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."

Tags:dedication, natural, ability, long, hours, physical, pain, career, dancer, art, balance, symmetry

Abstract
This paper explains that the connection between dance and the military, as defined by Louis XIV in 1662, has had a long-term effect on the way ballet is taught and on the aesthetic that ballet perpetuates. The paper also describes the work of legendary dance master George Balanchine and the training of ballerinas. The paper relates that a ballet, based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale of "The Princess and the Pea, provides an excellent illustration of the glorification of the physical challenges of ballet and its role in constructing the myth of supremacy.

From the Paper
"When the mono-myth of heroic ascension is mapped onto Ashley Merrill's story of her first class with Balanchine, the reader of the "Ballet Myth" can locate a synthesis of light and dark forces in the figure of the ballet teacher, who is both Helper and Shadow Presence. This phenomenon reflects certain peculiarities of the ballet teacher/learner identification process, whereby the master absorbs the identity of the student, which then polarizes into the aspects of the Self that are idealized and those which are disowned."

Tags:epoch, correctness, ascension, balanchine, glorification

Abstract
This paper examines the nature of the servant and master relationship in the film "Master Harold and the Boys". The author points out that interracial relations are linked not just with racism and prejudice but also with sexism, classicism and stereotypes, as seen through the narrow world views of each character. The paper suggests that the play has hope for understanding.

From the Paper
"The overt oppression and resistance of Guerrillas and the shocking overt racist words and actions in Harold and the Boys are merely symptoms of the power dynamics in interracial interaction. The actual structure that gives rise to the master and servant relationship is hidden. What is observed in both works is anger and reaction as misunderstanding because the structure is not understood. Harold, for example, projects his father on the world. The final words of Guerillas are deadly miscommunication: "Are you hearing me Jimmy?" "Massa" (248). The term `massa' seems pleading, subservient, but is used by a character who has total control and seemingly wants to have revenge for Bryant's madness."

Tags:master, servant, relationship

Abstract
This paper discusses various elements of Asian religions and how it is intertwined in Crane's novel "Bones of the Master." These elements include pilgrimage, master/disciple relationship and the importance of meditation. The book is a true story of a man on a spiritual quest for the truth.

From the Paper
"The concept of the teacher and the student is prevalent in Bones of the Master. When beginning a religious path, it is most widely agreed that the best place to start is by finding a teacher, or a master. It is this teacher, that can guide the student towards proper meditation techniques and passing their wisdom down to the student. In his younger days, Tsung Tsai found his master in Shiuh Deng. One of the key teachings of a Buddhist master is the art of meditation. For one who is seeking a religious path, the most important aspect to learn is meditation."

Tags:bones, buddhism, crane, george, master, meditation, tsai, tsung

Abstract
This paper examines the history of the master-slave relationship in the colonization of the American colonies. It describes slavery as a dynamic institution, in which the relationship between masters and slaves dramatically altered over time to become more humane. The paper illustrates the effects of the American Revolution and the Industrial Revolution on their relationship.

From the Paper
"At first, the master-slave relationship was somewhat more relaxed than it would be years later. Many of the first black slaves were treated as indentured servants, with a limited period of servitude, before their masters would grant them liberty and land. However, by 1660, a full system of black slavery was in operation and the master-slave relationship became worse. Many of the early colonial Southern masters treated blacks like they were inferior to the white population (Elkins, 1976). The first American census, which was established in 1629, segregated blacks from whites. Slave masters often did not provide personal names for the slaves, instead treating them as objects."

Tags:slavery, slave, master, industrial, revolution, settlers

Abstract
A book report on Robert Coleman's "The Master Plan of Evangelism", a study of Jesus' methods of evangelism (expansion of the church, conversion etc.) and a recommendation for pastors and other church leaders that they use the same methods of forming small groups of dedicated Christians who will go out into the world and faithfully spread Christ's message.

Tags:master, plan, evangelism

Abstract
This paper compares two films, one from Japan, Hayao Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro" and China, Yuen Woo-Ping's "The Tai Chi Master." It analyzes the aspects involving the relationship nature has with the beliefs and values of the Shinto and Taoism religion that are prevalent in the films. The author states that the films' similarities reveal the common ideals that both religions are founded on: respect and gratitude towards nature and its power.

From the Paper
"Hayao Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro" and Yuen Woo-Ping's "The Tai Chi Master," one from Japan and another from China, will be analyzed in order to see how the beliefs and values of Shinto associate nature with human beings while Taoism interprets nature as the ultimate source of power. My Neighbor Totoro reveals Shinto beliefs throughout the films by presenting the audiences how Shinto belief "that nature has a great deal of influence on human beings and actions one takes originate from nature" has become a critical factor of Japanese people's life on a daily basis. The Tai Chi Master emphasizes the notion that one can strengthen himself from understanding the order of nature. Yuen leads the audiences through the main character's ordeal and how he manages to recover from the emotional and physical injury by questioning himself about the force and order of nature which eventually enables him to discover the path leads to his goal."

Tags:beliefs, china, culture, hayao, japan, master, miyazaki, ping, politics, religion, shinto, taoist, woo, yuen

Abstract
This essay focuses on the characters of the three central personalities in "The Master Builder": Halvard Solness, Aline Solness, and Hilde Wangel. Personal traits and the relationship of individuals to each other as a means of plot development are viewed as well as a discussion of what each character shows us about the human identity and soul.

From the Paper
"The character of Hilde Wangel stands as the "wild bird of the forest" or foil to Aline's conservatism. Her appearance breaks the tension that we feel between Kaja the bookkeeper, Halvard, and Mrs. Solness in the first act, and draws attention to the magnificent and culminatory events at Lysanger ten years earlier."

Tags:builder, halvard, henrik, ibsen, master, solness

Abstract
The following paper discusses August Bournonville's family life, the way in which he got to be the principal for the Copenhagen Royal Theatre, as well as their ballet-master and dance teacher. It examines the way in which Bournonville took a very contrasting humanistic approach to dance he tended to focus on the beauty found in the ordinary things.

From the Paper
"His third daughter, Mathilde, was a teacher; his fourth daughter, Therese was a homemaker, and his son Edmond was a doctor with a successful practice in both Sweden and Denmark. Wilhelmine was the Bournonville's adopted daughter, who seemed to perhaps ease his guilt about his daughter whom he had abandoned so many years earlier in France. It is important to interject that Bournonville did keep in correspondence with the adoptive parents of his first-born daughter, and he even corresponded with her after she was on her own. He never revealed to her that he was her father, but he aided her economically at any chance that he had."

Tags:ballet, studio, wedlock, behavior, career, dancing, debut, singer, theatrical

Abstract
This paper explains that, although Deges was connected with the impressionists, he never was fascinated like others were by the influence of natural light and thus did most of his work inside his studio only. The paper continues that his paintings depicted ballet, horse racing, the theater and circuses, which gave the idea that his work stemmed from the humanistic experience. The author points out that Degas' favorite subjects were scenes from the world of entertainment, the daily life of women, ballet dancers, horse races and young ballerinas.

From the Paper
"Degas was captivated and influenced by a study of Japanese prints of which style appeared to be in his later work. He drew on the Japanese idea of asymmetrical design as an object to set the subject to the side of a painting. For example, one of his paintings made in 1865, depicted a Woman with Chrysanthemums (exhibited at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City) where the female subject is pushed into one side by a bouquet of flowers."

Tags:ballet, women, studio, masters, horseracing