Bell Ringer

BELL RINGER• M.Socrative.com – Room #38178

• Questions:• 1. What was the subject of realist plays?

You should be able to answer this without your notes (you turned them in yesterday)

IMPRESSIONISM DANCE

DANCE• Two major revolutions in dance occurred in the early 20th century

• Sergei Diaghilev (DYAH-gee-lef; 1872-1929) was largely responsible for one of them

• When Diaghilev arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1890 to study law, he became friends with several artists.

• In 1898, his friends launched a new magazine, World of Art, and appointed him editor

DANCE - DIAGHILEV• His career in artistic management shaped the ballet world of the 20th

century

• In producing outstanding works that employed the finest choreographers, he played a tremendous role in bringing the art of Paris and Munich to Moscow and St. Petersburg (and vice versa)

DANCE - DIAGHILEV• Once he had successfully produced opera outside of Russia, he was

encouraged to take Russian ballet to Paris

• In 1909 he opened the first of his many Ballets russes

• The dancers included the greatest dancers of Russia• Including Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky

DANCE - DIAGHILEV• Mikhail Fokine was the choreographer

• He believed in the artistic unity of all production elements – costumes, settings, music, and dance

• Dancing should blend harmoniously with the theme and subject of the production

DANCE - NIJINSKY• Diaghilev loved Nijinsky’s dancing and decided that he should

choreograph as well

• In 1912, he choreographed the controversial Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (music by Debussy)

• The choreography was rife with sexual suggestion and the obscenity of the performance caused an uproar

• Rudolph Nureyev : Afternoon of a Faun' – YouTube (30 seconds)

DANCE - NIJINSKY• A year later, the unveiling of Nijinsky’s choreography of

Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring caused an actual riot

• The controversy of Rite of Spring had to do with the music and the dancing - the choreography was definitely shocking

• Joffrey Ballet 1987 Rite of Spring (3 of 3) – YouTube (beg and 4:25)• Riot at the Rite (final,part 6) – YouTube

DANCE - MASSINE• Diaghilev’s new choreographer, Leonide Massine, took the company (and ballet

in general) in new directions• Nijinsky’s decision to marry in 1913 caused a rift with Diaghilev and he was

dismissed from the company• Diaghilev was homosexual – rumor says he had feelings for Nijinsky and thus dismissed him when he wed someone else

• The ballets turned to themes emerging in the visual arts, for example cubism and eventually surrealism (we’ll talk about soon!)

DANCE - MASSINE• Parade in 1917 found dancers in huge skyscraper-like cubist costumes designed

by Pablo Picasso

• The music, by Eric Satie, included sounds of typewriters and steamship whistles

DANCE - BALANCHINE• In 1924, Diaghilev hired a new choreographer, George Balanchine

• He came from St. Petersburg and choreographed 10 productions for him over the next 4 years

• Two of these are still danced today – The Prodigal Son by Prokofiev, and Apollo by Stravinsky• George Balanchine's Apollo - YouTube

DANCE - BALANCHINE• When Diaghilev died in 1929, his company died with him

and an era ended

• Ballet had been reborn as a major art form, a blending of choreography, dancing, music, and visual art – a rival to opera as a “perfect synthesis of the arts”

DUNCAN & MODERN DANCE• When Diaghilev continued within balletic traditions, others

did not

• The most significant of the set was the remarkable and unrestrained Isadora Duncan (1878-1927)• American

• By 1905, Duncan had gained notoriety for her barefoot, deeply emotional dancing

DUNCAN & MODERN DANCE• Achieved her fame in Europe

• Her dances were emotional interpretations of moods suggested to her by music or by nature

• Her dance was personal

• She danced in bare feet

• This break with convention continues to this day as a basic condition of the modern dance tradition she helped to form

DUNCAN & MODERN DANCE• Isadora Duncan’s Style (this will transition into Modern and Contemporary

Dance)

• Isadora Duncan - Maenod - YouTube

• 15 minutes short