Piece Information:
“Good Morning” fromSinging in the Rain (1952)
[Originally Written for Garland & Rooney’s 1939 film, Babes In Arms]
Words by Arthur Freed
Music by Nacio Herb Brown
Choreography by Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen
Performance by Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor & Debbie Reynolds
Instructions:
Watch the above video link. Then write a three paragraph critique using the Mini Video Critique
Guideline
s.
Make sure you included the information listed above about the piece in the opening paragraph. Also remember that your readers have NOT seen this piece so do your best to describe it to them within your critique. Use the information you have learned in your lectures and readings to help support your thoughts.
* Use your knowledge from watching the video and lectures in Module Five as resource for more information about the piece and genre of dance.
Guideline
For each mini video critique you need to write three paragraph critique format with a minimum of 5 sentences in each paragraph. The critique will start with an introduction paragraph that clearly states what piece you saw and all the details about the piece (including title, choreographer, music and all information given to you). You must also have a thesis that tells the reader what you will be discussing in the body of the essay. You will follow with one support paragraph that covers the details of the piece you saw. Ask yourself questions about the movements, genres, choreographers, time in history, costumes, dancers and more. Finally in your third paragraph, you will wrap it up for the reader, briefly recapping the important items and helping the reader know why these details are relevant.
You should write your critique with the idea that your readers have not seen the pieces and have no knowledge of them. You must paint a clear picture of the pieces without just writing step by step details of the story you envision. Think about the important details and how you can discuss them in an interesting way to grab your readers. You will be given all the program information for the pieces you have to watch, but it is advised to do outside reach to support your thoughts.
Suggestions for things that could be included or places to look for ideas to begin when watching videos:
- Can you apply class terminology to the description of the performance?
- Analyze what you drew you into the piece and what kept you out (likes and dislikes) and explain why or why not.
- Identify production elements: costumes, music/sound, lights, props, stage design
- Describe the movements.
- Did the choreography hold your attention? How did it convey the theme or atmosphere of the piece? What were the mood, images and ideas conveyed?
- Was the program based on a narrative/storyline or more abstract?
- What style of dance (s) could you identify (i.e. ballet, modern, jazz, ethnic, etc.)?
- What could have been done to enhance the performance?
Do you think seeing this piece on video made it different then if you saw it in a theatre live?
1800-1930’s: BALLET
SCHOOLS ARE
ESTABLISHED,
REGIONAL COMPANIES
FLOURISH
Littlefield ballet circa 1935
❑ The Atlanta Ballet, founded in
1929, America’s first regional
ballet company.
❑ San Francisco Ballet, founded in
1933(Adolph Bolm contributes).
❑ Littlefield’s Philadelphia Ballet
Company (1935-41)
❑ Ruth Page and the Chicago Opera
Ballet 1955.
RUSSIAN INFLUENCES IN
AMERICA
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
Mikhail Mordkin and
Anna Pavlova.©
Hulton Getty/Stone
Anna Pavlova- American tour (w Morkin) 1910
Mikhail Mordkin’s All Star Imperial Russian Ballet
▪ American Tour -1911 & 1912
Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes
▪ American tour w/ Adolph Bolm-1915-1917
Adolph Bolm’s Ballet Intime- 1917 to 1921
▪ Tour of Chicago, San Francisco, LA
Mikhail Mordkin’s School in NYC 1924 & Mordkin Ballet 1936
Nijinska’s The Original Russian Ballet LA 1938
Leonide Massine’s Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo NYC 1939
Adolph Bolm
○
○
○
○
More on Adolph Bolm
“His restaging of classical repertory with
integrity and flair, paved the road to more
sophisticated dance programming in
America.”
Cyrus Parker-Jeanette
Chicago Opera Company
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
Artistic Committee of Ballet
Theatre in 1947: L-R: Jerome
Robbins, Lucia Chase, Agnes de
Mille, Oliver Smith and Aaron
Copland.
Photo: Cecil Beaton.
Concert Work:
Three Virgins and a Devil (1940)
Rodeo (1943) (Ballets Russes)
Fall River Legend (1948) (American Ballet Theatre)
The Harvest According in 1952
Broadway work:
Oklahoma! (1943) first musical to have dance as integral part of the plot
Carousel (1945)
Brigadoon (1947)
Allegro (director and choreographer. Not a success) 1947
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949)
Paint Your Wagon (1950)
Out of This World, as stage director in (1950)
1953- filming of Oklahoma!
○
○
○
○
○
○
❑
❑
❑
❑
○
○
○
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
(Only Classical Music in all three links)
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
○
○
○
○
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
ANTONY TUDOR
○
Dancer and choreographer with Marie
Rambert’s Ballet Club (1928-40)
○
Resident choreographer with Ballet
Theater (1940-50) NYC
○
Faculty of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet
School (1950), Juilliard School (1950),
○
Artistic director for the Royal Swedish
Ballet (1963 to 1964)
○
Associate artistic director of American
Ballet Theater (1974)
○
Faculty of Dance, Department of Dance,
University of California, Irvine 1973
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
EXISTENTIALISM BALLET:
A philosophy that emphasizes the
uniqueness and isolation of the
individual experience in a hostile
or indifferent universe, regards
human existence as unexplainable,
and stresses freedom of choice and
responsibility for the consequences
of one’s acts.
○
○
○
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
JAZZ DANCE: PIONEERS,
INNOVATORS, STYLISTS
JAZZ AND TAP IN THE 1940’S
❑ WWII stopped social Jazz dance, changed to
profession of dance
❑ Jazz Dance became influenced by ballet and
modern dance
❑ Ballet choreographers worked on broadway
theaters and movies
❑ Agnes de Mille
❑ Jerome Robbins
❑ George Balanchine
❑ Jack Cole
Anchors Away –
1945
THE WIZARD OF OZ- 1939
MGM studio musical production is one of the
most famous movies of the time.
Judy Garland
Ray Bolger
❑ When MGM originally announced plans to
film “The Wizard of Oz”, Bolger was
assigned the role of the Tin Man. Feeling
that he would be constrained in the
role–the dancing would be minimal–he
somehow managed to get producer
Mervyn LeRoy to allow him to switch roles
with Buddy Ebsen who had been tapped
to play the Scarecrow. Offering an
astonishing display of terpsichorean skill
(when he dances, he really appears to be
made of straw), Bolger etched a truly
memorable character. The studio,
however, chose not to renew his option.
Famous deleted dance:
example of comedy Act:
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=sSFQy_cLvLU
WAR MOVIES
• Office of War Information (OWI), formed in 1942 served as an
important propaganda agency during World War II and
coordinated its efforts with the film industry to record and
photograph the nation’s war-time activities.
• 1942-1945: Patriotic musicals rally support for the WW2
troupes including films like Casablanca and Yankee Doodle
Dandy
• 1943 Ann Miller, a wonderful tap dancer was signed by RKO
• Calling African Americans to War: STORMY WEATHER-1943
Flashback to WW1 to rally support for WW2
• Sponsored by the Office of War Information which was concerned
with the morale of African Americans. Recruiting effort aimed at
African Americans.
JACK COLE
“FATHER OF JAZZ DANCE”
❑ He expected high level of technique from dancers
❑ Trained with Denishawn School
❑ His choreography uses ballet and oriental
techniques
❑ He established a dance studio on the lot of
Columbia pictures, where a whole generation of
jazz dancers trained
BILL “BOJANGLES” ROBINSON
❏ 1st Big African American Tap Dancer, worked in
white theater’s regularly
❏ Tapped with Shirley Temple
❏ Started in Vaudeville
❏ He created a light, clear tap sound by keeping his
weight on the balls of the feet
NICHOLAS BROTHERS
HAROLD & FAYARD
❏ “Flash Act” style tap dancers (stunts with taps)
❏ First African Americans to get contract with
Hollywood film company (MGM)
(Big Band with scating voices only)
JAZZ AND TAP IN THE 1950’S
❑ Musical’s got a more serious theme
❑ Influence of Latin American music
❑ Social dance was in the decline in early 50’s but
regained popularly by 1955 with the birth of rock
and roll music
❑ Elvis Presley arrived
❑ Matt Mattox – his technique involves isolated body
parts and the view that the body is a straight line
from which designs can be created with strong
percussive elements.
FRED ASTAIRE:
TAP MEETS BALLROOM
❑ “Class Act” Style Tap Dancer
❑ He had an easy going suaveness with highly rhythmic
footwork and perfect musicality
❑ Many of his pieces had “gimmicks”
❑
He was responsible for popularizing tap dance
(tap shoes & classical music only)
GENE KELLY
I didn’t want to move or
act like a rich man. I
wanted to dance in a pair
of jeans. I wanted to
dance like the man in the
streets.
– Gene Kelly
❏ Tap and Jazz dancer
❏ Had a masculine style of dance that used large
leaps
❏ He was a great singer and actor as well
❑ Singing in the Rain – 1952
❑ An American in Paris – 1951
❑ Brigadoon – 1954
JAZZ AND TAP IN THE 1960’S
❑ The Twist, Motown (the Musical came from Detroit),
Chubby Checker & The Beatles
❑ New Wave of Dances….The swim, the jerk, the
monkey, the hitchhiker
❑ The hippie brought new style
❑ TV had greater influence with dance
❑ Luigi- Developed new jazz dance technique after
car accident left him paralyzed on right side. It is
influenced by ballet and lyrical feel.
❑ https://youtu.be/ZMMTzBQaGcY
❑ Gus Giordano- His technique is influenced by
modern dance with isolated movements. Jazz
Dance Chicago was his company.
❑ https://youtu.be/nb6JPpGY2aA
Concert Dance
Crossover to
Broadway and
Hollywood
Jerome Robbins
(1918-1998)
Jerome Robbins is world renowned for his work as a
Director/choreographer of ballets as well as his work in theater,
movies, and television.
○ Born Jerome Wilson Robinowitz in New York City on
October 11, 1918
○ Training includes Duncan Style, Martha Graham and
finally Ballet
○ In 1940, Robbins becomes a dancer at Ballet Theatre.
He dances works of Massine, Agnes de Mille and
Anthony Tudor.
○ In 1944 he choreographs Fancy Free for ABT and
becomes a famous choreographer.
○ 1948: Robbins joins New York City Ballet Company
○ 1958: Ballets U.S.A is created
○ 1998: Robbins dies in Manhattan on July 29 at the
age of 79
Robbins
Style of Dance
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
Combined ballet with theatricality
and a human element
Communicated ideas through
movement.
Ability to make the most complex
movement appear effortless,
“dancers, even when they are doing
difficult steps, should look like real
people “
Dance focus on American subjects.
Integrated dance seamlessly with
character, story and totally reflective
of the musical score, as if it were
created spontaneously for that exact
period of time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=bxoC5Oyf_ss
West Side Story Prologue: Look
how the dance is evolving from
pedestrian movement.
Fancy Free
Choreography by Robbins
○
○
○
○
○
Debut: April 18, 1944
at the Metropolitan
Opera House
Category-defying ballet
Inspired by the
common man
Transformed into the
musical On The Town
Trademark of the
American Ballet
Theatre
Fancy Free
Jerome Robbins
Famous Works
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
Fancy Free (1944)
On The Town (1945)
The King and I (1951)
Pajama Game, Peter Pan (1954)
Bells are Ringing (1956)
West Side Story (1957)
Gypsy (1959)
Funny Girl , Fiddler on the Roof (1964)
Les Noces (1965)
Dances at a Gathering (1969)
In the Night (1970)
The Goldberg Variations and Watermill (1972)
Bob Fosse
https://youtu.be/7uIPkwCYxKU
(1927-1987)
American musical theater choreographer director, and
film director.
❑
❑
❑
❑
Son of a vaudevillian.
The Riff Brothers
Touring military and naval bases in the
Pacific with a show called Tough
Situation.
Dance team with his first wife. Then
Broadway dancer, including the lead in a
revival of Pal Joey.
THE FOSSE STYLE
❑
Notable distinctions of his style include the use of
turned-in knees, sideways shuffling, single handed
gestures and rolled shoulders.
❑
With Fred Astaire as an influence, he used props such as
bowler hats, canes and chairs.
❑
His dance routines were intense and specific, yet had a
simplicity to them.
❑
Fosse‘s style: burlesque updated and coolly contained
within a slick, conscious sophistication.” A jazz dance
style that was immediately recognizable, exuding a
stylized, cynical sexuality.
Fosse
from Broadway to Movies
○
○
1966 Sweet Charity with his wife Gwen
Verdon. Bob Fosse is both director and
choreographer.
1969: Bob Fosse directs the movie version
with Shirley McLaine.
(60’s Music Playing Only)
CABARET 1972
The movie garnered 8 Oscars!
http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=qbEeRL94ziI
Fosse Hits….and some Misses
Chicago 1975
○ Dancin’ 1978 on Broadway
○ SingSingSing
○ All That Jazz- Autobiographical movie
○