Sunday, March 9, 2008

Rock n Roll Ballet is Back!!

Here is the music for the last week of class in case you want to download and practice. We will be doing some rock n roll ballet for the final showing.

Intuition, Feist, The Reminder (I love this disc)
Helplessly Hoping, Crosby, Stills & Nash, So Far (a classic)
Creep,TLC, Crazysexycool (Also an excellent, fun album to dance to)
Glamorous, Fergie, The Dutchess
Tears Dry On Their Own , Amy Winehouse, Back to Black, (just won a Grammy Award)
Pocketful of Sunshine, Natasha Bedingfield, Pocketful of Sunshine
I Say a Little Prayer, Dionne Warwick, The Dionne Warwick Collection: Her All-Time Greatest Hits
Sunshine (Go Away Today) Jonathan Edwards, Jonathan Edwards
Rock the Casbah, The Clash (Thomas' request)
True To Myself, Ziggy Marley, Dragonfly
Mad World, Michael Andrews & Gary Jules, Donnie Darko (Music From the Original Motion Picture Score)
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) Michael Jackson Thriller - 25th Anniversary (Super Deluxe Edition)

23 comments:

Samantha said...

This is aweesommme, I am SUPER psyched! :)

Jessica said...

wow! should we be nervous!?! what is the final showing?

Mary D. said...

Haha, the final showing is going to be very interesting! It'll be fun to see how it all turns out.

erika said...

Rock and roll ballet is neato. and i'm excited for us all to dance the cygnets from swan lake if we do for the showing. what a fun week.

Heather Rastovac said...

I am sure we will surprise the others... : )

Andrea said...

I am so excited for our showing. I think doing the abridged version of the four swans would be so cool to our rock and roll ballet!

Unknown said...

I think I missed the day we danced to one of my favorite songs "Mad World" :( Hopefully we'll play it again!

I'm not sure where to put my comment on the Dance Major Concert, so I'll put it here:

First off, this was the first modern dance performance I've ever been to, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Throughout the concert, I was so blown away by the amazing centers that all the dancers kept. Some of the wildest moves were still in the dancer's control because of the foundation they had in their cores.

"The Calling"
As I watched this first number, I was right away impressed with the use of lighting and motives of movement in the choreography to convey emotion. Much of this felt improvisatory, though I'm not sure if it was.

"Roses Are Blue. Violets Are rrrrrred"
This was a very interesting piece, and is a piece I would love to discuss with the choreographer what the specific message of it was, though I know each audience member would interpret it differently anyway. I love the very childlike feeling of the dancing, which was interspersed with more traditional and mature movements that seemed to convey an almost adolescent feeling of the struggle between childhood and adulthood. I thought that the dancer's alternation between fast and slow (especially the amazing slow motion section) was incredible and I was so impressed by her steady core, despite the slouching she used to present her character.

"Dye"
I feel lame that I related so many of these pieces in my mind to musicals, since I'm such a musical theatre nerd, but the first half of this piece was one of my favorites in the concert because of its remniscence in my mind to the Broadway hit "Spring Awakening." I really liked the "text painting" through movement to illustrate womanhood, and I really liked the use of hair as a kind of prop which was extremely appropriate to this piece's feminine theme. The dancer's shedding of their outer white garments was a depiction of losing innocence, which I thought was interesting, since only half of the dancers "lost their innocence" in the first half of the dance.

"Proximally Each Within"
This was a very fast piece, with quick, almost jerky movement, perfectly set by the edited Bjork. I noticed many incorporated yoga moves which seemed to provide a kind of smooth flowing in a more chaotic dance.

"Caviar and 200 Cigarettes"
Yay!! Thomas! Such amazing pants! Your dance was wonderful, and it was so fun to see you dancing outside of the context of ballet class! (and salsa :) )
The 2 things that really struck me about this piece were the releases of breathe and its lack of music. I know that, for me, it is very difficult to dance without some kind of beat or sound. Dancing without music creates a feeling of nakedness. So, though I am incredibly fond of the relationship between music and dance, I thought that a lack of music in this piece worked very well in creating an open, vulnerable feeling. It really allowed the audience to focus on the dance. And, specifically for me, the releases of the breathe, which is such an important topic in dance (and most art forms, in general).

"3"
This was one of the most moving pieces of the concert. I kept finding myself getting caught up in the dancers stories. Whether it was the dancer pantomiming a relationship, or the desolate, lonely dancer, this piece was beautiful and mesmerizing. I liked that the choreographer shared that she wanted each dancer to work through the ideas and issues important in their lives. That's pretty much what art comes down to. An outward expression of inward thought/feeling/experience.

"The Sticky Wicket Rumble"
Oh my gosh! What a fun, funny, interactive piece! Trevor and Jenea! Amazing! So much fun! You two embraced your characters whole-heartedly, and it was so much fun to sit back and watch you both in your element! I don't even have much to say about the piece except that it felt like a mini show that should go on tour! Super fun, great costumes, lovely use of dancers as instrumentalists, and really great use of staging.

"Steel Grace"
Though I liked this piece, I didn't really feel as much of a connection to this dance. I felt that I lacked some basic understanding or context in which to put this work. But, it was very well done, despite my lack of understanding.

"Letting Go To Hug"
This was a really beautiful piece and a wonderful way to end the show - I thought that the music for the first half was so fitting and helped to instill feelings of taking that risk to love, and the joy that can come from taking that chance.

In all, an amazing concert! And, I look forward to more opportunities in which I will explore more concepts of modern dance!

kstromgren said...

This is another great list! Thanks for rock and roll ballet...it is a lot of fun!

Brittney said...

Thanks Louis! I'm really excited for this week. Rock 'n Roll ballet is my favorite. My favorite exercise is the one we do to "Creep." It's so entertaining to watch others creepin' around the room. It makes class a lot of fun.

jaleesa said...

I love rock and roll ballet! I really like the piece we learned today to Mad World. It's my favorite so far!

kristen said...

I'm so excited that we're doing rock and roll ballet again! I think it's a really excellent way to finish off the quarter.

milana said...

i agree rock and roll ballet is a great way to finish the quarter! I love dancing to contemporary music!

Anonymous said...

I love Rock n Roll Ballet! This is a fabulous way to end the quarter! However it also makes me sad to realize how much I will miss this class! The music that you have chosen for it all year has been amazing to say the least! I become excited to show more emotion when we are dancing to this music because I connect with it right when it is played! However, I am awkward with the creepin and all...haha! Great choice Louis!

Megan said...

Friggin love rock n roll ballet. Louis, how could would it be to offer Rock N Roll Ballet 108? Ahh do it! And liz, don't worry, I'll teach you mad world...

April said...

I have loved having a mixture of live piano, live drum and recorded music for this class. It really eases the tension in ballet and makes it much more accessible to the groundlings (as I feel like sometimes in ballet).

Jenea said...

I really love rock and roll ballet because I get to do two of my favorite things sing and dance. My favorite song was TLC "Creep" they use to be my favorite band in like the 5th grade. Anyways I am really going to miss this class because its not every day you get to rock and do ballet OH YAAAA!!!

Thomas Van Doren said...

Rock 'n' Roll ballet now includes more classic rock. I like this. It will be exciting to see what kind of movement this inspires on day three (today), since the movement will be mastered...

Heather Rastovac said...

Mad World is so pretty I almost cried...

Trevorrr said...

I'm excited to show rock and roll ballet to the other classes. They'll finally understand why we've been blasting loud rawk music in class.

Kate A said...

thanks, I really like the Jonathon Edwards sunshine song

Anonymous said...

thanks, I had a lot of fun at our little showing today. :) it was also fun to see what the other classes do.

Unknown said...

I am exciting for showing our final. I am also kinda of nervous.

Lindsay Clark said...

I love "The Reminder" too - I just adore Feist in general!