The Dance Elements of “Swan Lake”
One of the most famous ballet scenes in Swan Lake is the dance of little swans. It introduces Siegfried to Odette’s carefree world. Little swans represent childhood with its cheerfulness; at the same time, the clasped hands of the dancers speak of friendship and loyalty (Wagner, 2019)). Its key movements comprise emboite — consecutive transitions from foot to foot; jete— movement performed with a leg throw; and pas de chat — jumping movement when bent legs are alternately thrown back.
The dance of Siegfried and Odette comprises such elements as pas de deux, and pirouette. In classical pas de deux in Swan Lake, the ballerina performs 32 pirouettes in a row. Swan Lake is a classical ballet because it is performed to classical music using the ballet’s classical elements and costumes. Swan Lake’s points of value comprise the highest ballet technique, medieval flavor, and the effective contrast of white Odette and black Odile.
The Dance Elements of “Night Journey”
The dance elements that one can see in the Night Journey ballet are pas de deux, plies, and projection. Oedipus and Jocasta perform pas de deux when they exchange vows, and this dance sets the mood of the ballet. While Oedipus portrays the features of masculinity, Jocasta is seen as less sure of herself. She kneels on the floor at the foot of the bed in a plié showing her suffering after Oedipus (Barnes, 2012).
The idea of suffering is echoed by the chorus that performs jetée while holding hands back in the gesture of despair, Oedipus, on the opposite, uses projection to show his maleness and self-confidence. The ballet is classical since within it the viewers see classical elements performed by ballerinas. In terms of choreography and music, it is a good example of art, since each of the three central characters dances with a special set of movements making the ballet more interesting and complex. The ballet’s points of value comprise original chorus, tragic music, and original choreography admired by many viewers around the world.
Classical Ballet and Modern Dance: Comparison
Ballet is often described as a special language with its own codes, a strict organization hierarchy that extends to the viewer. The ballet has a clear structure, where the main dance takes place only in the center of a stage, while dancing that takes place around the center just shades it and supports it. In modern dance, the stage can be divided into many parts, in each of which something happens – and the viewer chooses where to look. Ballet wants its audience to go through a familiar ritual, and modern dance, vice versa, aims to surprise viewers with new techniques and elements (Gonzales, 2020).
Ballet breaks the natural anatomy of the body making ballerinas perform complex ballet elements. Modern dance presupposes feeling of one’s body as it is and many elements such as en points, may not be performed to highlight dancers’ freedom of movement. Modern dance often uses the tools of other disciplines, such as fitness, meditation, improvisation, rave aesthetics, and mindfulness practices.
References
Wagner R. T. (2019) A step offstage to restart. Remembering Swan Lake. In Perspectives on dance, young people and change, edited by Charlotte Svendler Nielsen & Stephanie Burridge. Routledge. Web.
Barnes, A. S. (2012). Dance, psychoanalysis, and modernist aesthetics: Martha Graham’s night journey. In The Ancient Dancer in the Modern World: responses to greek and Roman Dance, edited by Fiona Macintosh. Oxford University Press. Web.
Gonzales, J. (2020). From ballet to modern dance: Tracing modernity in Malaysian dance. In Sharing identities (pp. 92-110). Routledge India. Web.