Abstract This paper discusses eating disorder patterns among ballet dancers and non-dancers. The paper examines what anorexia is and presents the causes of anorexia and the reasons that it is seen so much in ballet dancers as opposed to non-dancers. The paper explores the impact of ballet dancing on children with respect to eating disorder patterns and identifies whether any difference is seen in the frequency of eating disorders in professional ballet dancers and non-professional ballet dancers.
From the Paper "Anorexia nervosa is a growing psychological and physiological disorder in the society of today. A surprisingly large number of people are affected by eating disorders, the major cause of which is anorexia nervosa. The cultural ideals especially of the western world cause young women to believe that they should maintain thinner bodies than intended by nature. This causes them to alter their eating patterns and this leads to eating disorders like anorexia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is most prevalent in young girls from the upper middle classes and generally between the ages of eleven to eighteen. Anorexia nervosa is fatal in about twenty percent of the cases and this is the reason for concern. Psychiatric assistance is able to help about thirty percent of anorexics to overcome the disease. A person is considered as anorexic if the body weight of the individual is twenty percent less than the normal weight of a healthy person of that age and height."
This paper discusses the profession of stripteases also called inter alia strippers or, the expression chosen by those in the profession, exotic dancers.
Abstract This paper explains that exotic dancers can be well-paid working as house dancers and feature dancers, who have an independent name as a starlet and move from town to town, providing "feature appearances". The author points out that male strippers dancing in front of female audiences, have become widespread; male and female strippers perform for gay and lesbian spectators respectively and both sexes perform together in pan-sexual contexts. The paper stresses that exotic dancing training has more to it than learning to dance in a sexy manner; the trainee needs to learn how to go into the greater fathoms within oneself, locate their own hidden beauty and grace and mingle it into a sensual movement.
Table of Contents
What the Career is
What Training is Necessary and how is it Essential to the Field of Dance
The Insights of Persons who have Chosen this as a Career
From the Paper "Essence, another local dancer who is a graphic designer with Pima, replied that the negative typecast concern her. 'They're simple, they're sluts'. However, things do not unroll in that fashion; simply it is about girls who are at ease with their bodies. According to Essence regarding the striper's current earnings that there is nothing called as average income, you end up either winning or losing. While at school, she would not truly talk about what her performances were until the topic came through, which she states that never happened very frequently. She stated that her advisor had full knowledge regarding it. In the education environment, it crops up as a discussion in some type of women's studies class; these matters do not crop up."
Abstract This paper examines how "The Grass Dancer" by Susan Power develops two forms of the female soul as represented by Lydia Wind Soldier and Anna "Mercury" Thunder. It looks at how this theme plays itself out through the entire novel; Anna, though powerful, uses her power to her own ends, while Lydia, less powerful, gives all of herself away for the sake of others. It shows how, regardless of the nature of their actions, both women are deeply embroiled in the playing out of time and how this dominates the role of women in the Dakota spiritual world.
From the Paper "Contrasting this life of earthly gratification is the character of Lydia Wind Soldier. Lydia gives nearly everything of herself for the sake of those around her to such an extent that she appears to be visibly disappearing: "He [Harley] reached out and hugged her then-something he did only rarely since turning seventeen because as he watched her, she blurred at the edges, looked to him like a person being slowly erased by some spectral finger." (Power 18). Lydia has given of herself so much that her physical body is somehow reduced, although the manner of this reduction is quite different than Anna's physical ugliness and decrepit form."
Abstract This paper takes a look at the history of the art of ballet, as well as reviews the different types of the ballet dance and the strenuous demands that ballet makes on the dancer. This paper also covers various dance choreographers and their particular styles of dance.
From the Paper "Classical ballet celebrates the potential harmony of the human body, the utopian ideal of collective endeavor, the possibility of the interchange between masculinity and femininity. Something of this is what has recommended ballet to the communisms of the USSR, Cuba and China. Beneath the aristocratic tat of the settings and the charming but dispensable never-never of the stories, there is an implicitly socialist vision.
Yet classical ballet must of course always come wrapped in the specifics of where and for whom it is performed, what other values and meanings it is attached to, and these are riven with contradictions. In practice, in Britain, classical ballet is, at one and the same time, elitist and popular, and woman-centered, heterosexist and part of gay male culture, universal and distinctly white. It is all of this at once.
It is selective in part because it is expensive. Not only are sets on a grand scale and not only do most of the classics require large casts, but behind all that there are the years of investment in training. "
Abstract This paper analyzes the painting "Dancers in Pink," painted by Edgar Degas in 1878. The paper describes the compositional structure of the painting and how it appeals aesthetically to the viewer. The paper then goes on to discuss the synthesis between form and color in the entire work and how they enhance the overall painting. The paper concludes by describing the use of paint and the technique of paint application, as well as Degas' choice of hues and tones.
From the Paper "This experimentation with painting technique can be seen in the different method of paint application work. Some areas in the dresses of the two main figures are thinly painted, possibly diluted with turpentine, while others seem to be more impasto-like in their quality. It is the use of washes over thick paint that, especially in the skin tones, provides the feeling of tactile sensuality. It seems as if the pink and orange has been painted over an underlayer of flesh tones, which can just be seen beneath the rich folds of the dresses. The brush strokes also vary throughout the painting, with smoother and crisper brushwork in the dresses and figures and rougher, more 'sketchy' brushwork in the background and in the smaller figures."
Abstract To be a successful dancer is to be a strong, flexible athlete who has found a balance between physical and mental strength and made the mind to body connection. This paper shows that strengthening is a key element to finding this mind to body connection and in both the physical and mental training of a dancer. This essay briefly discusses the importance of strengthening in the conditioning of a dancer, the best ways to strengthen and the advantages and disadvantages of strengthening."
Abstract This is a research paper that discusses ballet dancers and their unique take on dancing despite the pain. It focuses on both the physiological and psychological aspects. The paper explores the dancer's motivation and rates of injury based on psychological pressures. This paper does not offer recommendations on preventing injury, but highlights the motivation of dancers to continue to work despite the injury and risk of further damage.
From the Paper "In a five-year study of the Boston Ballet Company 77-94% of the dancers were injured during the dance year (Solomon, Solomon, Micheli and McGray, 164), with rates of injuries for 59-70 dancers at 96-137. Thus, the average in their study was 116.5 injuries for 64.5 dancers; or roughly 1.8 injuries per dancer per year. The Solomon group reports that the financial cost to the Ballet Company averaged over half a million dollars per year; at its highest reported for year two of the study, the cost was $974,087. Professional ballet dancers endure a grueling, painful life of injury, starvation and other health issues, and finally disease in later life; yet still they thrive for their art form. Professional ballet dancers continue to perform despite their injuries; for their art form."
Abstract This paper compares the works of Claude McKay (specifically "Harlem Dancer," "Black Belt Slummers," and "Harlem") and Langston Hughes ("Death In Harlem" and "Harlem Jazz Club"). It views them next to the more concretely illustrated depiction of the "Club" in James Weldon Johnson's "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man". By doing so, we understand the power structure of the Harlem Nightclub and the struggle of the African American residents within them, against members of the opposite sex and opposite race, which many used to gain power as a tool of survival.
I. Introduction
II. Portrayal of the Nightclub in James Weldon Johnson's "Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man"
III. Langston Hughes's "Death in Harlem" (Primarily Power Struggles between Gender)
IV. Claude McKay's "Harlem Dancer"
V. Claude McKay's "Black Belt Slummers" (Primarily Power Play Between Races)
VI. Langston Hughes's "Harlem Night Club"
VII. Claude McKay's "Harlem"
VIII. Conclusion
From the Paper "The next class of people the narrator describes are three sets of slummers-the sight-seerers, the black face actors, and the female patrons--or whites who come to the club to awe over the spectacle of African American culture and society. In terms of the power structure of the "Club" the female patrons are the most interesting as they pay for the clothes, diamonds, and drinks of their black companions a sight that unsettles the narrator. The narrator's inability to accept the prosperity of the black man in this situation is based on the fact that the money and social status emasculate the man and make him into an animal, a "social phenomena," rather than a person (Johnson, 79). "
Abstract This paper discusses the art of dancer Loie Fuller and her illustrious career as a dancer. It looks at Fuller's unique contribution to dance as an innovative blend of the artistic and the scientific. The paper contends that although her dances cannot compare on a technical level with the kinds of special effects that even a straight-to-video movie has today, she is in many ways directly responsible for what we see on both stage and screen.
From the Paper "Loie Fuller was not a great dancer. Although she studied dance as a child she quickly gave up on the lessons because she found them too difficult. But this did not stop her from having an illustrious career as a dancer because Fuller did have something wondrous to offer her audiences which was a unique and innovative blend of the artistic and the scientific. Although her dances in which she was partnered with the magic of early electrical lighting cannot compare on a technical level ..."
Tags: loie fuller, modern dance, lighting, emulsion
Abstract The paper discusses the contribution of American dancer, Martha Graham, who pioneered a technique of her own that became part of the contemporary dance milieu. The paper relates the life story of Graham and looks at how she broke with traditions and made a name for herself in the dance world.
Outline:
The Late Blooming of a Dancer The Martha Graham We Knew
The Evolution of Martha Graham
The Graham Technique and Expressionist Choreography
The Triumph and the Legacy
From the Paper "Martha Graham's story as a dancer was unlike others whose lives were rags to riches stories or struggled through harsh economic conditions and braved all to be one of the greats not only in the world of dancing but in the annals of history as well. Graham was born into a wealthy family who traced their lineage back to Miles Standish - a New England hero who were with the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower. In 1909 the family relocated to Santa Barbara, California (Gale Cengage Learning, 2007). "Her father, a doctor specializing in nervous disorders, was very interested in diagnosis through attention to physical movement. This belief in the body's ability to express its inner senses was pivotal in Graham's desire to dance. Athletic as a young girl, Graham did not find her calling until she was in her teens. (Public Broadcasting Service, 2007)" Graham's formal training in dance began at the University of Cumnoch where she studied theater and dance from 1913 to 1916. Thereafter, she joined the Denishawn School managed by the husband and wife tandem, Ruth St.-Denis and Ted Shawn. Denishawn became Graham's second home where she learned classical and modern dance. Denishawn also specialized in that which was novel and exotic to American sensibilities: Greek pageants, Japanese sword dances, sexy Spanish flamencos (Gale Cengage Learning, 2007). During her eight years at Denishawn, Graham was not only a student but she did some instructing on her own when she got better with her craft. It is at Denishawn also that Graham met the composer Louis Horst."
Abstract This paper reviews the life of the artist, dancer and teacher Isadora Duncan born in 1878 and discusses her contribution to American dance. It examines how Isadora Duncan is largely credited with establishing what we now know as modern dance and how she infused the accepted dance modalities of her day with ideas old and new. It analyzes how Duncan's attitudes and approaches came from her native America and how these ideas involved a stress upon unfettered athleticism for both men and women. Duncan wished to develop the body's capacity for jumping, stretching and expressing emotions rather than pure excellence and form in isolation.
From the Paper "Thus, although she lived and traveled extensively in Europe, it is important to remember Duncan's origins in the United States and subsequent influence upon American dance's cavalier attitude towards formulaic traditions. ?Born in 1878 in San Francisco, Isadora Duncan grew up in a childhood filled with imagination and art. Her mother introduced her four children (Isadora was youngest) to classical music, as well as Shakespeare, poetry, literature and art. Isadora spent many hours playing and dancing upon the beach, and even taught dance classes to younger children as a way to earn a little extra money for the struggling family. In her teenage years, Isadora traveled to Chicago and New York with some of her family members, working and performing in various productions such as Mme. Pygmalion, Midsummer's Night Dream or vaudeville shows with limited success."
An analysis of bias in three children's books, Paula Fox's "The Slave Dancer", Lynne Reid Banks' "The Indian in the Cupboard" and Rudyard Kipling's "How the Leopard Got his Spots".
1,900 words (approx. 7.6 pages), 6 sources, 2002, $ 71.95
Abstract This essay will construct a challenge to three novels for children with respect to their inherent biases: Paula Fox's "The Slave Dancer", Lynne Reid Banks' "The Indian in the Cupboard", and Rudyard Kipling's "How the Leopard Got his Spots". In constructing this challenge, I believe that it is important that I explain my own biases and how they influence my challenge. I would argue that it would be arrogant for educators or parents today to consider that we are without biases.
Abstract This paper will discuss three books: Lindgren's "Pippi Longstocking", Paula Fox's "The Slave Dancer" and Theodore Taylor's "The Cay". It will be shown how true racism can be hidden in an apparently "innocent" text, while another work for children - that appears racist in many respects - may be reinterpreted as an exceptional work of anti-racist literature. .
Abstract This paper gives an overview of the physical, social, emotional, and financial hardships that a professional ballet dancer must endure throughout his or her career.
From the Paper "One of the hallmarks of good ballet dancing is the seemingly effortless grace of the performers. Particularly, the high-level dancers of a ballet company elevate movement to an art in motion, almost in defiance of the laws of gravity, and in direct distain to the limitations of the average human body. For these ?prima ballerinas,? balance, range of motion, and control of muscle, borders on the miraculous?for to see them execute a grand jete (a running, jumping split), or a flawless grand battement (a kind of controlled kick), can conjure nothing short of slack-jawed awe."
Abstract This paper presents a brief biography of the dancer, Isadora Duncan, as well as a description of her philosophy of the dance form. The paper also discusses her influence on and contribution to modern dance.
From the Paper "Duncan's personal success as a dancer should not diminish what is perhaps her greater contribution, her success as a teacher and a creator of her own tradition. She began her first school in Grunewald, Germany in 1904, selecting children from the poorer classes and providing completely for all their physical and materials need from her own pocket. Later, she established schools in both Russia and Paris. Interestingly enough, these schools are proudly proclaimed as providing an unbroken legacy of tradition with their founders. ?The existence of Isadora's dances lies in the transmission of the choreographies from one dancer to another in an unbroken line of generations of Duncan dancers,? writes Lori Belivoe in the periodical and press release of the foundation that bears Isadora's name. (Belivoe, Isadora Duncan Foundation for Contemporary Dance, "Isadora Duncan Legacy and Schools") Duncan's indefinable, inexact balance between classicism and personal, inner artistic poetic expression manifested in dance thus became a "tradition" in and of itself."
