Form In Dance
What is form?
Compositional devices
- motif and developments, canon, contrast,
highlights, climax, balance, transition, unity
of the components
Compositional structures
- sequential, binary, ternary, contrapuntal,
episodic
Dance / Accompaniment Relationship
-rhythm, time sig, tempo, ostinato, melody,
polyphony, harmony
-- correlate, disassociate, etc
The organisation of groups in space
- group shapes and formations,
The relationship of dance to its
accompaniment
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Rhythm - Can be a steady pulse or beat or can be
made up of regular repeated groupings. During
romantic ballets most music was written in even
rhythms (2, 4, 8)
An example of an even rhythm is 4/4 2/4 uneven
would be 5/4 or 7/4
Martha Graham was one of the first to experiment
varying rhythms within one piece of music. Society
was no longer predictable and people were starting
to break free from the boundaries and this became
reflective in dance.
Uneven rhythm:
Accumulative and subtractive rhythms
Accents
Time signature
Tempo - Presto and Adagio
Ostinato - (a musical idea that repeats itself
throughout the piece - similar to Ground Bass) can
be varied - faster, retrograde, pitch, inversion
Melody - a succession of notes at differing pitch
Polyphony - two or more melodic lines
Counterpoint - where two melodic lines rhythmically
go against each other
Harmony - results when a succession of chords are
played
The Rehearsal Process
Preparation (research and improv) followed by selection
and refining and polishing
Strategies for working in rehearsals: building rapport,
making movement clear, making content clear,
developing the dancers interpretive skills.
“a choreographer must express himself by implanting
movement in the muscles of other dancers”
“in training for DV8 we had the dancers long distance
running to build stamina, voice teachers, football
coaches, and an Irish dancing teacher”
DV8 Company Manager
- Jo Butterworth
“Improvisation is an exploration and the dancers have
responsibility to discover their own movement and
energy level” - Rosemary Butcher
“The inner narrative is something
that the audience doesn’t know and
is nothing to do with them” - Lea
Anderson
“I allow the dancers to improvise
within the limitations imposed by the
steps”
RUSH - AKRAM KHAN
General Notes:
Rhythm
Accents
Time signature
Tempo
Melody
HighlIghts / Climax
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NUTCRACKER - MATTHEW BOURNE
General Notes:
Rhythm
Accents
Time signature
Tempo
Melody
HighlIghts / Climax
CALCULATING QUESTIONS TO ENSURE YOU GET YOUR MARKS!
The programme states ‘A purely abstract work inspired by the observation of paragliders in freefall
- a physical state between tremendous speed and serene stillness (15 marks)Explain your
interpretations of these examples (10 marks)
Total (25 marks) - roughly 8 marks per category (“you may like to consider ACTION, DYNAMICS
AND SPATIAL CONTENT”)
ACTION
DYNAMICS
SPACE
Eg:
Walking back in V
SHAPE (2:2)
•Shows formation in
freefall
•Shows flat torso in
line with the ground
Chakkar - fast spins, at
start of (1:2)
The dancers turn with
‘tremendous speed’
signifying the speed in
which parachutists fall.
*rotation - forwards flip
(2:2) constant shifting
Eg: Arm rotations,
(1:1) and (2:1)
(must describe in
detail)
*plays with serene
stillness and
extreme speed
*propellers on plane
Eg. Head shoots sharply
back as dancers walk
backwards to each corner
- (end of PT1:2). Shows
contrast in speed
between what appears to
be a slow observation of
speed by the observer
and the wind pushing
forcefully against body
parts of the person in
freefall.
(1:3) IPO and MM
travel on a diagonal
pathway downstage
sweeping arms,
hopping, force of
action determines
pathway.
* Manipulated by the
wind
Eg. dancers put
hands on shoulders
and rotate
shoulders round,
like symbolizing
putting on a
parachute before
freefall (1:3)
Landing heavy rolls (1:2) describe it
*heavy/forcefull landing
after graceful paraglide.
between triangle
formations, walking and
holding salient position,
spine flexed, arms
contracted into body.
Spatially it is their own
experience as the dancers
don’t make contact.
* Reflective of common
freefall formations
CALCULATING QUESTIONS TO ENSURE YOU GET YOUR MARKS!
The programme states ‘Davies uses the wyoming landscape and her travels to wyoming as a
source of vocabulary for her composition’ (15 marks)
Explain your interpretations of these examples using ACTION, DYNAMICS AND SPACE
marks)
(10
Total (25 marks) - roughly 8 marks per category (“you may like to consider ACTION, DYNAMICS
AND SPATIAL CONTENT”)
ACTION
Eg. Paul Douglas
(solo3) starfish, lies
on his back, legs
and relaxed, arms
placed gently above
his head in contact
with the floor, focus
raised towards the
sky
*
*
Scott clarke shifting
weight at start of
solo on floor
through landscape
DYNAMICS
SPACE