The Houston Ballet: Ghost Dancers By Christopher Bruce

In the 1970's, Christopher Bruce, along with his followers, didn't agree with the military dictatorship of Pinochet's bloody coup. Pinochet's bloody coup, which occurred on September 11, 1973, was a military coup d'état, which resulted in the murder and torture of tens of thousands of people. Bruce conveys his attitude towards this coup throughout the video he directed called The Houston Ballet: Ghost Dancers. In this video, Bruce explicates the vicious coup and displays his opinions through the use of indigenous dance movements to represent to the oppression of the people. The ghost dancers' movement represents a larger meaning behind the tragedy the Chilean government and its people faced during the coup through the use of the symbolism

All of the three ghosts' movements are different, starting mainly from the beginning of the video. The first part of the dance would represent all the people that were affected during Pinochet's coop d'état in 1973. The repetition of the movements also has an effective meaning, as it implies to the viewers that death is not necessarily something that you are able to escape. It also implies, in an ambiguous way that we are watching different scenes from the past, some-what like an anecdote that is constantly echoed in the mind. The ghost dance also resembles lizard-like creatures that roam all around the place. In the beginning of the dance, as the Ghosts enter with no music playing and are scattered all about moving through a variety of shapes and heights. This symbolizes the time that the democrat elected leader, Salvador Allende was in control. Also in the beginning of the dance we see the three ghost dancers dancing very calmly to the serene tune and moving swiftly across the screen which shows how peaceful things were with Allende under control before Pinochet initiated his coup. The symbolism found in the dancing weren't the only key factors to the larger meaning behind the Chilean