The New York Baroque Dance Co.

Louis XIV as Jupiter from a ballet

BALLET OF THE SEVEN PLANETS WORKSHOP

Taught by Catherine Turocy

Where: New Mexico Ballet 10410 Comanche Rd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87111

When: July 23-27, 9:30am-12:30pm

Cost: $150.00

Hosted by New Mexico Ballet and funded in part by the Dance Preservation Fund of The Ohio State University

Register Now for the Workshop Online

505-292-4245

for more information call Mariel McEwan 323-578-0846

Dance as Science: In the magnificent and opulent court entertainments of Louis XIV, early ballet was considered both an art and a science. The body was trained as a highly functioning instrument of artistic expression revealing the movements of the soul within the dancer. Through both the lines of motion felt within the body and outside the body… whether executing a dance phrase or in creating spatial geometrical patterns of choreography on the stage, through thiese lines, the dancer spins the story of the ballet.  These lines of geometry were part of a larger aesthetic ruled by measurements believed to be at the heart of universal harmony and joining the earth with the heavens.

As a dancer, I have used the philosophical concepts of the  body being the microcosm of the macrocosm of nature and in harmony with the golden ratio. Perhaps the secret behind my performance persona comes from this ability to use the body both physically and dramatically within this structure which is still valid in dance performance today.

The workshop will take students through early ballet concepts of theory, technique and performance practice. The morning session will look at technique and complicated dance phrases. Using a smaller movement range than we do today, students will experience a heightened sense of fine motor skills. They will be able to add this new mastery of the muscles to their modern training thus enhancing their abilities to add a subtle air or color to their own performance practice.

The morning session will use music from the Ballet of the Seven Planets as well as additional music. We will also look at opera text using the aria of Venus to see how expressive movement and pantomime can be combined to enhance the sung text. Ballets in the 17th and 18th cenuries often wove together the sung and danced air to make a suite.

The 9:30-12:30am sessions will be my chance as a choreographer to experiment with phrases and to begin to set the Ballet of the Seven Planets as I would like to use it in the planetary dome show. After breaking for lunch, from 1-2pm  I would like to train specific dancers on how to coach the period dance style with the notion that they could eventually use material learned in the workshop to enhance an educational outreach class touching upon the origins of ballet. This afternoon session is a separate class from the workshop.   Poster at right can be downloaded: