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Pablo Imani's African Yoga
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Research Work
IV - Origin
Afro-Caribbean Influence: Haitian Voudun
Question:
a) What do you think Aschenbrenner meant when he explained that Dunham maintained "an attitude of respect toward it and much of its essential content is preserved in her worldview and in her conception and execution of dance"?
V - Examples of Katherine Dunham's Work
Carnival of Rhythm, 1941 (1:18 min)
Negro Ballet (1948) (1:21 min)
Ballet Creole (1952) (2:15 min)
After watching the West-African dance, Haitian voudun dance, and these last three videos, you can appreciate to what degree African and Afro-Caribbean dance influenced Dunham's work and technique.Question:
b) Please, give at least tree examples of how one can appreciate the African influence in Dunham's work.
Choreographic Work (10 min) [4 pt]
- Walks (walks and prances are grounded and into the earth)
- Prances (move with high springy steps)
- Second position jumps
- Turns
- Elevations (jumps)
- Strong percussive movements
- Undulating movements
- One body part in a counter rhythm to another body part simultaneously.
Writing Component ( 5:00 min) [4 pt each]
Go to the following link, scrawl down to page 225 and read the two middle paragraphs (2nd & 3rd).
LINK:
Katherine Dunham: Dancing a Life by Joyee Aschenbrenner
Answer the following questions:
1) According to Tommy Gomez, what is the main problem with Dunham Technique today?
2) What is missing from the recreations of Dunham Technique?
3) How did Dunham described her own dance technique?
4) How do you feel Dunham Technique has affected your own understanding of modern dance?
Anastassia Cafatti
DAN 211- 3/26 CLASS- Dunham Technique (Part II): Afro-Caribbean Influence
Experiential Work
I - West African Dance Warm Up
Warm Up (6:12 min)
Let us try an African Dance based isolation warm-up routine in preparation for Dunham's Technique:
Focus on: Pelvic Isolation and Limb Throws
Warm Up (8:52 min)
Focus on: stepping around the imaginary clock, pivoting and shoulder/arms/hip movement
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II - Alignment (2:00 min)
Close your eyes
Imagine a string pulling you from the top of your head up towards infinite
Elongate of your neck
relax your shoulders
Imagine gravity is pulling you towards the ground, from the bottom of your feet downward
Inhale and on the exhale press your abdomen against your spine
Flatten your back
Tuck in your rib cage
Rotate your shoulder so that the align with your hips
Bring your tailbone slightly forward
Soften your knees
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III - Breathing and
Stretching:
Pablo Imani's African Yoga
(3:06 min)
(8:52 min)
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Research Work
IV – Origin: Afro-Caribbean Influence: Haitian Voudun
(11:50 min)
Aschenbrenner
explains that although Dunham had distanced herself to some extent from the
practice and belief system of voudun, "Dunham maintains an attitude of
respect toward it and much of its essential content is preserved in her
worldview and in her conception and execution of dance" (78,79).
Question:
a) What do you think Aschenbrenner meant when he explained that Dunham
maintained "an attitude of respect toward it and much of its essential
content is preserved in her worldview and in her conception and execution of
dance"?
I think that Aschenbrenner means that even though she might not practice it, it still was a part of how she created movement. She respected it, but didn´t live by it. From the video you can see the amount of movements they use: bent legs, movement of hips, hops, arms, legs, isolations, which are all a part of her execution of dance. Maybe it speaks of her ability to take from other´s cultures amazing practices, and use them in a respectful way without necessarily practicing them.
V - Examples of Katherine Dunham's Work
Carnival of Rhythm, 1941 (1:18 min)
Negro Ballet (1948) (1:21 min)
Ballet Creole (1952) (2:15 min)
After watching the
West-African dance, Haitian voudun dance, and these last three videos, you can
appreciate to what degree African and Afro-Caribbean dance influenced Dunham's
work and technique.
Question:
b) Please, give at least three examples of how one can appreciate the African
influence in Dunham's work.
You can see it in her outfit, in the dress and head scarf she was wearing. She was wearing a long skirt, just like the women in the Voudun video as well. You can also appreciate the African influence in her hip movements: side to side, front and back, in circles, it is very accentuated. You can also perceive it in her shoulder movements and shimmies. The turns also speak of this African influence. You can see the turning motion of going from slower to faster. The beat of the music, the drums and rhythms can also be seen in Dunham´s work, which are all from African influence. Finally, her movements are very grounded, very tough, focusing on connection with earth and rhythm, and not at all airy or delicate.
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VI - Dunham's Based Afro-Dance Fusion
(20:32 min)
Dunham Technique's Basic Class Methodology
1. Warm Up: Floor or Barre Work to warm up feet, legs and back before actual technical work
2. Breathing
3. Isolations
4. Progressions across the floor
5. Choreography
Choreographic Work (10 min) [4 pt]
Explore the main movements observed in the videos above, and include 4 of them in your phrase for today (3/26).
THE MOVEMENTS ARE:
- Walks (walks and prances are grounded and into the earth)
- Prances (move with high springy steps)
- Second position jumps
- Turns
- Elevations (jumps)
- Strong percussive movements
- Undulating movements
- One body part in a counter rhythm to another body part simultaneously.
YOU SHOULD HAVE A TOTAL OF 8 MOVEMENTS BY NOW; MAKE THEM INTO A PHRASE.
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Writing Component ( 5:00 min) [4 pt each]
Go to the following link, scrawl down to page 225 and read the
two middle paragraphs (2nd & 3rd).
LINK:
Katherine Dunham: Dancing a Life by Joyee
Aschenbrenner
Answer the following questions:
1) According to Tommy Gomez, what is the main problem with Dunham Technique
today?
He says that he has “lamented the distortions of the technique that he had seen in
his classes.” He believes that schools are falling shot of her standards. He says that
so many people “have taken some Duncan technique and that they think that they are informed enough to teach it when it takes you years to grasp the technique and the philosophy behind the technique.” This is a huge problem because people are not being truthful to its true form. They have changed it because they don´t know enough about it to do it or even less teach it.
2) What is missing from the recreations of Dunham Technique?
The mystery and the world-view of Dunham herself is what is missing from these recreations.
3) How did Dunham describe her own dance technique?
She described it as “It is about movement, forms, love, hate, death, life, all human emotions… It is a way of life… about life in the Universe.”
4) How do you feel Dunham Technique has affected your own understanding of
modern dance?
Dunham has helped me understand that modern dance is about a way of life. It is about how you carry yourself, how you use your body as a whole and your experiences to express things through your dance. It is about combining existence into the dance, about feeling. This makes dance so much more real and raw to me. Dancers can understand that when they dance. If you dance, you know how it feels. You know that it is about expression, and not just movements. That is what I love about the way in which she describes her own technique. She uses the word movement, but also includes strong feeling such as love, hate, death, and life. She is trying to make us understand that is about expressing life as you go. That is why dancing is a way of life. You have to take care about your work, your movement, and practice and perfect it. This way of viewing dance validates it so much more and gives it so much more meaning. And that is exactly what modern dance is about. It is about the technique, but it is so much more than just moves. It is about stories and expression of emotions and feelings.
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- By watching videos like the ones presented to us of Dunham’s work.
- Trying to create dances as close to as possible to hers. We will all be doing this in our 8-phrase piece.
- Looking up research not only of dance style, but about the culture behind this technique and African American dance.
Question A: I believe he meant that even though Dunham traveled around the world and learned about many different cultures, she always embraced their beliefs, ways of living and customs. She was able to convey and transfer the essence of these cultures into her own way of dancing, today known as one of the most important works in dance.
ReplyDeleteQuestion B: Some examples of how one can appreciate Dunham´s work are the following: listening and watching her work with admiration, acknowledging she was a pioneer in the use of folk and ethnic choreography and how difficult creating her own technique was, and trying to imitate her work in the best possible way.
1. Tommy Gomez explains that people think they know the technique and try to teach it. However, they do it the wrong way because they are not educated enough or do not understand that feelings and human emotions are key in Dunham´s work. People are trying to imitate Durkheim´s work but the essence of the original dance is not there.
2. Comprehending Dunham´s work takes years due to the complexity of putting together different dances from many unique cultures. In order to master it, it is fundamental to understand the emotions, lifestyles and world view that Dunham experienced.
3. It is a technique in which understanding the signs of the universe, mysticism and human emotions in all forms is essential.
4. I understand to a greater extent all the impact that past civilizations´ ways of livings and traditions have had on us. I appreciate how Dunham was able to do it. It is not just about creating moves and letting our bodies talk for themselves, but also being aware of the history and cultures before us.
1) According to Tommy Gomez, what is the main problem with Dunham Technique today?
ReplyDeleteSome people think they are informed enough to teach it.
They don't understand the true feelings. It takes a while to grasp it.
2) What is missing from the recreations of Dunham Technique?
You have to put yourself in Dunham's point of view which takes a long amount of practice.
3) How did Dunham described her own dance technique?
It's about all human emotions being sad, happy, scared, and essentially mysticism.
4) How do you feel Dunham Technique has affected your own understanding of modern dance?
You have to be aware of other cultures and history for this way of dance. Also, there is no right and wrong in dance it's about how you express your own body.
James COben