Examples of How Set Can Communicate the Dances Ideal Concept :: Dance Drama Still Life at the Penguin Cafe Essays

Examples of How Set Can Communicate the Dances Ideal ConceptWhen a dancing piece is created, it is not near the choreography of thesteps that needs to be considered. To make a successful piece, firstlya starting point needs to be found, this can be anything ranging froman emotion, an animal, or even someones journey to work or school.When this has been decided upon, there are five main areas that needto be concentrated on. These are costume, music, set, lighting andchoreography. These different fields of the dance cannot be consideredseparate, nor is there a rank of importance all five areas need to becreated together. They compliment each other, and reverse together toform the piece. In this essay I am going to focus on the importance ofjust one of these factors, the set. Using examples from professionaldance works I am going to discuss how the set successfullycommunicates the dances ideal concept.The first dance work I am going to employ as an example, is from StillLife at the Penguin Caf choreographed by David Bintley and designedby Hayden Griffin. I have chosen to discuss the set in the first picof the performance, The Great Auk. There are two sections to thisscene, the first section being a representation of the Great Aukshabitat, the second being a busy caf, hound by penguins as waiters andsophisticated women as customers. The set for the first section issimple but effective. The tip has a black backdrop, covering thewhole stage wall, and a smaller screen on wheels centre stage. Thisscreen is roughly 7ft tall and a vertical rectangle. On it an icylandscape is painted. It shows ice and sea, development white and icy bluecolours. It shows an image of the penguins habitat. It lets theaudience know a bit about the penguins background and what it has todeal with in life. This is very effective as it communicates themeaning of the piece, showing that life for this creature is hard.This piece of se is also very useful within the piece, as the dancersuse it as an added entrance. They hide hindquarters the screen and appear atthe sides, this give added inte peacefulness to the piece, and it is alsopractical as it is on wheels, therefore easy to move on and off thestage. The rest of the stage is left empty for this section, providingspace for the dance. For the second part of this scene, the icescapeis moved off stage and the backdrop is lifted to reveal a caf.