Arriving first and leaving last, theater technicians disappear behind the scenes to fabricate performances on stage with sets, props and costumes, and other technical aspects. In Soft Goods, Karen Sherman breaks down the fourth wall to illuminate the unseen work of technicians and their interactions with dancers. The minimal amount of people on stage brings the audience into an intimate setting. Each member acts out a choreographed version of their everyday role -dancers as dancers and technicians as technicians. Unlike any other dance performance, Sherman presented Soft Goods as a production with physical labor and verbal communication that occurs backstage.
In addition, the dancers mostly never danced to their maximum potential. During their
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Sherman used theatrical illusion making the stage seem as if it was turned 180 degrees, placing the audience backstage. Lighting enhanced this aspect with lights only shining behind the screen, removing light previously shining in front of the screen. With dancers on stage and technicians to the side with props, everyone performed their everyday job. A single man, acting as the director, stood alone to the side with his arms crossed, observing his work on stage. At one moment, a dancer scurries off stage to a technician for a clearly seen costume change from trash bag to trash bag. This costume directly mimics dancer warm-up outfits to produce and trap in heat, allowing the body to sweat. The music intensified the atmosphere throughout the set, getting louder and faster. The black screen did not cover the top of the stage, allowing props to pass over from one side to another. Dancers began to toss a pile of items over the top of the screen. A flurry of tissues flew over- a possible metaphor for the Sherman’s tears cried over the death of her friends. This sequence added to the overall feeling of viewing choreographed chaos behind the
A few weeks ago I went to the showing of a piece titled Braided Sorrow at the University of San Francisco Lone Mountain Theater. Braided Sorrow is a performance written by Marisela Orta, was directed by Roberto Varea and was presented by the USF Performing Arts Department. When I arrived to the performance the first thing that I noticed was the set up of the stage. It looked very different from usual. This past spring semester I was in a class taught by Professor Varea (The director of the play) and throughout the semester we were required to go to a number of performances.
The production ‘Chores´ had a fantastic impact on the audience. It successfully covered all elements of drama into the production
After reading “Why nothing is 'Wrong ' Anymore" by Meg Greenfield, she made a great point when she said " As a guide and a standard to live by, you don 't hear so much about "right and wrong" these days. " She is absolutely right and I didn 't come to realize this until I read her story. Meg Greenfield listed a few examples of some substations for saying wrong. One example she used is Right and stupid. Greenfield explains that people typically use this one when someone gets caught stealing or does something reprehensible.
The performance combined the Restoration conventions of expression, epithets, and character types through the character of Mr. Snelgrave with many Modern conventions of Naturalism and Realism. Modern conventions inspired a mostly representational performance with realistic costumes and props along with a localized set for a majority of the production. The performance also incorporated the Naturalism convention of satirizing the upper class with a focus on lower class
It makes the overall work more dark and robust.” Avery said that the variety and doctoring of the sounds made her feel disassociated from her surroundings and engaged in the new occurrences within the video. There is not one specific fear or theme to focus on, but rather a
At first the dancers were pretty good, but they were still a bit out of sync and not necessarily hitting their marks consistently. Not only did they have to be in time with each other, but the lights, music, projections, and scrim movement all also had to be on time. We started off doing each of these things individually. For instance, in Jenny’s big piece, Micah controlled the lights, Matt Inglis the sounds and projections, Matt Dodson and Colby the scrims, and I told Jim when the dancers were in position so he could keep everyone together. By opening night, however, nearly all of the sound and light cues were tied together, the dancers had their timing down, and Jim could tell Colby and Matt when to raise and lower the scrims based almost solely on the music, and he knew the dances well enough to tell Matt when to hit light and sound cues based on dancer
The vulnerability that Sherman exudes seems to indicate woman’s dependence on man, because although she seems unaware of any danger, the presence of a man in the picture would restore a sense of protection around her. This innocence is symbolised through the stark white shirt, and her light blonde hair in contrast to the dark background. Underneath the overcast sky with the looming landscape, her innocence shines like a light in the shadows, representing goodness in a dark world. A goodness that needs protection, so the wind does not blow it out. Sherman places herself so she is observed by the viewer, her face turned away from the camera, appearing unaware of the camera.
Space is used in theatre in order to clearly imply to the audience where the action is taking place. The minimal props on stage allow the audience to interpret the performance in their own way and gives the play a sense of originality. An example of space is identified when actors are switching between scenes in Gallipoli and scenes in Australia. To represent times at war a long black box positioned down stage is utilised by actors to jump over and sit in front of to resemble a trench; giving the notion that the scene is set in war. On the other hand, the actors perform up stage behind this box when presenting scenes in Australia to create a clear distinction between the two settings.
This outfit draws all the attention of the audience onto him. The camera angle is pointed up at him as if he is a dominant figure. The room is so quiet that you can hear his footsteps as he paces the locker room. The director makes it known
As Stibbard uses minimal props, such as his piece of chalk, or an overhead projector, to help achieve the simplistic form of theatre which any actor can perform with. By using minimal set, costume and props it demonstrated that theatre can still exist. Theatre doesn’t need to be an elaborate setting, costume, props, or people. Stibbard stayed in the same outfit and on the same stage for the entirety of the performance. This minimal theatre technique made it simple for Stibbard to change from role to role and even though it was a solo man performance it was enjoyable.
There are many other aspects of dance then just learning the “moves”. A dancer must have well trained technique, flexibility, muscular body, know terminology, memorize steps and so much more. There are so many important aspects of dance most people do not realize. If dance was given more publicity, more people would view it as a
The editing used in this scene is very effective in adding pressure to the scene. Quick cutting between scenes emphasises the fast pace of the action whilst back and forth cuts from the control room to are used to heighten tension. Additionally, clever editing is used to mask the fact that the same plane is shot down several times by showing the footage from different angles. The soundtrack for this scene consists of fast-paced action music to further raise tension.
The time aspect of dancing was shown through their
The bouquet reveals to the audience that this is actually happening. Another scene where the audience is in a