Artsource The Music Center’s Study Guide to the Performing Arts
TRANSFORMATION
ENDURING VALUES
DANCE ®
CLASSICAL
1. CREATING (Cr)
CONTEMPORARY
2. PERFORMING, PRESENTING, PRODUCING (Pr)
EXPERIMENTAL
3. RESPONDING (Re)
MULTI-MEDIA
4. CONNECTING (Cn)
FREEDOM & OPPRESSION
Title of Work: Impressions #2 (Vincent van Gogh)
Creators: Company: Lewitzky Dance Company Choreographer: Bella Lewitzky, b. 1916 d. 2004 Composer: Larry Attaway b. 1949 Decor & Light Design: Darlene Neel, b. 1941 d. 1999
Background Information: Bella Lewitzky was born of Russian immigrants in a utopian community in the Mojave Desert. She was greatly influenced by the space, stillness and beauty of her surroundings. Although she loved to move as a child,
ARTISTIC PROCESSES
TRADITIONAL
THE POWER OF NATURE
THE HUMAN FAMILY
painter, enthusiastically introduced her to the work of van Gogh when she was a girl. She says that “...under my father’s tutelage, I developed a ‘graphic eye’ that translates to my choreography. I care very much about the graphics of motion. How movement involves space - creating and destroying it.” This work is part of a trilogy, which includes Impressions #1, based on the sculpture of Henry Moore, and Impressions #3, motivated by the whimsical art of Paul Klee.
Creative Process of the Artist or Culture: Ms. Lewitzky brought works of art by Vincent van
it was not until high school that she received formal dance training. At 17, she began taking classes with modern dance pioneer, Lester Horton, with whom she worked
Gogh into the studio for her dancers to view and
closely as a dancer and collaborator until 1950. At that time she began to teach and create independently, forming the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company in 1966 when she was 50. In 1970 she pioneered the National Artist-in-Schools, Dance Component, and was instrumental in setting the standards for Dance Education. In addition to teaching and performing,
and patterns, weaving them into the completed choreography. There are a total of eight sections in the work. However, two contrasting ones have been selected for our focus. The first is Landscape #1, influenced by two paintings: Starry Night and Starry Nights over the Rhone. The dancers move as if they were paint applied with strong brush stokes. They move with the
she demonstrated how creative movement could be used as a tool for learning concepts within the school curriculum. Ms. Lewitzky was well known for the way she expressed her thoughts verbally, as well as kinetically, and she was also a strong advocate for freedom of expression in the arts. Her artistic vision
explore improvisationally. She selected specific movements and designs which she evolved into phrases
energy qualities of smooth, jagged, wavy, pulsing, shimmering and exploding. It feels as if the dancers are inside the painting, transforming its vitality into motion. It is interesting to note that the music
placed her in demand with important national and European art patrons for the creation of new dances.
was created after the dance. Photo: Erica Davidson
About The Artwork: Impressions #2, which premiered in 1988, is based on Lewitzky’s responses to selected paintings by the artist Vincent van Gogh. Bella’s father, who was also a
“Change is the only constant.” Bella Lewitzky California
Discussion Questions: After the video has been viewed: • What movements do you remember? • Can you show one movement idea from the dance? • What do the movements suggest to you? • What actions in nature do the movements suggest? • What do you think this dance work was about? • What kind of person do you think created this work? • What do you think the choreographer was saying? • What ideas came to mind as you watched it? • What was the mood of the music? Was there a strong beat? • In Impressions #2, what paths did the dancers make on the floor? In the air? • Look at van Gogh’s painting, Starry Night. How does the dance remind you of this painting?
Multidisciplinary Options: • Be a dance critic and write your ideas about one of the dances you saw. • What do you think the choreographer was saying in movement? • What kind of movements were selected? Why? • What do you especially like about the dance? • What would you change about the dance? • How did the music work with the dance? • Did the choreographer show impressions of van Gogh in the same ways in which you view his landscapes or portraits? How is your view the same? How is it different?
Audio-Visual Materials: • Photos courtesy of the Lewitzky Dance Co. • Artsource® video excerpts of Impressions #2: Vincent van Gogh, Starry Nights, courtesy of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (NYPL call number: *MGZIC 9-5177), 1988.
Sample Experiences: LEVEL I • Circle these body parts: head, shoulders, hips, arms, legs, hands, feet. Vary direction, size and tempo. • Create partner designs using ideas of: circle, high/low, front/back, side/side, around/through, over/under. * • Put the following words into movement: sharp, pulsing, smooth, jagged, wavy, swinging, shimmering. Combine two or three together. • Read the book, Harold and the Purple Crayon. Explore ways to draw images using different parts of the body, e.g. draw the moon using your nose). Sequence 5 - 7 ideas. LEVEL II * • Design shapes and motion based on these universal design motifs: straight, bent, curves, circles, spirals, dots. • Walk or run a spiral path. Begin at the small part and get bigger; reverse. Try it alone, with a partner and in a group. Change level. Traveling backward, sideways. • Select a van Gogh landscape painting and brainstorm the movement words it suggests to you. Write them down. Look at them in terms of which words suggest motion, time, space, shapes and moods. Select three to five of the words and develop them into a dance study. • Have students work in partners; one designs three shapes which are copied by the partner. Reverse roles. Copy from the front, side, back, close and far away. LEVEL III • Look at the video of the dance. Select one phrase from either dance section and learn it. Perform it for others. * • Look at a reproduction of the painting Starry Night or Starry Night on the Rhone. Discuss how space is used, brush stroke technique, colors, mood, images, balance, energy, unity. Explore these ideas and develop a selection of these ideas into dance impressions, separately or combined. • Explore the eight Laban Effort Actions of press, flick, punch, float, slash, glide, wring and dab. Select two and
Additional References:
contrast. (Dance Addendum, “Tools for Viewing Dance.”)
• Johnson, Crockett. Harold and the Purple Crayon, Harper Trophy, © 1955. • Joyce, Mary. First Steps in Teaching Creative Dance to Children, Third edition, Mayfield Publishing Co., Mountain View, CA. 1994.
LEVEL I, II and III • Think of poetic phrases that describe natural images (i.e., “wind-swept surf ”). Use these word images to stimulate original movement and dance ideas.
*
Indicates sample lesson.
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DANCE
WORDS IN MOTION TRANSFORMATION
LEVEL I Sample Lesson INTRODUCTION: Words can be used to stimulate ideas in movement. Words which have action, shape, energy or time concepts work best. Onomatopoeic words, like ooze, fluffy, rip and bubble, are also effective. Words can be explored individually or combined in a variety of ways, such as: an action verb with an adverb (turning slowly); rhyming words (pick, flick, click); action words (run, bend, stretch). It is important to set an atmosphere where each person's interpretation is respected. OBJECTIVES: (Student Outcomes) Students will be able to: • Create original movement motivated by words. (Creating) • Describe, discuss, analyze and connect information and experiences based on this lesson. Refer to Assessment at the end of this lesson. (Responding & Connecting) MATERIALS: • Cards with selected words. • A drum or selection of small rhythm instruments. PROGRESSION: • Select some of the following words (or think of your own) and put them on cards. Have the class interpret the word in movement as you show the word or call it out. Encourage spontaneous motion (improvisation) which shows the idea in several ways, rather than stopping after one motion. Sharp
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Smooth
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Jagged
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Wavy
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Swinging
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Pulsing
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Shimmering
•
Exploding
Tasks: • Have each person take one of the words and develop it into a movement phrase with a beginning, middle and ending. For younger or beginning students, the idea can be improvised; older students should select and develop their idea so it can be repeated. Have the students perform their ideas in groups of five to seven. • Divide into small groups and give each group two cards with words on each side. Let them select two of the words and create a movement idea in an AB (2 part) form. Repeat it. They should have a clear beginning and ending to their idea. Simple percussion instruments can be used to accompany the movements. 3
Suggested Criteria for Dance: • Strong focus • Show originality in choosing movement to express each word • Clear beginning, middle and end
EXTENSIONS: • Use the words explored in class to write a short story or poem. This can be done by each student, in small groups, or as a class. • Create a dance where words are used as part of the dance. They can be used rhythmically or as cues for the movement. One person can be the leader and call out different selected words for the group to improvise. VOCABULARY: improvise (improvisation), phrase, AB form, percussion ASSESSMENT: (Responding & Connecting) DESCRIBE: Describe how it felt to move the various words. DISCUSS: Discuss what you found most interesting when you watched others showing their interpretations of the words. ANALYZE: Describe the difference between verbally saying a word and moving that same word. CONNECT: Discuss why you think that words are important in communicating feelings or impressions. Emphasis on: Common Core - CA State Standards for Language - Reading; Writing; Listening; Speaking
Seagull drawing (page 3) by Eric Byrd from The Lion on the Path, by Hugh Tracey, courtesy of Andrew and Paul Tracey.
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DANCE
UNIVERSAL DESIGN MOTIFS TRANSFORMATION
LEVEL II Sample Lesson INTRODUCTION: The seven universal design motifs are the basic elements from which visual designs are composed. They are divided into: straight lines, angular lines (zig zag), C curves, S curves, circles, spirals and dots. These concepts can be used in both the visual arts and dance movement. They can be a springboard for improvisation and a point of departure for dance studies. OBJECTIVES: (Student Outcomes) Students will be able to: • Create movement and shapes that reflect one or more of the universal design motifs. (Creating) Design motifs and variations
• Describe, discuss, analyze and connect information and experiences based on this lesson. Refer to Assessment at the end of this lesson. (Responding & Connecting) MATERIALS: • Pictures which show these lines in everyday objects, such as fences, clothing, food and nature, as well as reproductions of paintings and photos. PROGRESSION: This concept can be developed into a series of lessons, each of which focuses on one or two of the symbols. When they are all explored and understood, the students will have a larger movement vocabulary to draw upon in creating their own dances. Curves will be developed as an example. • Have the students look around the space and find parts of the room, or objects, which have curved designs. After several are identified, have them show a few selected ones in their arms, legs, and torso. Direct them to be specific. Was the curve horizontal, vertical, or slanted? Was it thick or thin? Was it one curve or a combination of curves? 5
• Ask the students to combine curved designs with one another, placing their curves at different levels, directions, and facings. • Have them develop a new curved design and find ways to move it, using ideas such as up/down, open/closed, strong/soft, turning/jumping. Ask a few students to share their ideas and have the rest of the class copy their movement, repeating each one three to four times. Build a sequence of several ideas. • Divide the class into partners. Have them improvise a movement study where they throw (Back, L to R) Kimo Kimura, Kenneth Bowman (Front) Kenneth B. Talley, John Pennington curving motions back and forth to each other, using Lewitzky Dance Company strong or light energy. Think of under curves, over Impressions #2 (VincentVanGogh) Photo: Vic Luke curves, wind-up curves, double curves, curves that travel or turn. • Direct the students to design three to five different curves. Ask them to sequence them and go from idea one to five. • Ask five to seven students to demonstrate their curved sequences simultaneously, adjusting their space and timing to the others in the group. • Combine three ideas together, such as bend, straight, curve. Do in place, then moving through space. • Have the class use locomotor movements, such as walk, run, slide or skip as they move in curved pathways on the floor. Try moving the curve traveling forward. Retrace your steps traveling backwards or sideways. Add a level change (low - middle - high). Alter the tempo. Find a way to use the arms and torso as the movement is performed. Divide the class into small groups and have them perform their idea simultaneously, adding stops and starts when they wish. Repeat with straight and bent. Task: Combine any three universal line ideas together, using a variety of shapes as well as axial and locomotor movements.
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Suggested Criteria for Dance: • Strong focus • Include three universal lines • Use original shapes • Axial and locomotor movements • Clear beginning, middle and end • Change of levels EXTENSION: • Have the students create designs in cut paper, paint or drawing, using the seven universal design motifs. Select three to four of the symbols. Develop a design that shows theme and variation. Variations of the design motifs can be developed by changing size, color and texture. Have the students arrange the motifs three or four times, searching for a pleasing arrangement that shows balance and unity. These can then be interpreted in a dance study. VOCABULARY: symbol, design, improvisation, shape (as used in dance), phrase, repetition, AB form ASSESSMENT: (Responding & Connecting) DESCRIBE: Describe and show examples of the Universal Design Motifs. DISCUSS: Discuss what you learned about curves during this lesson. ANALYZE: Focus on designs around you and analyze how they were each created from different combinations and styles based on the Universal Design Motifs. CONNECT: Identify the different places in our culture where design is an important element. Emphasis on: Common Core - CA State Standards for Language - Reading; Writing; Listening; Speaking
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DANCE
PAINTINGS TRANSFORMED TRANSFORMATION
LEVEL III Sample Lesson INTRODUCTION: Paintings can be a wonderful source of ideas for dancers. The painting can be used in a variety of ways: as an image or collection of images, as a mood or feeling, as an abstracted impression of something, as a beginning or as an ending. It can be viewed in terms of its elements: line, color, value, shape, texture and space. It can be looked at in terms of its design principles: balance, symmetry, asymmetry, contrast, dominance, repetition, rhythm, and theme and variation. In addition, the brush strokes of the artist are a factor. OBJECTIVES: (Student Outcomes) Students will be able to: • Utilize a painting as a point of departure for creating original dance studies. (Connecting & Creating) • Describe, discuss, analyze and connect information and experiences based on this lesson. Refer to Assessment at the end of this lesson. (Responding & Connecting)
Kimo Kimura, Jennifer Handel Lewitzky Dance Company Impressions #2 (Vincent Van Gogh) Photo: Vic Luke
MATERIALS: • A slide or reproduction of Vincent van Gogh’s painting, Starry Night or Starry Night over the Rhone. PROGRESSION: • Look at Starry Night. Ask the class to brainstorm words that come to mind when they look at the painting. Write these words on a board. Put the words into different categories, such as actions, colors, shapes and feelings. • Select a few of the words from different categories and improvise them in movement. • Divide the class into small groups and have them explore the following ideas in the painting; • the spiral paths in the sky • the vertical, undulating quality of the cypress • the shapes and arrangement of the village 8
• the bursting energy of the stars • the short brush strokes • the mood of the painting • Ask each group to select one specific aspect of the painting and develop their ideas about that aspect into a dance study. Have each group perform their study. Ask the class to ask questions and comment after they have observed each study. Examples of questions are: • How did the group use space? Which part of the painting did their movements suggest? • What energy words come to mind as you watched the group perform (strong, weak, vibrating, pulsing, swirling)? • How did the dance begin? End? Did these choices work to frame the middle? Task: In small groups express an aspect of Starry Night using original movements. Suggested Criteria for Dance: • Group cooperation • Strong focus • Use of elements of dance such as, contrast of energy, rhythm, levels, shapes, patterns, pathways, etc.
Nancy Lanier, Kenneth B.Talley Impressions #2 (Vincent Van Gogh) Lewitzky Dance Company Photo: Vic Luke
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• Smooth transitions • Clear beginning, middle and end • Movements fulfilled EXTENSIONS: • Select a painting by another artist and apply the same techniques in this lesson to explore the ideas in the new work. Good choices for artists include: Pablo Picasso, Georgia O’Keefe, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee, Henri Rousseau, Hundertwasser, Jacob Lawrence, Hokusai, René Magritte, José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera. • Select several different paintings by one artist. Divide into small groups, each one exploring the ideas they see in a specific painting. Each group take its best ideas and develop them into a short dance study. Share these and discuss the ways each group captured the essence of the work, transforming their impressions from images and words into dance motion. • Have the class draw a “doodle” and see if they can show their “doodle” idea in movement. For more advanced students, have them create a movement phrase which can be repeated or try observing a movement phrase and showing the action and path in a “doodle” drawing (or graphic score). VOCABULARY: Abstract (abstraction), energy quality, space, dance study, transformation ASSESSMENT: (Responding & Connecting) DESCRIBE: Describe how a painting can be used as an inspiration for a dance. DISCUSS: Discuss how you came up with ideas from the painting to explore in movement. ANALYZE: Discuss the part of the painting you danced and what you most liked and why. CONNECT: Discuss other forms of art that you could you use as a point of departure for dance. Emphasis on: Common Core - CA State Standards for Language - Reading; Writing; Listening; Speaking
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“The Search for Identity – Vincent van Gogh” “There is something inside me. What can it be?” Excerpt From Art & Man, Vol.11, No. 1, Oct. 1980
You may already know a lot about Vincent van Gogh. If you’ve read, seen, or heard any of the books, films, or songs about him, you probably know that he went mad, cut off his ear and later, shot himself at the height of his career. Van Gogh’s short, sensational, and tragic life has fascinated people ever since he ended it 90 years ago. But his life would have been long forgotten if it weren’t for the more than 1600 extraordinary paintings and drawings he left behind. Like all great artists, van Gogh saw the world in a totally new way and each painting was a part of his own completely personal vision. Today we take van Gogh’s work for granted because they have become part of our art heritage. But at the time they were created, nothing like these almost shocking paintings with their thick, swirling brushstrokes and bright “unnatural” colors had ever been seen before. Vincent van Gogh was born in a small Dutch village in 1853. His father was the local minister and van Gogh grew up in a very religious family. Vincent wasn’t particularly interested in art when he was young. He finished school at 16 and because he needed the work, took a job in his uncle’s large art dealers’ firm. Vincent became restless and quit. He tried teaching school but then decided to study for the ministry. He failed the entrance exams so he joined a missionary society and was sent to preach to coal miners in Belgium. Vincent was horrified when he saw the conditions there. He gave away all of his possessions, slept on the floor, and ate bread crusts in order to live like his parishioners. This extreme behavior alarmed the ministry and van Gogh was dismissed. Vincent loved people. He had all kinds of dreams and feelings he wanted to communicate, but nothing ever seemed to work out. He was nearly 27, and he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. The only one who seemed to understand was his brother Theo. In the many letters he wrote to Theo, Vincent always included drawings of everything he saw and did. Theo had a good job so he suggested Vincent try art and offered to support him while he got started. Vincent threw himself into his new career, teaching himself, drawing constantly. Van Gogh did many self-portraits. Each one reflects his emotional state at the time. In the painting done a few years after he began painting, van Gogh saw himself as a dark form emerging from the shadows. A year after painting that work, van Gogh went to Paris, where he saw the bright colors of the
Reprinted by permission of Scholastic Inc.
Impressionists. Compared to the 1886 portrait, the 1887 painting (both Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam) shows this was a happy time for van Gogh. The brilliant colors and free brushstrokes convey this feeling. Van Gogh became interested in color as a way of expressing emotion. Later he moved to Arles, a colorful region in Southern France, which reminded him of Japan. He had been impressed with Japanese woodblock prints and in 1888 painted himself as a Buddhist monk (Fogg Art Museum, Bequest, Collection of Maurice Wertheim, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.). Van Gogh used brilliant colors, flat shapes and the black outlines of Japanese prints. In Arles, van Gogh worked himself to exhaustion. When he rested he had time to be lonely. Vincent’s intensity tended to frighten and alienate people. To relieve his loneliness he persuaded another artist, Paul Gauguin, to join him in Arles. After an argument, van Gogh turned his rage upon himself. In the first of his fits of insanity, he cut off part of his left ear with a razor. His emotional anguish is reflected in the 1880 self-portrait (Self-Portrait with Pipe and Bandaged Ear. Collection, Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block, Chicago). The painting vibrates with intense colors. His green coat and blue-violet hat stand out against an orange and red background. The blood-red horizon line draws us to the piercing blue eyes staring out of the yellowish face. After this terrible incident, Vincent went into a series of mental asylums. He continued work at a feverish pace, but suffered more and more frequent attacks. A final self-portrait (Auvers. 1890. Louvre Museum, Paris.) was done a few weeks before van Gogh walked into the fields and shot himself. There is no sign of madness. The gaze is intense, the brushstrokes thick and swirling, but the color is as carefully planned as ever. No one really knows what was wrong with van Gogh. The most important thing about his life, however, is the body of work he left behind. When we think of conveying feelings through the use of color, one of the first artists that comes to mind is Vincent van Gogh.
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“An Explosion Color” “Color in and of itself expresses something.” Excerpt From Art & Man, Vol.11, No. 1, Oct. 1980
For van Gogh, the color yellow meant everything good. It stood for faith, love, triumph, hope and friendship. It was the color of the sun, of wheat fields, of flowers. Vincent even painted the house he lived in yellow. He created a wonderful series of vivid yellow sunflower paintings to decorate the room of his friend, Paul Gauguin. (Sunflowers, August, 1888. National Gallery, London.) But look at the painting of a café at night. Yellow is also the most important color in the work (“The Night Café” September, 1888. University Art Gallery, Bequest of Stephen Carlton Clark, B.A. 1903), but do you get a warm, friendly, hopeful feeling when you look into this room? Vincent van Gogh’s paintings reflect his very emotional personality. He told Theo, “I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say he feels deeply, he feels tenderly . . . ” For this artist, color was so important that each one had its own special feeling. Red was “warm and heady like wine,” blue “spiritual and divine,” green was “sinister and terrible.” But these meanings could change too. By altering a color’s value (lightness and darkness), its intensity (brightness or dullness), the amount applied (whether he used just a touch of the color or covered the whole canvas with it), its combination with other colors or its texture, van Gogh could change the effect completely. Both paintings (mentioned above) were based on yellow combined with the same two colors – green and orange-red. The colors in “Sunflowers” are very close in value and intensity. The green is a very warm yellow-green, the red a warm orange. These colors and the painting’s square format convey the tranquility of the subject. In fact the entire work would be almost boring if it weren’t for one vital touch. The thin blue line and the signature at the
Reprinted by permission of Scholastic Inc.
bottom raises the emotional level just enough to make the difference between a pretty painting and a great work of art. (Cover the lower part of the painting to see the change in intensity for yourself.) In “The Night Café” . . . how has van Gogh made the same yellow seem sinister and cold? The a r t i s t himself tells us the effect he meant to give: “The room is blood red and dark yellow with a green billiard table in the middle. . . Everywhere there is a clash of the most disparate reds and greens in the figures of the little sleeping hooligans in the empty, dreary room. . . .” This time the colors are not just solid, flat areas. Orange and green brush strokes break up the yellow floor and give a radiating effect to the light from the four gas lamps above (almost like fumes of poison). A vast expanse of floor fills the entire bottom of the painting, cutting us off from the small, indistinct figures in the back. The great number of vacant chairs adds to the feeling of loneliness (empty chairs in van Gogh’s paintings often referred to someone close to him who had left or died). The strange, tilting perspective lures the viewer to the brightest spot in the painting, the curtained doorway near the center. Compare the use of black in this painting to “Sunflowers.” What effect do the black lines give? In “The Night Café” the sense of loneliness and alienation in the subject is reflected by the conflict among the colors themselves. In this painting, yellow, van Gogh’s color of joy, takes on a whole new meaning.
Special Note: These two articles on van Gogh are included to give more information about this exceptional artist and his work. While they don’t directly relate to the paintings used by Bella Lewitzky to inspire her suite of dances called “Impressions #2” (Vincent van Gogh), you can see the process used in analyzing a work of art and how the elements and principles of art come into play as they provide additional lenses for giving perspective to the work and the creative process of the artist. It is easy to access photographs or replica’s of most of the mentioned works on the Internet.
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