Rambert Dance Company <3

Question 1

When was Piorette Lunaire created and by who

Answer 1

1967 by Glen Tetley

Question 2

What are some influences of Piorette Lunaire and key themes

Answer 2

–> Commedia Dell’Arte
–> Themes of myths, art and literature

Question 3

What is the work Piorette Lunaire about

Answer 3

–> A journey of victimisation, manipulation and exploitation

Question 4

What are 2 key themes shown by Bruce (playing the white clown - Piorette) during the time he is on the scaffolding - giving movement examples

Answer 4

–> Childish behaviour - when he hangs on to the back of the scaffolding with his arms above and swings his legs in a circular motion between the gaps in the scaffolding between bars
–> Innocence - when he looks up to the ceiling during high releases, almost as if he is facinated by the cascade of blue above (the sky), encapsulating his awe

Question 5

How does Bruces focus change when he reaches the floor during Piorette Lunaire. What could this symbolise

Answer 5

His eyes are projected downwards, eyes curious and tentative as his explores unfamiliar territory, showing this feeling of uncertainty, in a way foreshadowing the exploition of his character later on

Question 6

What was the impact of Tetley’s PIorette Lunaire on Rambert Dance Company

Answer 6

–> Helped Rambert reform into a modern dance company
–> Establishes Bruce as an exceptional performer
–> Created dancers able to dance to many dance styles and become a diverse dance company in terms of dance styles

Question 7

How was Piorette Lunaire reflective of society at the time

Answer 7

Society at the time was very experimental and Tetleys abstract approach was very experimental in terms of merging dance styles and taking a risk, which allowed modernisation of dance to occur

Question 8

What was Glen Tetley’s choreographic style

Answer 8

–> Graham technique
–> Theatrical
–> Blending of ballet and Graham technique
–> Sleek, fast paced, climatic structure

Question 9

What actually is Commedia Dell’Arte

Answer 9

Commedia Dell’Arte was an early form of professional theatre, where each character represents a certain emotion. This form of theatre typically focuses on conveying topical themes in a comedic level

Question 10

Commedia Dell’Arte focuses on conveying topical themes on a comedic level. What is a topical theme and give an example

Answer 10

A topical theme is a theme revolve around a topic, for example Swansong is revolved around the topic of unfair imprisonment

Question 11

What we the dates of period 1 and key points

Answer 11

1966 - 1974
—> Transition to contemporary dance
—> Collaborative approach with designers, practitioners etc
—> Focused on building a new repertoire
—> Glen Tetley - 1967

Question 12

What were the dates for period 2 and the key points

Answer 12

1974 - 1986
—> Under associate artistic director of John Chesworth & Robert North
—> 1974 - Morrice steps down as artistic John Chesworth becomes Artistic director, continueing with with Morrice’s policies and adds outreach work to schools
—> 1981 - Robert North becomes artistic director. ‘Lonely town, lonely street’, ‘Soda Lake’ and ‘Ghost dancers are created at this time’

Question 13

When and who was ‘Lonely Town Lonely Street’ created for (Rambert and…)

Answer 13

—> 1980 - Janet Smith Dance Company
—> 1981 - Rambert

Question 14

What are some origins of ‘Lonely Town Lonely Street’

Answer 14

—> Described as a slick & fast ballet
—> Dedicated to Matt Mattox
—> Collaboration with Andrew Storer - set design
—> Jazz valet focussing on loneliness in a big city - New York
—> Bill Withers popular music
—> Lighting - John B Read
—> 7 sections
—> 7 dancers

Question 15

What are some influences of ‘Lonely Town Lonely Street’

Answer 15

—> Isolation, rejection, betrayal, drug abuse, loneliness
—> Music - Bill Withers
—> Jazz, Cunningham, Graham, gestures
—> Matt Mattox
—> Art & design - architecture background
—> Costuming - 80s fashion
—> NYC - grid like formations

Question 16

What is the style of ‘Lonely Town Lonely Street’

Answer 16

—> Crafted steps
—> Entrances & exits
—> Emotive, theatrical, drama
—> Episodic structure
—> Jazz & ballet
—> Graham & Cunningham
—> Pedestrian
—> Gestural
—> Characterisation
—> Collaboration with dance and design

Question 17

What is the impact of ‘lonely Town Lonely Street on Rambert Dance Company

Answer 17

—> New style was encorporated into the company (jazz ballet)
—> Promotes North as a populist - popular with audiences (uses popular music)
—> Engaging to audiences - widens audiences
—> Relatable themes, more accessible
—> Promotes collaboration
—> Links back to the ballet club days
—> Enhances Norths variety during period 2
—> It has physicality, musicality and dramatic quality

Question 18

Who made ‘Death And The Maiden’ and what days was it performed and for what companies

Answer 18

Robert North
—> 1980 - London Contemporary dance theatre
—> 1984 - Rambert dance company

Question 19

What were some origins of ‘Death And The Maiden’

Answer 19

—> The different emotions experienced by a young girl facing death (fear, resistance, acceptance, death)
—> The idea that death is around s - frightening, support, release etc
—> Death of a young girl
—> 11 dancers - death, maiden and friends (5F, 4M)
—> Schubert’s music
—> His architecture background - entrances, exits and crafted steps

Question 20

What were some influences of ‘Death And The Maiden’

Answer 20

—> Car crash North had where he felt everything happened in slow motion (ending)
—> Medieval woodcutting
—> Paintings which inspired Schubert’s music
—> Poem - ‘death and the girl’ by Matthias Claudius
—> Schubert;s music - ‘death and the maiden’ - string quartet in D minor (darker feel)
—> Martha Graham
—> Death being unexpected, sudden and the stages of death

Question 21

What is the style of ‘Death And The Maiden’

Answer 21

—> Aural setting - Schubert’s ‘Death and the maiden’ - written in 1824
—> Physical setting - Lighting by Sid Ellen, set white cyclorama, costume is various shades of grey and black
—> Graham technique - weightlessness conveys death, emotive, contractions etc
—> Cunningham technique
—> Folk dance
—> Gestures - bows, slashing, rocking etc
—> Narrative driven

Question 21

What is the impact of Norths ‘Death And The Maiden’

Answer 21

—> Widens audiences - relatable, accessible
—> Added a thematic approach to Ramberts Repertoire
—> Showcases North as a dancer
—> Demonstrates the connection between music and dance
—> Draws upon Ramberts traditional, classical roots with use of classical ballet and music

Question 22

What are some key points and dates of period 3

Answer 22

1986 - 1992
—> Under artistic direction of Richard Alston (1986)
—> Company’s work became Cunningham Techniqe - ‘dance for dance’s sake’’
—> Abstract Alston
—> Classes were Cunningham based
—> 1987 triple bill performance

Question 23

When and who created ‘soda lake’

Answer 23

Richard Alston
—> Originally conceived for a BBC programme - 1981
—> 1986 Rambert

Question 24

What are some origins of ‘Soda Lake’

Answer 24

—> Minimalistic sculpture Nigel Hall that interpreted a dry lake in the mojave desert —> Sculpture - good balance, simplistic —> Martha Graham - Fronteir

Question 25

What are some influences of ‘Soda Lake’

Answer 25

—> Frontier - Martha Graham - Graham technique, minimalistic set leaving room for mystery and interpretation —> Merce Cunningham - Cunningham studios, Cunningham technique, fluent use of the torso, rhythmic complexity —> Sculpture (Nigel Hall) - work was direct response to the sculpture —> Mary Fulkerson - taught him about release techniques use in Soda Lake

Question 26

Why was silence used within ‘Soda Lake’

Answer 26

Reflects the loudness of the silence in the Mojave desert, creating an eerie atmosphere. Silence through the sculpture due to negative space between the pole and the floor.

Question 27

What was the style within ‘Soda Lake’

Answer 27

—> Big bird - A distorted arabesque, arms raised above the head, chest open, upper back arched, free foot flexed —> Sentinal position - Dancer is on the floor balanced on their knees, with weight in one of his hands and slight tilt of the body while maintaining good posture, with the other stretched out at about 45 degrees from the floor —> Tracing the ellipse - Dancer stands beneath the ellipse facing stage right, with his downstage leg extended slightly behind him in contact with the floor. He extends his downstage arm up towards the ellipse and begins to trace it while having a high release of the upper body in an anticlockwise direction at a fluid, slower dynamic —> Cunningham - fluent use of the torso, rhythmic complexity —> Release

Question 28

What was the impact of ‘soda lake’

Answer 28

—> Nurchered dancers (specifically mark Baldwin - British choreographer - later became artistic director for Rambert) —> ‘Dance for dance sake’ -> Lack of music allowed dancers to intuitive —> Abstract approach to repertoire —> Introduced Cunningham technique to the company —> 1987 renamed Rambert Dance Company —> Allowed Alston to develop his own signiture style. —> Nigel Hall - collaboration

Question 29

How does the sculpture sit in the space during ‘Soda Lake’

Answer 29

‘The piece itself sits in the space like a kind of anchor, almost like a gate’

Question 30

What motif was influenced by Martha Grahams ‘Frontier’ in ‘Soda Lake’

Answer 30

Sentinal position, which is later developed when the performer performs a double sentine, looking over their territory

Question 31

Who created ‘Wildlife’ and what were the key dates of this work

Answer 31

Richard Alston —> 1984 - Rambert

Question 32

What were the origins of ‘Wildlife’

Answer 32

—> Collaboration with artist Richard Smith and composer Nigel Osborne

Question 33

What are some influences of ‘Wildlife’

Answer 33

—> Yellow pages - yellow shapes hung from the ceiling - Richard Smith —> Objects such as kites - Nigel osbourne and Alston wanted to create a dance with floating objects —> Cunningham created a piece called Rainforest which inspires Alston - 1968 —> Matha Graham - Graham technique —> Richard Smith - set designer for wildlife —> Art, music, dance, collaboration

Question 34

What’s the style of ‘Wildlife’

Answer 34

—> Cunningham technique- curves and angular movements, no clear pulse in music, random and sudden movements. Dance is abstract and has no emotion —> Release based technique - use of flow, breath and weight (Mary Fulkerson)

Question 35

What was the impact of ‘Wildlife’

Answer 35

—> Richard smith was recognised for his work in theatres as well as galleries —> Collaboration with Nigel Osbourne inspired creation of new music and works —> Wildlife is one of the most striking pieces performed by Rambert —> Showcased and developed the Dancers technique and styles —> Fantastic collaboration between dance, art and music

Question 36

What’s the importance of the aural setting in ‘Wildlife’

Answer 36

—> Nigel Osbourne —> Added atmospheric feel to the piece —> Enhances structure and movement content —> Percussive and electronics elements - depth and texture —> Reflects elements within the set, structure and choreography —> Compliments everything of the work - abstract, atmospheric ad organic, reflecting this sense of nature