Ghost dances

Ghost dances

1. Choreographer and Director - Christopher Bruce

   • The company is Rambert Dance Company and it was first performed July 3rd 1981
     • Dance Style - A blend of contemporary and ballet with elements of folk and social styles
       • Choreographic style - Thematic and episodic with narrative elements.
         • The theme is Political oppression in Chile
           • The starting point is the music and South American rituals and culture. The life of Victor Jara. Ghost Dances is based around the political issue of Pinochets regime in which many people were torchured and killed for being too outspoken.
             • Structure - Seven sections, each characterised by a different piece of music or song
               • Dancers- 5 Women and Six men (13 total)
                 • Set Design - a painted backdrop represents a rocky plain and a cave opening. In the distance there is water and mountains. There are rock - like structures on stage
                   • Staging - Proscenium Arch

2. Accompaniment - South American songs and folk tunes arranged by Nicholas Mojsiejenko and wind sound affects.

   • The piece begins in silence creating quite a tense and uneasy atmosphere. The sound of a drip is heard, this reinforces the location of the cave seen in the backdrop but also enhances the cold feel of the opening section. The drip sound also reinforces the eerie atmosphere created in this opening section.
   • The sound of the tap dancing Ghosts reinforces the tense atmosphere within this section. The first section is communicating a very negative atmosphere reflecting how the South Americans were feeling at that time.
   • Ghost trio music starts; Pan pipe accompaniment of traditional South American Folk songs is heard; this reinforces the coalition of the political oppression in Chile. The music is this section is a direct correlation with the movement; meaning that the movement line to the timing of the music exactly. This makes movements stand out more which makes the performance more tense and scary.
     • Other traditional instruments such as a guitar and drums are heard in the repetitive accompaniment. The sudden bursts of trumpets shock the audience in this eerie section. The repetitive drum beats heard create a tense atmosphere but are also reminiscent of the beat of drums heard during a 'hanging' linking directly to death.

3. Ghost wear rags around their knees, arms and wrists to suggest deathly and rotten images of the Ghosts, giving them a sinister feel. They have skull like masks and bodies painted to suggest bones and muscles. The body paint is white, grey and black to give a skeletal image. This reinforces the threatening image of the Ghosts as they interact with the villagers. The dead wear gender specific, everyday clothes suggesting different walks of life, each wears a unique costume. The three Ghosts wear facial masks to depict a skull with matted ragged hair. This intimidating, deathly image of the ghosts reinforces the political theme linked directly to Pinochet's regime and the torture seen during his reign of power.

   • Costume - Belinda Scarlet
     • Christopher Bruce tries to express the troubles of the innocent people of south America back then. He is trying to make the audience aware of the polictical problems which occurred in that era, He wanted to show how Pinochet's regime affected people and how bad it was.
     • The different costumes of the people show different social classes; the rich people wear suits and the poor people wear rags.
     • All the clothes are torn and dirty, this communicates that they are in a desperate situation and that class and death did not stop you from being affected by pincher's regime.
   • The costumes emphasise the movement. For example; In movement of stillness the Ghosts perform strong, intimidating focussed poses. In these moments the rags and hair drift and add a layer of sinister movement - strengthening the early mood.

4. Lighting - Nick Chelton

   • Gloomy and shadowy, side lighting highlights the ghosts. Brighter for folk - type dances performed by the Dead. Lighting changes signify deaths.
     • White side lighting; shins, mids and uppers are used in the opening section. The side lighting casts shadows and highlights features on the Ghosts. This reinforces the intimidating and deathly images created through the movement, costume and accompaniment.
       • A dark blue wash covers the stage as the Ghosts dance. The cold blue colour creates a gloomy, shadowy and depressing atmosphere when the Ghosts dance, reinforcing the deathly images but also the intensity of the situation faced by the villagers in Chile.
   • During the villager's dances the lighting is brighter until the Ghosts come and take them away. The change of lighting at the end of each villager dance signifies the death of the villagers.

5. The overall structure is that it takes a cyclical form with the ending echoing and repeating the opening of the work. It begins and ends with the three Ghost dancers facing and staring intently into the upstage left wing. This choreographic device could serve to suggest that it is simply a memory of the past and that life goes on.

   • The climax is very strong in the sixth section of the dance. It involves all the dead and is most definant and heroic in tone.
   • Stucture; 1. Three Ghosts are seen on stage as the curtain rises and the dead enter. 2. This leads into the first group dance. 3. Leads on the first duet. 4. A central quintet. 5. The second duet. 6. The second group dance. 7. The dead leave the stage and the three Ghost dancers are left alone again.