- Your critique must be 3-4 full pages in length. You should not discuss every work in the concert, but you should choose two or three on which to focus. This breaks down to about one page per work, and your critique must have an introduction with your contextual explanation and an overview of the show, and a conclusion. Please follow the four steps to critiquing a dance: Description, Interpretation, Evaluation, and Contextual Explanation.
Preparation:
As you watch a dance try to do so without preconceptions of what you think should happen, allow yourself to respond. A critique has three elements: description (What do you see?), analysis (What does it mean?), and evaluation (How do you know?). Use them and then write the paper.
Contextual Explanation:
Gives the dance or show its context. States the style of the dance, recognize whether the dance is ballet, modern, jazz, tap, ethnic. Many dances combine different styles. States the choreographer’s name or names. States the music. States the year or general time period. (These are the facts you can give about the work).
Description:
What do you see? should communicate how the dance looked and sounded. This is the gathering of information. Be aware of space, levels, shapes, rhythm, time and dynamics. Look for interrelationships among the movement, such as: repetition and variation of the movement theme, organization into clear sections, and the dance relationships of the dancers. Is the energy projected out or draws (you) the spectator in? Is the dance narrative or non-narrative? What are the costumes, lighting, accompaniment, and stage atmosphere?
Interpretation:
What does it mean? Determine the choreographer’s intent and your “take” on their work: 1) the idea that the medium of movement is the message and the materials are placed in an interesting and pleasing manner, or 2) does the movement tell a story or convey a message, or 3) does the entire show have a theme or themes they are trying to convey. Always state how you know and what lead you to make these interpretations.
Evaluation:
How well did the dancers and choreographer do? Conveys how well the choreographer fulfilled his/her intent and the how you as the viewer reacted to it. Note the elements, fulfillment of the intent, and the viewer’s personal response. Outstanding individual performance can be indicated as well as the enhancement or diminishment of the dancing, the lighting, the costumes, and the accompaniment to the dance itself. Be aware of your own biases and be specific in statements supporting your likes and dislikes.
A Few Tips:
- Be on the lookout for unsupported general statements like “This dance was very pleasing and beautiful to me. I liked it very much.” When you see such an unsupported statement, ask yourself “why” and then fill in the rest of the paragraph to explain your point.
- What are first reactions and what do you remember most? Do not be afraid to be honest with your opinion avoid being vague– “The dancers were good.” Remember you are reviewing not reporting. There are no “wrong” responses.
- Narrow your thesis. Do not write a summary of every dance in the concert. Limit your writing to only the most important material. After seeing the concert, you may find that one or two works, or something about the style of the choreographer in general is most interesting, evocative, provocative, intriguing, etc.—this is where you should center your writing. What interested you most? What made you feel the most? What made you most want to get up and move? These sorts of places will make the assignment more interesting for you to write, and more interesting for me to read.
- What to look for. While you watch the concert, it may be helpful to be aware of several possible issues on which you might focus your paper.
- Does this dance make me feel anything? —Good, bad, uncomfortable? Even if you don’t know why, don’t discard the emotions or physical sensations your mind or body is feeling while you watch a dance. Do your best to describe them anyway. Sometimes, dance can evoke feelings directly, as if bypassing the brain. You may not ever truly understand where they come from, but they are still worth addressing, even if only in the form of a question.
- Does the piece communicate to you? Look at the title, any program notes, the costumes, the lighting—does it seem as though it is meant to tell a specific story or theme? Maybe not—consider that some dance work is not meant to be narrative and is for pure design, architecture, sculpture—something more abstract than a story. However, even in this case, it still may say something to YOU.
- Avoid looking for what you think the dance is “supposed” to mean, rather concentrate more on what it is to you. As for looking for “meaning,” I find it helpful to think that watching dance is more like reading a poem than like reading a play. Often choreographers use movement as a metaphor since it cannot easily “say” things in the same kind of intellectual detail as words.
- Start by sketching out your overall impressions, mixed with any historical or biographical context that seems relevant. Be clear here… I don’t want you to write a research paper. Whatever background info you include should be used to help enlighten your own personal reflection, or illuminate meaning, or help you to understand or explain a specific point from your own experience watching the concert. Stay focused on YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE. Then once you have an overview, tighten up your paragraphs by making only one point per paragraph. Start with a statement of opinion or response, and then use the rest of the paragraph to support that thought.
- Be Subjective Write in the first person “I felt,” “I saw,” “this meant to me…” Avoid pretending that you are writing an objective observation of a factual event. Everything you see goes through your own private filter. Yes, there may be similarities in how people respond to common events, but I am most interested in what your personal experience is, not what you think is the norm or the common view. Just do your best to honestly offer your own perspective, both with the humility to recognize that others will have equally valid differing opinions, but also with the confidence that your take on it is just as good, or “right” as a New York Times critic.
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]