Short Answer ('G') Flashcards
(12 cards)
Intent of Giselle (G?)
Choreographer Garry Stewart has used social and historical themes to coney meanings of love, betrayal, madness and death, in his quite recent work ‘G’.
‘G’ and ‘Giselle’s main link relates to the misdiagnosis of women as hysterics in the early 19th century.
Two different acts: Act I and Act II.
Key themes: Hysteria, desire, gender, death and afterlife.
The intent relates to an original ballet about a young girl named Giselle, who dies of a broken heart after discovering her love is engaged to another (Albrecht).
Willis (group of supernatural women) dance the men to their death - and summon Giselle.
This is relevant today as young women across the world seek love and sometimes seek betrayal along the way which can lead to emotional turmoil.
Multimedia in ‘G’
Evident at the beginning of the show.
LED screen hangs above the corridor.
Displaying text that accompanies the performance and also acts as a lighting source.
Fragmented pattern of words comes up on the screen which introduces the characters (Act 1).
Movement during multimedia section..
Dancers are seen repeatedly coming across the stage horizontally.
As the music becomes heavier, there is a contrast in movement, they percussively move faster across the stage.
This horizontal movement across the stage is evident throughout the performance and can be considered the motif.
Lighting in ‘G’.
By Geoff Cobham.
Constantly changing - glowing greens, stark whites, deep reds.
Green - representing the romantic era of history.
Red - represent the emotions of the “hysteric” women.
White - giving them a vampire-like appearance, then suddenly breathing them back to life with warmer tones.
Hysteria and it’s movement in the performance.
Women covering their eyes, embellishment of vibratory shoulder twitching, eye rolling, collapsing of upper torso and crying/laughing without a real cause. This was accumulated across the stage.
Movement is minimised to an extent.
Symbolising Giselle, when she was dealing with a broken heart after discovering her love was an imposter.
Desire and it’s movement throughout the performance.
Appears to be in ‘crazed delight’.
Her steps are lustful and suspended.
Circling of the hips, feeling her upper torso, flicking her hair in front of a male dancer and using her costume (skirt) to show off her figure to male dancer.
Costuming in ‘G’.
Colour was primarily green.
Representing fields and nature.
Represents the romantic era of history - was often used in this context.
Women wore tutus that they manipulated depending on the theme they were representing.
Men wore fitted pants and tops.
Music in ‘G’.
Luke Smiles.
Pumping, pulsing and wordless.
Takes you on a journey, building exhilarating climax.
Unison throughout the performance..
Dancers, male and female, male and male - or even more than two people created a lot of unison throughout the performance.
How is energy used throughout the performance?
Energy levels contrast throughout the entire performance.
At the beginning of Act I, movement is slow, sustained.
As the music gets more intense, movement is vibratory and percussive.
All movement occurs horizontally across the stage.
Contrast of energy qualities to represent the different themes.
How is space used throughout the performance?
The corridor has spatial limitation.
Accumulating a sense of history as the females feel small, unaccepted as they continually drift, run, fall and catapult across the stage depending on the theme they are trying to portray.
Garry Stewart facts
1962
Artistic director of ADT since 1999
Ceased doing social work to become to train to formally become a dance teacher
2001 awarded a centenary medal from the Australian government for his service to Australian society and dance
