After reading “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” I believe the Nacirema are the Americans. First Nacirema is American spelled backwards. I also think it is America because it said “North American group living… Little is known of their origin, al- though tradition states that they came from the east.”
Robert “Bob” Fosse was a man of many talents, skills, and before passing on in 1987; made a tremendous impact on dance, especially the mixing of dance styles for other choreographers to come. The performances he created for Broadway along with his reach in the movie industry formed a “Fosse” image that others hoped to reach on their journey through the dance industry. His own life lived up to the style, level of dance he required his dancers to perform at, demanding and physically exhausting, yet powerfully enough to capture an audience all around the world. His personality may have been a bit too aggressive for some, but this personality is behind works such as, Redhead, Sweet Charity, and Chicago. If the man came off strong, it was for good
"Probably some weird ritual," Azar said, but Henry Dobbins looked back and said no, the girl just liked to dance.” (136) In this quote they’re calling her dance a "weird ritual,” making it seem stranger than it already is but in reality dancing is her way of coping with her
Before this unit, black dancing often differed from whites. First off, many of them seemed more comedic, Josephine Baker from Le Revue Des Revues. Her innovated performance brought her stardom, for she was the first African America international entertainer. She used her whole body in dances, freely moving around. In the 1920s, people deemed her dance ‘savage’ due to the lack of structure and revealing clothes.
The Life and Work of the Divine Dancer, Ruth St. Denis The mother of modern dance paved the way for future generations of American modern dancers. Exotic and spiritual solos are the trademark of nearly all of Ruth St. Denis’s choreographic works. Greatly influenced by the Delsarte Method, Denis’s solos often had a focus on emotional intention behind the movements. Denis’s interesting style was a combination between the Delsarte Method and spirituality, both stemmed from childhood experiences.
1. How did revolutionary America see both improvements and limitations in women’s roles and rights? Revolutionary America saw improvements and limitations in women's roles and rights through various methods. One of the common limitations in women's rights is the topic of gender versus power. In most cases, the husband had legal authority over their wives, ultimately considering the women to be unfit for citizenship.
After attending a children’s talent show, Sone became enthralled by dancing. So much so that she wanted to take lessons, her mother agreed with her that it was a good idea. Her father had a different opinion, he strongly disapproved as he associated dancing with immoral and scandalous behavior, telling her mother “ ‘I’d die of disgrace if my daughter were to appear that like in public’ (p. 45).” Her life was impacted by his preconceived ideas of what was appropriate for a young girl, and since he was the ‘man of the house’ his ruling was
Horace Miner, a American Anthropologist wrote an academic essay titled “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.” In this article Miner described some of the bizarre rituals and practices of the “Nacirema” which the reader comes to find out that he is talking about North Americans. The way Miner goes into detail about how these people live makes them seem foreign. Thus making the norm for an American lifestyle seem odd because the certain type of lingo Miner uses to make this “tribe” more exotic then the actually are. His point in doing this is to show the reader how obnoxious anthropologist can be when they are explain a different culture.
The poem that I chose is Ghost Dance by Sara Littlecrow-Russell. The title is something that sounded familiar to me, but the reason I chose to read this poem originally was that it told a story rather than describing something, someone, or a feeling, which had been a common theme among the poems that I had been browsing. I also knew that I wanted to recite a poem that used a more low tone rather than an upbeat one, which is something that the majority of this poem had. Subtle and major tone changes and pauses were more easily visualized for me while reading this the first few times more than some of the previous poems I had read. Finally, I had realized that the poem is something that I already had some knowledge on from another class that I had been taking during the year.
In her article, Embodying Difference, Jane Desmond argues that dance offers important insights into the ways moving bodies articulate cultural meanings and social identities. In other words, she explains the importance of studying the body’s movement as a way of understanding culture and society. She has two main arguments. First, she argues for the importance of the continually changing relational constitutions of cultural forms. Desmond further explains that the key to shedding light on the unequal distribution of power and goods that shape social relations are the concepts of cultural resistance, appropriation, and cultural imperialism (49).
This dance is supposed to be beautiful to show everyone how wonderful differences could be. The style in which the story is written changes in this passage by showing a lovely, beautiful scene than the usually harsh tones. Question Four :
Mambo Girl (1957), a movie musical, follows Kailing, a talented young woman widely admired for her singing and dancing capabilities, as she searches for acceptance after learning the truth about her background. Shall We Dansu? (1996) follows Mr. Sugiyama, a Japanese accountant who goes on a secretive and intimate journey into the world of ballroom dance. Both Mambo Girl and Shall We Dansu? emphasize the close relationship between intimacy and Latin dance by linking Kailing and Mr. Sugiyama’s manners of dancing Latin to the emotional connection each has with other characters.
“Artworks have ‘aboutness’ and demand interpretation” (Barrett 71). This statement creates a foundation for writing, specifically about dance, as each dance piece is always about something, no matter how simple it appears to be. As I began to write about dance I knew not only to provide a description of the piece, but utilize the description as evidence as I develop a possible meaning. Additionally he explains, “There can be different, competing, and contradictory interpretations of the same artwork” (Barrett 73). When I would begin to develop an explanation from the description I provided, I had to remind myself that my interpretation was only one view of the dance and I should not try to provide one comprehensive interpretation for the
He made himself and one of the ballerinas the emperor and empress, and without handicaps, they danced gracefully, showing everyone the significance of dance (Vonnegut
By describing the dancers as a “demon”, there is an immediate
