Professionalization of Dance
Terms
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- Plato
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-Plato:"Every man should know how to dance"
-Deplored "dirty dancing" of his day
-Wilder forms could induce trance & posession
-In 'Ideal Republic'-banish professional actor-dancers - Aristotle
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-Benefits of professionalism outweighed drawbacks
-Feared corrupting influence of dance
-Though professionals should be slaves & foreigners - Ambivalences of Plato & Aristotle
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-Both agreed on the "Power of Dance"
-Disagreed on how power could be wielded safely
-Their ambivalence has colored Western attitudes towards dance - Perfomances by Courtiers
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-Early dancing was untrained
-Many dances were easy, professional dances
-Dances became a bit more complicated
-Amount of time courtiers spent on dance
-Courtiers needed other skills too
.fencing
.reading
.writing - Dancing became demanding
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-Stage dances were complex variants of ball-room dances
-Branle, Courante, Sarabande, Bourée & Minuet were popular
-Minuet possessed a measure of theatricality
-In Minuet each couple danced alone before their peers
-Overtime movements on stage became more demanding
-Technique was then expected of the dancer
-Increasing time was spent developing technique - Specific Technique
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-One technique developed was 'entrechats'
-Entrechat=interwining jump
-Entrechat Quatre=2 beats of both legs
-Entrechat Six=3 beats of both legs
-Entrechat Eight=4 beats of both legs - Royal Academy of Dance
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-Louis XIV drew 1st line between amateur & professional
-Louis founded Académie Royale de Danse in 1661
-He founded Académie Royale de Musique in 1669
-The 2 were MERGED into 1 in 1672 - Paris Opera & Ballet
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-Academies of dance & music later became PARIS OPERA
-Opening of the Paris Opera in 1671
-Paris Opera & Paris Opera Ballet continue today
-Longest continued tradition of ballet - First Professional Dancers
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-1st professional dancers appeared in the opera productions
-1st inaugural production of Academy was opera, "Pomone" in 1671
-It is assumed dancers were in the production "Pomone" - Dancers from Lower Classes
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-Lower classes
-Illiterate, but available
-Treated as household servants
-"Service"
-Servants entrance (stage door vs. lobby) - Mille de la Fontaine
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-France, c.1655-c.1738
-Considered 1st Prima Ballerina
-Led women in "Le Triomphe de L'amour" 1681
-Intro of both professional & women dancers - Paris Opera Ballet School
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-Opened in 1713
-In continuous operation ever since
-Oldest ballet school in the world