ballet de londrina as theatre

Description:

Baller de Londrina! On Thursday we went to see some contemporary dance; a dance group from Londrina did a “contemporary ballet” dance called; “La consagración de la primavera”

Analysis:

The body exploration for this kind of dance was impressive. The control of the center of energy so that movement started from it and so energy could flow through all the different limbs.  Every movement done in the dance had a lot of energy and also different poses like the one in the photo, which shows coordination and balance.

Although this ballet is not theatre, there was something being represented. It was about the sacrifice of a virgin. To transmit this story a lot of body expression was used, but to make it clearer there were other elements which helped.

First the costume; costume was important. The costume for all the dancers was a “nude” translucent skinny full suit. These costumes allow the body to be free to do different movements and be flexible. Also as it was translucent, it showed purity. The ropes which covered the different dancer’s costumes made them eye catching, and the main dancer was covered with more ropes than the rest, this may represent more innocence as she was the virgin who will be sacrificed. The ropes of the main dancer at the end are stained with red representing the blood of the sacrifice, these visual elements helped to make the sacrifice clear and to highlight the main character.  Is costume important in all performances?

Then the sounds made by the stomping of the bodies with the floor and the breathing sounds. The stomping sounds created an aggressive environment in the dance, also it made the audience feel pain, although the dancers where protected with knee protections, the sound made and the movements by themselves made the audience feel uneasy about the pain the actors must have been enduring. The breathing sounds express how exhausted the character being represented by the dancer was. For example the virgin uses breathing sounds to express she was exhausted when the men pull her and chase her, also the breathing sounds she uses express the fear she had of being sacrificed, and the pain she feels.

Finally the music was the essential element in this performance. The musical piece by  Stravinsky had very rapid sections and also some tranquil ones. The rapid parts expressed the angst in the movements the “virgin” makes when she was attacked by the men, in the more tranquil parts intimacy between the male and female characters was represented with different movements.

The sounds and the music both complement each other to create different moods during the performance. Both create different rhythms which the body movement followed.

Connections:

In Hebras the body expresses everything, although it is not a story being told but different moments in relationships being represented, Hebras and this ballet are both telling about different situations with body movements only. The breathing sounds in Hebras are also used to express the fear and angst of the character when trapped. In Hebras costume is very simple as is in this performance and there is the presence of partial nudity.

Reflection:

To what extend does dance relate with theatre? Both are an exploration of the body, and if behind a dance there is a story being told, then what is it? Is it dance in theatre? Or is theatre in dance? In this ballet performance we found costumes, as we do in plays, also a plot, an exploration of the body, sounds, etc. Therefore, is it just the way it develops? That from the music we get to the movement in dance, and that in theatre the movement may be accompanied with music (but doesn’t develop from it)

What makes this dance different from a theatrical performance? Can some contemporary dance which tells a story be considered theatre?