History od 20th Century Ballet 1

Subject is not scheduled Not scheduled

Code	Completion	Credits	Range	Language Instruction	Semester
107HTCB1	credit	3	1 lecture hours (45 min) of instruction per week, 66 to 81 hours of self-study	English	winter

Subject guarantor

Name of lecturer(s)

The content of the course History of 20th Century Ballet is to introduce students to the most important companies, personalities and choreographic works of the past century. To learn and understand both the individual choreographers and their works and the interrelationships in the ongoing process of promoting a new form of ballet within 20th century theatre culture.

The aim of the study is to gain a broader understanding of the development of ballet since the late 19th century, when artistic stagnation occurred, and to understand the contribution of the personalities who contributed to overcoming this crisis, to know their brief artistic biography and their most significant works for the development of ballet as a distinctive theatrical genre in chronological order.

Thematic areas:

The crisis of ballet at the end of the 19th century, the causes of the loss of artistic credit for ballet, ballet-féerie as a problematic genre. The impulses from other artistic disciplines that helped ultimately to make ballet a modern theatrical genre:
François Delsarte and his analysis of the expressive capacities of the human body. The influence of „Delsartism“ on dance artists. Émile Jaques-Dalcroze and his work in the field of rhythmic and dynamic sensibility through dance movement. Rudolf Laban, a genius in the field of movement analysis, inventor of a new way of movement thinking, his experimental performances and pedagogical activities.
Laban's pupil Kurt Jooss and his ballets: The Green Table as a model of the revival of ballet and its new thematic and expressive possibilities.
Isadora Duncan and her influence on dance artists of the time. The discovery of dance to „non-ballet“ music. The idea of concert dance, its relationship to the genre of ballet.
Serge Diaghilev and Mikhail Fokin, - creators of the first seasons of Les ballets russes de Serge de Diaghilev. Fokin's dance poems in the spirit of neo-romanticism: Les Sylphides, Le Spectre de la rose, etc. Interpretive mastery of Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, etc. Repertoire and composers of the Fokine period.
Václav Nijinsky as an ideal performer for the 20th century - the combination of athletic movement skills with intimate acting. Nijinsky's new movement aesthetics in Faun's Afternoon. Collaboration with Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring as a future symbol of 20th century ballet. Jeux - the first ballet to mine a theme from the world of sport, a contribution. His company New York City Ballet.

Learning outcomes

The student graduates after a successful oral explanation of the period of history under examination, where emphasis is placed on his knowledge of especially those works that are continually re-performed and form the basis of the tribal repertoire and on an overview of the artists who worked during the period of stylistic changes; the student is able to name the characteristic features of these changes.

All the knowledge acquired is directly related to the content of the final state examination.

Prerequisites and other requirements

Pre-requisite: Overview of History of Dance and Ballet 1 and 2

Literature

Required reading:

BEAUMONT, Cyril: Michel Fokin and his Ballets. London: Dance Books, 1996.

BUCKLE, Richard. Diaghilev. New York: Atheneum, 1984. ISBN 0-689-70664-2.

DOLLFUS, Ariane, Béjart : le démiurge, Paris, Arthaud, 2017, ISBN 978-2081390928.

MICHEL, Robert, Béjart si Dieu le veut, Bruxelles, Editions Racine, 2011, ISBN 978-2873867393.

MASSINE, Leonide. My life in ballet. New York: St. Martin's P., 1968.

MASSINE, Leonide. Massine on choreography: theory and exercises in composition. London: Faber, 1976. ISBN 0571093027.

TAPER, Bernard. Balanchine : a biography, revised and updated. New York: Collier Books, 1974.

Evaluation methods and criteria

continuous verification of knowledge by checking questions and tests.

Other requirements: 80% attendance, activity in class.

Further information

No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans

Dance Pedagogy (BA) - Methods of Classical Ballet Technique - from 2023/24 (required subject with the possibility of repeat registration)
Dance Pedagogy (BA) - Methods of Modern and Contemporary Dance - from 2023/24 (required subject with the possibility of repeat registration)
Dance Pedagogy (BA) - Methods of Folk Dance - from 2023/24 (required subject with the possibility of repeat registration)