Arts

Theater Arts - Ballet

May 5th, 2008 arts

The ancient Greeks were known to be great warriors and artists. People were known to be blessed with talents in fields such as theater, painting, sculpturing, and poetry. Theater itself was one field which included many other arts such as acting, singing, dancing, writing, and poetry. This art was later on reflected in other countries such as Indian, China and Indonesia. Ballet is a special dance form basically inspired from Greek and Roman theaters to take its full form in 1400s in Italy and France. Although dance was suppressed by the churches this art spread to Russia and America with a version of their own. Ballet was driven from the Latin word Ballere which meant dance.

During the renaissance period in Italy, ballet was the product of court pageantry. Domenico da Piacenza was a well-known artist to have mastered arts. He used to teach the nobles and other people who used to perform in the court. These court musicians and dancers used to perform on great occasions like weddings. They were later joined by the ballet De Cour which consisted of dancers who wore elegant costumes and sang beautiful songs. This art was transferred from Italy to France when Catherine de Medici of France married Henry II of Italy. She made great contribution to help flourish the art in France.

It was under the rule of Louis XIV, performance art was given great importance as he himself had a liking for it and was responsible to entrench what is known now as Paris Opera Ballet. Jean-Baptiste Lully was the favorite Italian composer of the king. He had a great understanding of the physical movements, musical songs and graceful dance. He made great contribution to ballet which was of utmost importance even after many years. He along with another French writer Moliere created Comedie-ballet. He was responsible to combine Italian and French ballet. French ballet consisted of instrumental music at first and then vocal music was added to it.

In the late 1800s ballet began to be practiced in Russia, America, Denmark, and Paris. Artists who were responsible for this were Marius Petipa, August Bournonville and Jules Perrot. Stories with Middle Eastern touch were also written. Ballets such as The Talisman and Pharaohs Daughter became very famous with the people. Many plays of William Shakespeare like Midsummer Nights Dream, Romeo and Juliet were interpreted through ballets.

The most important feature of ballet is that the thighs rotate in an outward direction from the hips. Performers who are interested in learning this art are expected to undergo very strenuous health workouts. It ends along with getting the high school degree. Some exams are practical and some are theoretical. Ballet incorporates French words which are used to name the movements and steps. The dancers should know French in order to be more familiar. This also means that the terms used for the steps are universal. Its very important for the artist to have a strong lower body especially the legs and the abs. strong legs are necessary for the en pointe position and strong abs are necessary for turning the body. A dancer can also create an illusion of long or short hands and legs. If the limbs are placed near the back of the body they appear short and when they are brought forward the limbs seem to be longer.

A lot of physics is involved in ballet. The dancer should create an illusion that she or he is opposing gravity. The dancers body acts like a parabola or a projectile in the air and gravity works on the center of mass of the body. Like they can act as if they are suspended in air by jumping with their arms and legs suspended and head lowered. But the landing should be carefully done; otherwise the dancer could fall down, hurting one self which would also affect the show. A precaution that can be taken in such cases is to have a shock absorbent floor. Another technique which can be extremely hazardous is the rolling of the foot from toe to heel with knees bend. Such type of training calls for the help of professionals. Despite all these complications involved in performing ballet, it remains one of the most popular performing arts in the world.

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Places and People Famous for Influencing Theater Arts

April 30th, 2008 arts

The Ancient Greek civilization was responsible for the origin of Theater and evolving arts in that field. One of the most prominent play writers of that time was Aristophanes who was considered to be the best comic dramatist of his times. All his plays revolved around issues like morality, politics, and had an abundance of literature. His storyline dealt with the everyday life of the people of Athens. After the Peloponnesian War Aristophanes was so deeply effected by the bloodshed of his fellow beings, that he wrote four plays revolving around it. One of the plays “Lysistrata” was the most prominent work of all, which was aimed to bring peace and harmony in the society but with a light note.

After the World War II the whole world was shattered and inhabitants all over the world baldy needed something that would relieve their mind of all the massive destruction and bloodshed. People were so desperate to drift from the harsh reality that some sect of people nicknamed as “Absurdists” gave birth to a different genre of theater known as the Theater of the Absurd. This term was brought into existence by Martin Esslin to name the new kind of plays sprouting in Europe and America. The goal of such plays was to deviate peoples’ mind, although the storyline had some preposterous elements embedded in it. Some of the common “Absurdists” were Eugène Lonesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet and Harold Pinter. Later on this kind of thinking lead to the development of Philosophy of existentialism according to which more emphasis is paid to individual existence and total freedom. But this philosophy has much wider spectrum and cannot be described in few words.

Meta theaters are that classification of theaters, which blurred the gap between the actors and the audience. The actors are obviously the dynamic part of the play but the onlookers, too, are expected to be participating in the proceedings of the play. Schemes are developed on the spur of the moment so its no longer vivid to the audience what is actual part of the storyline and what patches have been added. This practice was developed during the Elizabethan Era, which is more commonly known as the Renaissance Period and it is still popular in the modern times.

Richard Wagner was the brainchild behind the Theaters known as Gasamtkuntswerk or more commonly referred to as Total Art Work. These brands of theaters are known to have all the flavoring elements that one can think of within its radius. Drama, music, dances and Greek Theater extract work in harmony to bring out the essence of the story being enacted. Steven Berkoff took this concept a step further by introducing actors who could be characters and presented depending on the theme at different times. Props were also used to bring in more realism. With all these elements sometimes the plays reached a level of superficiality and exaggeration.

Jerzy Grotowski gave rise to a different type of Theater, which was targeted, for people of the lower sectors of the society. In Poland, while working with his troupe, Jerzy recognized the needs of the poor people there and understood their inability to shell out money for big theaters. These concepts got popular especially during the 1960s’ and 70s’. In such theaters there wasn’t a separate stage of performing rather the artists and the audience occupied the same space. Since rich people didn’t finance these theaters there was a lack of props, detailed costumes, adequate lightning proper sets, and other technical features. The performers were outstanding and vivid so as to overcome the lack of good costumes. The actors were made to go through rigorous training involving months of practicing and rehearsing. Physical workout was also a part of it. Many acting troupes and aspiring actors go by this method to gain popularity the easier way. Grand Guignol is coined from the Theatre du Grand Guignol of Paris, France, is a kind of theater class, which encompasses a lot of gruesome violence. This term is used till date to refer to bloodshed melodramas.

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Malaysian Theater Arts

April 30th, 2008 arts

In the land of Malaysia, theater arts developed in the east Javanese kingdoms. During the eleventh century the capital of Javanese kingdom was shifted from Prambanan located in central Java to Jenggla located in eastern Java. This kingdom was divided into four parts namely Jenggala, Kediri, Ngurawan and Singasari . The four sons of the King Airlangga named King Lembu Amiluhur, King Lembu Amerdadu, King Lembu Mangarang and King Amijaya, respectively, ruled each of them. There are three forms of Malaysian theater arts namely Wayang Orang or performance by human actors, Wayang kulit or shadow puppetry, Wayang golek or three dimentional puppetry and classical court dance known as Karaton. And they flourished separately in each kingdom.

The other name for Wayang Orang is Wayang Wong that involves human actors performing live on stage in a musical dance drama. “Wong” or “Orang” means a man or a woman respectively. It was nurtured in the Kingdom of King Lembu Amiluhur. His son Raden Panji Asmarabangun was a renowned artist in himself. He taught this art to all his relatives. The storyline of the play revolved around the Jenggala Kingdom and Hindu mythologies Mahabharata and Ramayana. Another variety of Wayang Orang is Wayang Topeng or Wayang Gedog where the artists wear mask during the performance. Majapahit Kingdom was another kingdom that played a vital role in the recognition of Wayang wong as the King Hayam Wuruk was a performer of this art himself. There are five categories of the pattern of dance according to build and movements. Alus, which involves graceful and soft movements required performers to have a light physique. Gagah had more sportive moves and the artists were expected to have a slim and tall physique. Kasar was meant for actors with huge build and the movements were rough. Gecul had subcategories Ponokawan and Cantrik. Dengklik involved actors playing the role of monkey warrior. The dresses differ with different gods, kings, ksatrias, princesses, begawans and warriors. According to the role being played forty-five accessories are being used.

There were separate dance movements for the female actors. The movements made by the females are known as Nggruda that had nine basic movements known as Joged Pokok and additional twelve movements known as Joged Gubahan. These art forms at first were meant only for the royal families. Many kings and their relatives used to perform plays written on their ancestors in order to honor them. Poor people had no access to these plays.

Under reign of King Airlangga, great encouragement was given to various arts forms and that is when puppet art began evolving. Wayang purwa or Wayang kulit involves two-dimensional puppets made from the skin of goat or buffalo. They are flat and usually round in shape. The shadow of these puppets is cast on a translucent cloth screen with the help of lighted lamps. They are controlled by bamboo sticks attached to their body that are planted in banana stems located underneath the screen.

Wayang golek involves three-dimensional puppets that are controlled by the puppeteers from the top. These puppets are usually made out of wood or leather with some kind of stuffing. UNESCO honored the Wayang puppets in the year 2003 as “The Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” saying that it is one of the unique forms of theater arts and thus should be protected.

Karaton is the classical court dance. Karaton can be performed either in-group known as Yogyakarta or it can be also performed as solo. Some of the dances were performed on a daily basis in the court and some were meant only for special occasions like festivals and functions.

Prambanan Ramayana ballet is the special dance involving around two hundred dancers who dance for two whole hours. It is held under a full moon during the spring season. The eight-century Prambanan temple is painted in the background and gamelan music is played.

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