The Body Can Be A Hot Ride

The Body Can be a Hot Ride

The body itself is the vehicle that drives a performance. There are so many different ways in which the body can be used to rev up a performance, or park it. The body has so much power in deciding how much energy can go into a production and how much energy can in return be given back from the audience. The fine arts of theater and dance are perfect examples of ways that the body can either make or break a presentation. The art of dance is essentially focused on movement of the body, and so is theater. Many people overlook the fact that actors and singers also need to have full control of the body to express the emotions of the characters that they are trying to portray. The same goes for dancers, because dance can sometimes be a beautiful way of telling a story.

The incredible dance numbers shown in class were all remarkable variations of performance, and great exhibitions of emotions involving the human body. But one presentation really stands out to me. The "Sinatra Suite", choreographed by Twyla Tharp and performed by two outstanding ballet dancers Mikael Barishnikov and Elaine Kudo of American Ballet Theater, is a beautiful array of emotion and expression. The dancers tell a lyrical story of two people in love, and put that story into words not only through their physical dance moves, but also through their facial expressions. The dancers performed to a medley of Frank Sinatra songs entitled "Sinatra Suite" including but not limited to "All the Way". This tune carries a very jazzy tempo that strongly reminds me of classic 30's music, and is a song depicting true love. The lyrics "When somebody loves you, it's no good unless he loves you- all the way" introduce the meaning and feeling of this song. The point is that undivided love is true love; every emotion needs to be behind that feeling and passion. Barishnikov and Kudo portray a physical example of this song with a very passionate and elegant type of ball room dance. When the music would intensify, the dancers movements would also. The dancers created a movement on stage that flowed with each varying lyric.

I was blessed with the opportunity to see the theatrical production of The Lion King two years ago. The magnificence of this show is impossible to cite on paper as there were so many different aspects of movement represented. The show revolves around beats, music, dance, as well as a combination of all three. African derived music, with