Extra Credit response

Cultural Event Report: A Companion to Ballet and Dance

Below are prompts to help you identify and analyze different aspects of a dance performance and the context from which the dance (or dances) emerge.

Make a copy of this sheet and bring along to refer to for your notes. From them you can either develop the required Humanities Report - 2.5 to 4 pages, or an optional Extra Credit Report (1.5 to 3 pages. The required report usually focuses on reporting overall impressions, careful descriptions, and comments on interesting details about the full range of dance elements as noted here in the prompts. It should include a comparison of dances, if there are sets of them. It should discuss different dancers. An Extra Credit Report is 1.5 to 3 pages, and is a reduced version of the regular report. It should cover the main categories here, but with fewer details.

Company Date of Performance Location (describe the space, the audience, the atmosphere)

The Dance program:

Overall impressions and comments on these aspects: Subjects of the dance Choreography Types of Music Is there an obvious theme (driving idea) A less obvious one?

Compare what you expected to your actual experience of the dances (what you saw and heard):

Type(s) of Dances. Describe and comment on dances that stood out for you and why (strengths, weaknesses, surprises).

The Dancers. Soloists and their roles. What kind of ways do the dancers perform singly and together (physically, theatrically. . .)? Be specific.

Choreography (the art of creating and arranging dance patterns) Music

The Staging (lighting, costumes, and set design) The style, period, or national tradition

The larger Context (from program notes/ reviews? other resources—may require some research) Philosophical (greater wisdom from dance)

Historical influence

Social and/or Religious meanings

Your Response (what you like, what you think, what you feel)