. Toprocking had many influences, a few of them being tap, lindy hop, salsa, martial arts, and African and Native American dances. The style consists of footwork, freezes, drops, and the most identifiable element of power moves. Uprocking was more confrontational than toprocking. The development of this style was when battles began forming when crews would directly challenge one another. Fake weapons were part of the scene. It was until this reading that I realized how much significance the battle held. In the hip hop technique class I’m taking, when we would battle each other during our breaking unit, I didn’t fully understand why we would snatch another’s hat or pull out a weapon. Taunting and boasting were two key components to breaking. Locking originated by Don Campbell in LA. The group called “The Lockers” shared in the development of this style. Popping, a separate style, was misrepresented by being merged with locking. After being introduced to locking and popping in my hip hop class, I have a deeper level of admiration for those who study and practice these styles. They’re hard when you’re first learning!

The media played a huge role in the outlook on hip hop. Are we surprised? So much that hip hop can be looked at through two lenses: before and after media. Before the media, hip hop held a strong social significance in the communities where it lived. After media, the form was broken up between professionals and amateurs. For professionals, hip hop became a medium for dancers to win cash prizes, roles in movies, and book tours. For amateurs, hip hop was a way to stay physically fit and to work on challenging skills. I think this shift that escalated competitiveness closed off accessibility to the average person who was still looking at hip hop as a way to socially resolve conflict, or even just become interested in participating. I found it interesting that even though, like other styles, hip hop is very improvisational in nature, it once had a set structure to a battle. The basic format was an entry, footwork, spin, freeze, and exit. I can’t think of another dance form that has the capability of an improvised structure. Well besides an improvisational score to follow. I also found it valuable to read about how much significance a freeze had. There were motifs of sports actions, military, sexual adventures and more that were taken into consideration when coming up with the best freeze to diss or humiliate your opponent. Wild.

Two questions were prompted and are worth some thought: Is power in relation to movement exclusive to strength? And what would happen if we didn’t have set performances (similar to how battles just occurred when they would arise)?

[lilydeeg]

#7 - Dance Notation & Gaga

With the current state of the world, I’m left feeling weird and confused. In this moment, I’m going to choose not to acknowledge that for the duration of this blog post. Instead, let’s talk about dance notation and Gaga for a hot sec! While we didn’t have extensive discussion in class this week, our conversations were based on the articles “What is Dance Notation?” by Ann Hutchinson Guest and “Gaga as a Metatechnique…” by Meghan Quinlan.

Would you have thought there’s an efficient way to physically record and write down dance movements? I didn’t think so either. Well, besides writing down words that are half french terms and half personalized descriptive adjectives. In 1700, the Beauchamps/Feuillet notation system was created. Similarly, the Vladimir Stepanov system of 1892 was created. I find it noteworthy (hah) that the Stepanov system used music notes to show the duration of movements. I think this shows how music and dance inform each other. The two most utilized methods of the 20th century include Labanotation (1928) and Benesh Movement Notation (1955). The former is more complex, but more accurate in its dictation. The latter is more popular to notate ballet works. Since these systems use a series of unique symbols and staffs, I imagine the process of creating the systems to be creative in and of itself. When our class was tasked with coming up with our own form of notation, I noticed how many different ways a person instinctively wants to notate a movement. Some think geometrically, numerically, and in my case, musically. I found using music notes to notate duration of a movement to be effective, which correlates with the Stepanov system.

Gaga is a style of movement that I’m not familiar with. Ohad Naharin, Israeli choreographer and creator of Gaga, made the art form available to the public in the early 2000s in Tel Aviv. One descriptor of the technique says it’s “feeding texture from hands and feet into rest of body.” This concept itself is intriguing to me because it makes me want to experience different textures in my body in a visceral sense. It seems like this style is accessible to people from all walks of life because there are classes that are Gaga/dancers and Gaga/people. Both use the same rules, activites, and principles. I’m curious as to how the two different classes would look if they were given the same guidance; the two products and experiments happening in the rooms would look drastically different. But at the same time… maybe they wouldn’t.

One point of conversation addressed the question, “what is technique to you?” To me, technique is simply a way to approach something. You approach ballet through the technique of how to execute steps. You approach improvisation through the technique of accessing different qualities and initiations in your body. If it’s practiced and specific, I think a movement style could be considered a technique.

[lilydeeg]

#6 - American Ballet & Progression

Well what do you know. Ballet moved its way to America! The uses of ballet began to expand. These concepts are seen in the chapter “The Rise of American Ballet” from Ballet & Modern Dance by Jack Andreson and the articles “Misty Copeland called out a Russian theater for blackface. Some people are defending the theater” by Lead Asmelash, CNN, and “Hiplet: An Implausible Hybrid Plants Itself on Pointe” by Gia Kourlas, The New York Times.

One thing related to ballet that became popular in America around the turn of the 20th Century was that many ballet dancers were popular in musical theatre. Some women, like Bessie Clayton and Marilyn Miller, were trained ballet dancers but had a specialty act, such as doing the cakewalk en pointe or doing deep backbends. This connects back to last semester when we learned about Vaudeville acts and how dancers were known for their specialty talents. Maybe this was one way that America attempted to expand what ballet can be used for. This could act as one example to show how ballet is used as a foundational technique to inform and enrich other ways of moving.

Just as everything else, ballet is evolving, growing, and expanding. Misty Copeland, the first African American Female Principal Dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, is a huge advocate for the inclusion of all, specifically African American women, in the world of ballet. When Misty called out the Bolshoi Theatre in Russia by posting a picture of two young, female dancers posing in blackface, different perspectives were shared. After discussion, one perspective that I understood more was the idea that Copeland was approaching this issue from an American mindset as opposed to a Russian mindset. Associations and connotations are not interchangeable between two different cultures.

Another way ballet is showing its relevance in today’s world is the creation of Hiplet, a mix between hip hop and ballet. Creator Homer Hans Bryant, who coined this term in 2009, is “trying to elevate these kids into who they are and to make a difference.” Creating opportunity for African American young women and men that is accessible, relatable, and fun were some of the goals of Homer’s style. Two questions that Homer asked of the old school ballet teachers with judgement towards his style were, “How many generations of African American kids did they transform? What are you doing for the art?” I think these questions nicely frame the motivation behind Homer’s philosophy.

There’s one question that’s been on my mind since last semester, and this week my asking of this question sparked an... involved conversation amongst the class. I am curious as to what is defined as a ‘trained dancer’? In general, it seems that a trained dancer is well versed in a wide range of styles and above all possesses a strong foundation in ballet technique. But can’t a dancer be trained in a specific style? Clearly, the lense of those who are questioning if a dancer is trained varies based on what their specific desires in a dancer are, however, I do not believe we should discredit someone’s work by saying they’re not a trained dancer if they don’t have a strong ballet background.

[lilydeeg]

#5 - Ballet Russes & New Works

Still discussing ballet woo! This week we learned about and discussed the company Ballet Russes and the new works that were being produced in the first half of the twentieth century. Our conversations are based on the readings “Balletic Astonishments” from Ballet and Modern Dance by Jack Anderson and “Early Modern Ballet.”

Ballet Russes. This is a company that most dancers have heard of. The first reading filled in a lot of the details I was missing about this company. Sergei Diaghilev served as the company director during the company’s active years from 1909-1929. He was motivated by experimentation and commissioned decor from Picasso and others. Ballet Russes’ choreographers, which include Michel Fokine, Vaslav Nijinsky, Léonide Massine, Bronislava Nijinska, George Balanchine, and Anna Pavlova, created provoking work and each had their own characteristics. Something that stood out to me is how anticlassical much of this work was considered to be. Igor Stravinsky’s scores struck uncertainty in audiences; paired with movements and themes that people weren’t used to seeing on stage, many of them sexual, audiences became riotous (specifically in response to Nijinsky’s Rite of Spring. These artists were taking huge risks in putting new material on the stage that was previously occupied by fanciful, ethereal balletic works.

The works that these artists produced, specifically Les Noces by Bronislava Nijinska, heavily contrasted ballets during the Romantic and Classical eras of ballet. Romantic ballets presented theme and narrative through expressing human experiences in a fanciful, mythical manner, and Classical ballets portrayed idealism through narrative, story, and fairytale. Les Noces used darker themes with heavier content to reveal human struggle in a shocking, cacophonous, and sorrowful manner. Nijinska utilized this work to shed light on the grave struggle women in Russia were facing when new marriage laws were enforced and the reality of marriage filled with abuse. Movement in Romantic ballet featured women on pointe to create a light, floating quality of presentation. Nijinska put women in pointe shoes, but this movement was not focused on aesthetic and beauty. The movements in Les Noces were more raw with emotion and utilized unconventional ballet positions such as parallel feet. While Petipas’ ballets were highly structured with set roles of the principles, soloists, and corps de ballet, this work had a looser structure. There were two main men and two main women who represented a bride and groom, and the ensemble of each over ten men and women largely danced together. Les Noces moved away from the previous guidelines that ballets seemed to follow. Nijinska captured and exposed the hardship of reality that women in Russia were facing. This shift is making me see how ballet evolved into works by Martha Graham, which I’m sure we’ll get to soon.

Question. How did the use of the word “a ballet” come to describe a piece of work? Why do we think of a classical ballet work like Les Corsaires when nontraditional works like Les Noces are also considered to be a ballet? And Martha Graham’s works are considered ballets. How did the shift come about in calling works other than ones that feature classical ballet technique be considered “a ballet”?

[lilydeeg]

#4 - Classicism & Ballet

This week we take another step forward in learning about how ballet began to evolve from Romanticism to Classicism. Information is becoming more recognizable to me as we move forward in the timeline of ballet. The readings we discussed are “The Travesty Dancer in Nineteenth Century Ballet” by Lynn Garafola and “In The Royal Image” from Time and the Dancing Image by Deborah Jowitt.

In general, the purpose of Romanticism artists was to oppose the political climate through exploring imagination and choosing to be subjective rather than objective. Theme and narrative were heavily present in ballet specifically. Representing common human experiences is one aspect that drew audiences in. One aspect of ballet at this time (roughly the 1830’s) that’s unsettling is how sexual assault and prostitution occurred within the arts. The loss of art funding from the government led to the poverty of dancers, who probably felt it was necessary to engage in these encounters to support themselves and the theatre. I’m sure this exists to some extent in the arts today, and that’s just not cool.

Transitioning into Classical ballet, idealism was presented through narrative, stories, and fairytales. Marius Petipas created a hierarchy of roles in the ballet, those being the principles (lead male and female), soloists, and the corps de ballet (ensemble). One thing that stood out to me is how exclusive the presentation of ballets were in this time frame. The nobility who basically had subscriptions to the theatre were the ones to attend, and a small handful of others were invited. This makes me realize how inaccessible this art was to the general population. While I think that ballet today isn’t the most accessible dance form to the general public, I realized how far its exposure has come over the past century.

A continuing discussion on gender in dance is one that I’m constantly questioning. Today, certain contemporary ballet companies are blurring the lines between genders and lessening the separation by mixing movement qualities. However, ballet was built upon males and females dancing with certain movement qualities. It almost seems as though ballet would not be ballet without these distinct differentiations. Does adding the word “contemporary” in front of “ballet” make it a different style of dance?

[lilydeeg]

#3 - Romanticism & Ballet

It’s time to talk about my favorite style of dance… ballet. Jk, but I didn’t actually enjoy ballet until coming to college. And now learning more about the history broadens my perspective on the form. So let’s talk about that! This week’s information is brought to you by “Ballet: A History In Broad Brushstrokes” by Carol Pardo and “In Pursuit of The Sylph: Ballet In The Romantic Period” by Deborah Jowitt.

If you asked me how I define ballet, I would say something about how it’s a dance style derived from folk/theatre dance involving a codified technique that places emphasis on specific body placements and aesthetics. The more this class covers about the history surrounding ballet, the more my definition will shift and evolve (shoutout Jenn). That’s a pretty vague definition, as it could be applied to a lot of other dance styles. I could’ve mentioned ballet d’action, Jean Gorge-Noverre’s dramatic ballet. Or the Italian, French, and Dutch influence on the form. Or Pierre Beauchamp who created the five positions used as the basis of ballet. But there’s simply so much more to the form of ballet… so how do we define it? We can come back to this another day… 

I’m interested in the dualities seen in the ‘progressions’ of ballet. The quotes are there because there’s a question of whether certain acts were considered to be advancements or reinforcements of patriarchal control. The development of the pointe shoe elevated the status of the ballerina. The idea of lightness introduced in ballet brought upon luminosity and weightlessness. This was considered a rebellion, a denial of gravity. However, these qualities were put upon women by men for the gratification of predominantly male audiences. But maybe this isn’t such a horrid concept if you compartmentalize dance. Is there room for this ethereal essence because there are other forms that oppose this aesthetic? #unsure

In class we talked about how ballet is not typically included as an aspect of art in Romanticism, even though the romantic ballet era was a thing. Paintings and literature are the more commonly acknowledged contributions. Because these forms of art are physically permanent, does that contribute to its validity over dance’s difficulty to preserve/recreate?

So basically just a bunch of questions that are still in the works. And that’s okay.

Side note: why were sketches of women back-in-the-day so unrealistic??? We don’t have 7-inch waists @YouKnowWho

[lilydeeg]

#2 - Ethnic & Nobility Dances

Yes it’s been three weeks since creating this blog and no I do not yet have pictures on my profile.. it be like that. Anywho. Let’s talk about the dances that came before ballet. This week we’ve got the chapters “Glimpses of the Past” and “Dance At The Royal Courts” from Ballet & Modern Dance by Jack Anderson and “Baroque Dance-17th and 18th centuries” from earlydancecirclo.co.

Way back in the day, performed dances could be divided into three broad categories based on intent: to please the dancers themselves, to please the gods, or to please other people. Jumping forward to sixteenth century Italy, court dances were performed for and by the nobility. Even though these court dances were meant to be viewed by others, the active participants used this dance for societal means of interacting with others. I’m wondering if there was ever a shift between using dance as a medium for social business to a form of entertainment, or if both existed simultaneously but just for different occasions.

Stringing together Greek, court, and baroque dances, I found it significant that there’s continuity in the use of spatial patterns. Each form of dance placed importance on the formations being made by the dancers, some to indicate meaning to an audience and others to show societal behavior. I definitely think this element of dance has gotten lost in today’s social dances. Unless there’s a deeper meaning behind a bunch of people standing in ‘lines’ during the Cupid Shuffle that someone wants to share with me.

Also, I thought it was ironic to learn that the word “ballet” comes from the Italian verb “ballare” which means “to dance.” Did anyone else think that since ballet uses French terms it would’ve derived from a ~French~ word??

[lilydeeg]

#1 - Culture & Japanese Dance

It’s been two weeks of Dance History 2, and we’ve sure talked about a lot of concepts already. Our discussion stems from the articles “Dance in World Cultures” from Learning About Dance and “Japanese noh, kabuki, and butoh.” After beginning discussion on world concert, ritual, and folk dance, I quickly became intrigued by the complexities that each culture’s dance form upholds.

SO. Let’s get into it. According to the second article we read, the Japanese art form of noh “makes a positive virtue of old age.” What? This seems opposite from Western aesthetic and value in dancers. Why does virtue of age differ between cultures in relation to dance? I think this says a lot about a society’s view on beauty and what it emphasizes as having value. Another philosophy seen in noh is the idea that “what the actor leaves out is most important because our minds will fill in the blanks.” I think this speaks to the general mental capacity that Japanese audiences attain. I’m sure that being exposed to this dance form as part of one’s common culture contributes to the ability to engage and fully experience these performances.

When reading about the technique of kabuki, the reading said that kabuki is learned through kata, codified movement patterns and poses. I immediately recognized the term “kata” because my brother trained in karate growing up. I know katas to be one aspect of the martial art form that students learn and practice different set sequences. This makes me wonder what the relationship between karate and kabuki is. I’d love to find out more about this idea!

Lastly, an aspect of butoh’s technique includes pushing past the limits of self-imposed boundaries to enter uncharted territory. I think this philosophy is applicable to not only other forms of dance but nearly every task you approach. I love how butoh embodies the means to create new discoveries, both mentally and physically.

So much of this information is new to me, and I was especially excited to learn about different Japanese art forms as the culture is very near and dear to me. We love growth and stretching our minds to new places!

[lilydeeg]

Welcome to Dance History 2!!!

So I see you’ve stumbled upon my blog for my Dance History 2 class. Welcome! Stay tuned to follow new thoughts, facts, perspectives, and opinions about all the things related to dance. and history. together. Let’s do this.