​
Introduction:
The SMC Dance Team Spring Show is an UpLift event. By making Spring Show an UpLift event, the SMC Dance Team can educate the SMC community in regards to the world of dance and performance through an intersectional lens. Dance is for everyone no matter your size, race, gender, ability, or socioeconomic standing. During this show, we will educate audience members on the history of certain styles of dance, influential figures, and inequities we aim to overcome in the arts and dance community.
The history of dance is difficult to access because dance does not often leave behind clearly identifiable physical artifacts that last over millennia. Dance is filled with aesthetic values, making it distinct from one society to another and is shrouded in symbolism that expounds on the cultural heritage of a community accordingly being unique from one society to another. Dance can help tell a story, convey feelings and emotions, and connect with others and ourselves. Each culture and group of people have their own dance traditions. As a whole, dance brings communities together and is a celebration of togetherness.
Martha Graham (Ballet/Lyrical/Contemporary)
Martha Graham gave modern dance new depth as a vehicle for the intense and forceful expression of primal emotions. Graham created 181 ballets and a dance technique that has been compared to ballet in its scope and magnitude. Martha Graham’s ballets were inspired by a wide variety of sources, including modern painting, the American frontier, religious ceremonies of Native Americans, and Greek mythology. Many of her most important roles portray great women of history and mythology. Her approach to dance and theater revolutionized the art form and her innovative physical vocabulary has irrevocably influenced dance worldwide.
In 1926, Martha Graham founded her dance company and school, living and working out of a tiny Carnegie Hall studio in midtown Manhattan. In developing her technique, Martha Graham experimented endlessly with basic human movement, beginning with the most elemental movements of contraction and release. Using these principles as the foundation for her technique, she built a vocabulary of movement that would “increase the emotional activity of the dancer’s body.” Martha Graham’s dancing and choreography exposed the depths of human emotion through movements that were sharp, angular, jagged, and direct. The dance world was forever altered by Martha Graham’s vision, which has been and continues to be a source of inspiration for generations of dance and theater artists.
​
HIP HOP Montage
Michael Jackson is highly regarded as the King of Pop, however, a lot of his dance moves find their origin in hip-hop dance. He married hip-hop dance styles with funk, soul and electric boogaloo to create a unique blend of pop, and hip-hop worthy dance. His style is revered worldwide for its uniqueness and fashion.
Despite her recent burst in popularity because of her position as a judge on American Idol, Paula Abdul has always had a cult following for her musical talents and choreography skills. As a hip-hop dancer and choreographer, Abdul organized dance routines for top-name performers like Janet Jackson and The Jackson’s and even choreographed the piano dance scene performed by Tom Hanks in the movie Big. She’s won several “Best of Dance” awards.
MC Hammer was one of the most famous hip-hop artists and dancers of all time. His heyday was the 80’s and 90’s where he showcased his dancing skills across many platforms, creating a following of the Hammer Dance, The Running Man and The Butterfly. He is also the founder of the culture Hyphy which is short for hyperactive. Hyphy was coined to describe the music and culture associated with urban hip-hop.
Ciara is an American singer and dancer who released her debut in 2004. She is known for her hip-hop and pop infused style of music and dance. She won the Best Dance Performance at the 2010 Soul Train Music Awards and has worked with big names like Akon, Flo Rida and Ja Rule.
The Les Twins are identical brothers of French descent. They are recognized internationally for their new style hip-hop talents. They have won several hip-hop awards including the World of Dance in 2010. They’ve been highlighted on BET, Good Morning America, the Ellen DeGeneres Show and have worked with people like Beyoncé, Kanye West and Timberland.
Everyone knows Beyoncé. She is one of the most powerful female vocalists and dancers of modern times. She started off as a member of Destiny’s Child and after the dissolution of the group went on to a solo career. Her hit single “Single Ladies” started a world-wide dance craze where Beyoncé’s famous moves became staples in many hip-hop routines.
Pointe Dancing
Pointe is a form of ballet that has been practiced for centuries. Pointe shoes allow dancers to perform what seems like impossible feats and is one of the most beautiful styles of dance to watch. Dancing en pointe is not easily achieved, but it can be the appropriate next step for an experienced dancer.
Pointe shoes allow dancers to appear weightless and elongate their limbs for a more graceful look. Pointe can be an extremely fun, rewarding activity for those with dance experience. However, pointe is physically demanding and requires a lot of time, patience, and commitment. Dancing en pointe requires even the most skilled dancers to learn dance from a new perspective. Pointe shoes add an extra obstacle into the mix by requiring students to learn to dance on the tips of their toes instead of the balls of their feet. In pointe classes, dancers will learn how to use their muscles in a different way to achieve their desired outcome.
Not only is pointe a fun, new skill for accomplished dancers to learn, but also, a great experience for aspiring professional dancers. Many dancers that dream of living their life out on the stage often do so through dancing en pointe.
Pointe shoes will last through ten to twenty hours of wear and cost around $100 per pair. Professional ballet dancers will wear a pair of shoes out in one performance.
Alvin Ailey (Associated with Contemporary/ Ballet/ and Modern)
“Each movement is the sum total of moments and experiences.” These are the words of dance legend Alvin Ailey. The “moments and experiences” he expressed through his decades-long dance career reflected the black journey, changed modern dance, and revolutionized participation in the art form.
Ailey was born in 1931 in Rodgers, Texas, during the Great Depression. Although he left the area for Los Angeles in 1942, his earliest experiences in rural Texas—from juke joints and his Southern Baptist church, to living with a survivalist mentality during the Jim Crow era—would go on to feature prominently in his work.
In 1960, Ailey mesmerized the dance world with his masterpiece “Revelations.” It told the black story from slavery to freedom and remains the best-known and most-performed work of modern dance today. Ailey was immediately recognized for his talent, and his dance company performed for eager audiences throughout the United States and around the world.
In 1962, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater toured the Far East, Southeast Asia, and Australia as part of President John F. Kennedy’s “President’s Special International Program for Cultural Presentations.”
Even with extensive travel, Ailey never strayed far from his roots. As his company embraced greater diversity and invited interracial perspectives into its performances, Ailey never lost his commitment to the black community. In 1969, he established the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, which became the Ailey School; formed the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble; and pioneered programs promoting arts in education, particularly those that benefited underrepresented communities.
Pointe Dancing
The history of wearing pointe shoes started when women began to dance ballet in 1681, twenty years after King Louis XIV of France ordered the founding of the Académie Royale de Danse. Pointe shoes of this period originally had heels. The first non-heeled shoe appeared in the mid-18th century when dancer Marie Camargo of the Paris Opéra Ballet performed leaps that would have been hard in conventional shoes of the age with heels.
Manufacturers make different models of ballet shoes or custom ballet shoes because ballet dancers have different feet shape, toe length and feet arch flexibility. Most known color for pointe shoes is light pink. Ballet dancers sometimes wear different pointe shoes models for different performances.
BURLESQUE
Burlesque-style dance originated in London theaters from the 1830s to the 1890s. The Victorian style of dance was brought to New York in the 1840s and was later popularized by Lydia Thompson’s visiting dance troupe, The British Blondes, in 1868. The troupe wore tights which were considered risky during the Victorian period, where women often wore dramatically ruffled skirts to hide the female leg. The group's first success in New York was with the 1868 show Ixion. This mythological spoof saw women playing men’s roles. A female-run production that showed under-dressed women who mimicked patriarchs’ roles hugely pushed the boundaries of the Victorian period. Luckily for burlesque dancers, the style was a hit. Lydia Thompson’s first season in New York grossed over $370,000.
Burlesque continued into the 20th century with shows like Ziegfeld’s Follies of 1907 which was a lavish production featuring a scantily clad chorus line of beautiful women. Minsky’s Burlesque was opened by brothers Abe, Michael, Billy, and Herbert Minsky in 1917 in New York who wanted to show respectable films but weren’t able to compete with larger theater chains. The owners shifted their shows to burlesque. Abe Minsky was specifically interested in burlesque as he had been to Paris to see the Folies Bergere and Moulin Rouge, shows that heavily inspired burlesque dance. Abe suggested importing what ended up being a Minsky trademark: a runway to bring women out into the audience. The theater was reconfigured to do so and the Minsky’s were the first to feature a runway in the U.S.
Burlesque inspires many dance styles today. Songs from the Dance Team’s “Burlesque” dance this evening come from the musical entitled “Burlesque” featuring Cher and Christina Aguilera. This musical dives into the life of a dancer at a burlesque lounge and incorporates song and dance from the genre.