Ballet Hispanico

BALLET HISPANICO

EDUCATOR STUDY GUIDE

Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director 167 West 89th Street, New York, NY 10024 / Tel 212-362-6710 / Fax 212-362-7809 / BalletHispanico.org

BALLET HISPANICO

Table of Contents

Introduction: Page 3 Dear Educators Standards for Dance: City, State, National What is Ballet Hispanico?

Performances and Workshops: Page 8 About Viajes About the Workshop Things to talk about

Exploring Dance and Culture: Page 10 Research topics, resources, and suggested activities

Rhythm (Cuba/Brazil/Puerto Rico) Blending Forms (Mexico, Spain/USA) Elements of Dance Making Meaning Design Elements: Props, Costumes, Lights, Sound Watching Dance

Behind the Scenes Page 24 About Ballet Hispanico Founder Artistic Director Dancers Tech Crew

Appendix: Page 27 ¡Viajes! Program Performance Reflection Form Percussion Instruments Glossary of Terms

Further Resources Page 32 Books Television, Movies, Documentaries Websites

Ballet Hispanico Contact Information and Credits Page 33

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Dear Educators,

Welcome to Ballet Hispanico!

For the past 40 years, our Dance Education and Outreach programs have worked to engage students, families, educators, dance audiences, and the general public in the guided exploration of dance and Latino cultures.

Our programs are inclusive, current, reflective, and forward thinking. Our goal is to contribute to community and help deepen the base of knowledge in:

• Cultural appreciation, • Self-expression, and • Aesthetic Awareness

We believe all people have a right to participate in learning experiences that respect their individuality while enhancing their creativity, physical health, and cultural awareness.

The activities in this educational supplement are adaptable to many age groups even though suggested grades are indicated.

Your feedback is important to us, please consider filling out the workshop and/or performance assessment forms and returning them to Ballet Hispanico. These forms will be sent separately to you.

We are grateful that you have chosen to embark on a journey with us.

Rachel Watts Director of Education and Outreach Ballet Hispanico

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Standards: City, State, and National Learning in Dance and Curriculum Connections

This document contains information, questions and activities that can stand alone or be used as a tool to connect learning about dance and culture with the experience of seeing a live performance.

Activities are in alignment with State and National Standards, and more specifically with the New York City Department of Education Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts: Dance. The NYC Blueprint is standards based framework for approaching teaching and learning in dance that uses developmentally appropriate benchmarks for pre-K to 12th grade.

Blueprint for teaching and learning in the Arts: Dance New York City Department of Education; grades K-12 Working with Community and Cultural Resources Students broaden their perspective by working with professional artists and organizations (like those from Ballet Hispanico) • View a professional performance by Ballet Hispanico • Participate in a dance residency with Ballet Hispanico • Use dance research resources like videos, books, and websites recommended in this guide Dance Making Developing Dance Literacy By exploring, creating, replicating and Students build knowledge of dance and apply observing dance, students: it to analyzing, creating, and performing. • develop technical and expressive skills, and They can: practice movement vocabulary • understand dance as a means of expression • make choreographic choices that develops • apply dance vocabulary physically and verbally personal artistic voice • analyze, critique and communicate about • experience dance as performer and audience dance

Making Connections Exploring Careers and Lifelong Understand dance history and the social and Learning cultural significance of dance in a way that Students consider the range of dance and enriches student creative work, and connect dance-related professions as they think about to health and well-being. their goals and aspirations. They carry skills learned and appreciation for dance throughout their lives.

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Curriculum Connections (New York State Learning Standards) Ballet Hispanico’s educational supplement also supports learning in the following areas:

Arts Social Studies • Creating, performing and participating in the • History of the US Arts • World History • Knowing and using Arts Materials and • Geography resources • Civics, Citizenship and Government • Responding to and analyzing works of art • Understanding cultural dimensions and contributions to the arts

Language Arts Physical Education • Language for information and understanding • Personal health and fitness • Language for literary response and expression • Safe and healthy environment • Language for critical analysis and evaluation • Resource management • Language for social interaction

National Content Standards K-12

1. Students identify and demonstrate movement 2. Students understand choreographic principles, elements and skills in performing dance processes, and structures

3 Students understand dance as a way to create 4. Students apply and demonstrate critical and and communicate meaning creative thinking skills in dance

5. Students demonstrate and understand dance in 6. Students make connections between dance and various cultures and historical periods healthy living

7. Students making connections between dance and other disciplines

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What is Ballet Hispanico?

All of us are shaped in some way by tradition and culture. We have at times embraced them, rejected them, passed them on through generations, questioned their value, and looked for ways to transform them given new influences.

This educational supplement, and the work that Ballet Hispanico does with the Company, in our School and through the Education and Outreach program is in part to help students understand the origins and influences on Latin traditions in dance, while at the same time to encourage the exploration of traditions and culturally-specific elements as they have changed and as they are interpreted and reinterpreted by artists, dancers, musicians, and choreographers. While it is important to define terms, we are cautious about potential stereotyping and being limited by those definitions.

Suggested Activity

Movement: ‘Telephone’ game1: Goal: To help students explore the concept of change and transition over time and through generations:

1. Identify one person to be a ‘caller’ with you. (privately show that person a simple movement sequence that the two of you will do simultaneously—make sure the two of you match exactly)

Evenly divide class into two and have them form 2 lines, one behind the other. The last person in the line turns to face the ‘caller’ (you and the other person you have identified as ‘caller’.) Everyone else is facing in the opposite direction.

The ‘callers’ then show the movement sequence to the first person in line, the ‘receiver’. The ‘reciever’ then repeats the sequence back to the ‘caller’ (who observe without giving feedback or correction)

The receiver then becomes the caller, tapping the shoulder of the next person in line, who turns to face the caller. The new receiver observes the phrase and then repeats it back to the caller. The new reciever then taps the shoulder of the next person in line who turns around. In this way, the movement phrase is passed through the line, person to person.

2. After the movement phrase has been passed through both lines, all participants will step out of the line and the original callers will demonstrate the movement sequence.

Participants can then discuss: • The changes that may have occured when compared to the original sequence • What the process felt like being a caller and being a reciever. • What fears, if any they had as caller or as receiver • What role they felt themselves embodying. (Critic, supporter, techer, implementer...)

3. The movement telephone game can be repeated with a different movement sequence (with different original callers). This time, one line can act as observers of the process. (and vice versa). Each line then has a chance to discuss the process they observe, how the sequence evolved, what elements remained unchanged, were there patterns in the evolution process.

1 Courtesy Susan Thomasson, Dancer, Choreographer and Educator 6 BALLET HISPANICO

Suggested Activity

Students can research the roots of their culture through their own families and among their peers. Ask each student to create his or her own family tree:

Past • Have students interview members of their family (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles) about their pasts. Where were they born? Where were their parents/grandparents born? When did they arrive in this country? What was their work? How many children did they have? • Ask students to research materials on their family origins. If they have more than one ethnic background, compare the different countries and cultures that their people come from. How are they different? How are they similar? Present • Ask student to identify current influences on their culture -- they may be from outside of the familial line. (peers, reggaeton, their own beliefs) • Have students reflect on areas of their culture that they value from past generations and those that they have questioned or rejected. • Ask students if they have relatives from another country. Inquire about customs from those countries. Which do they continue to observe in this country? How have they changed? Are there any musical or dance traditions in your family? What special customs have you been brought up with? Do you speak more than one language?

Future • Ask student to imagine ways in which their personal culture may change in the future.

Have students create their own visual representations of their family tree. Share the stories with the entire class and discuss their similarities and differences, conflicts, and harmonies.

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Performances and Workshops

About ¡Viajes!

When students come to Ballet Hispanico’s Viajes, they can expect to see and hear many things. This engaging 50-minute performance leads audience members on an exploration through traditional Latin American and Caribbean dance forms and music. The show also builds connections with contemporary pieces from the Company’s current repertory. Students will experience a performance in a professional setting complete with staging, costumes, and lighting.

Below is a list of the pieces performed2:

In Club Havana, (Cuba/USA) Pedro Ruiz uses music and dance styles from his native Cuba and mixes them with ballroom, ballet, and modern dance to create the piece.

Bomba, (Puerto Rico) is a result of the African influence on the island of Puerto Rico. In the village of Loiza Aldea, La Bomba is a joyous annual celebration. The pounding drums help the dancers articulate wavy and percussive movements with their bodies and costumes.

In Los Viejitos, (Michoacan, Mexico) dancers wear disguises and clay masks and act like a group of older men, known in Spanish as viejitos. The cultural influences for the dance are largely indigenous and Spanish.

Contemporary choreographer, Andrea Miller, drawing from the duality of her Spanish and Jewish-American background, brings her distinctive voice to an exploration of Sephardic culture from Spain in an excerpt of her new piece Naci (Spain/USA). The piece is set to the stirring echoes of folkloric music.

The show finishes with Batucada Fantástica! (Brazil/USA)This dance is a rousing homage to the Brazilian Carnival with electric performances by eight soloists, culminating in a riot of ensemble dancing by the company. The word in the title, batucada, refers to the street celebration of drumming, music and dance identified with Carnival in Brazil.

About the Workshop

Ballet Hispanic company members are not just well-trained dancers, they are also excellent teachers. Two members of the Company work with a group of up to 35 students conducting a 45 minute to hour long workshop. Content can range from teaching Latin style dances, like Salsa and Merengue, to master classes in Ballet and Modern Dance. If the group has had an opportunity to see the performance, the workshop will also connect to a section of the repertory they have seen, thus deepening the learning experience.

2 A printable program is available in the appendix section of this document. You can print it and give copies to your students so that they can read it while at the performance or use as reference after the performance. 8 BALLET HISPANICO

Things to talk about: Before seeing the dance performance or having a workshop

Ask Students: • What do you expect from a company like Ballet Hispanico?

• What do you think of when you hear the word "dance" or “culture”?

• Do you dance? When and where? What kinds of dances do you do? Do you dance differently depending on your moods? At what kinds of occasions do people dance?

• Have you ever gone to see a dance performance before? Can you describe what you saw?

• Have you ever taken a dance class? What was it like? (describe what happened and the structure of the class)

• What kinds of live performances have you seen? What is the difference between a live and a recorded performance (like going to a movie or watching TV)?

• Have you ever seen any dances from Hispanic countries? What were they, and where did you see them?

• What types of dances styles do you know? How would you describe them? (Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Latin Social, Hip-Hop, African, Chinese…)

• What types of responses might an audience member give to the performers after watching a show? What are the different cues that performers might give audience members on how and when to respond?

After seeing Ballet Hispanico perform or after the workshop, consider having your students draw pictures or write a review of their experience. We would love to receive letters, reviews, or pictures and will make sure to send responses.

Please send to the attention of: Rachel Watts, Director of Education and Outreach Ballet Hispanico, 167 West 89th St., New York, NY 10024 [email protected] 212.362.6710 ext. 14

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Exploring Dance and Culture

Rhythm A very important part of Hispanic dance styles -- and dance in general -- is rhythm and the music that accompanies it. Complex rhythms may be generated through footwork, hand-clapping and movements of the body. In pieces performed by Ballet Hispanico, specific rhythms impact the qualities of the movements the dancers make. If you are interested in introducing your students to the world of Latin music, the percussion section is a good place to start.

Sample Percussion Instruments3

Conga Drum Claves A large drum capable of many different A percussive instrument known as the musical sounds through different “foundation of rhythm” for Afro-Latin music. techniques such as striking or rubbing. The They are two identical wooden strikers used drum comesin a wide range of sizes from to play a rhythm called Clave. small called quinto (KEEN-toe) to large called tumbadora (toom-bah-DOOR-ah). Descendent of the conical Makuta drums of the Congolese Afriancs.

Timbales (with cha cha bell) Maracas A percussion set composed of two metal Hand-held rattles or shakers, made from drums and two bells and often a cymbal. The gourds, coconuts, wood or rawhide, and set is played with stick and can produce a wide filled with beans. Found throughout the range of beats and combinations. The bell is Americas as well as Africa. used to keep the beat in the cha cha rhythm.

Guiro A percussion instrument that is played by scraping a stick along the instruments carved ridges. Depending on the instruments country of origin, it is often made out of a dried gourd or metal and is usually played by a vocalist.

Homemade Percussion Instruments4: Clave: broom handle, cut about 7’’ each

Conga: water jug (large)

Guiro: plastic air vent and ‘afro’ pick

Maracas: small plastic water bottles filled with rice

Cha Cha bell: empty metal can, beat on open edge with non-sharp pencil (eraser part)

3 Additional percussion instruments are listed in the appendix 4 From Musician and teaching artist: Hector Morales 10 BALLET HISPANICO

Research Topics on Cuba

Mambo This rhythm and type of dance originates from the African-derived chants of the late 1930’s in Cuba and became very popular at dance halls, such as Palladium Dance Hall in New York City, in the 1950’s. The dance is typically performed with a professional band – a big band with the sound of trumpets, conga drums, and the syncopated rhythms of jazz. The dancers’ articulate their torso in different ways. The upper body moves independently from the rest of the body, with back bending, shoulders rotating, hips shaking, and fluid arm movements.

• Mambo basics on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrMrOrKuK-o

• To see the original form of the mambo dance, look at the dance scene in the movie 'The Motorcycle Diaries'. The original form of the dance and music are alive and well in Cuba and some ballroom variations of the original dance are taught in dance studios.

Cha Cha • This type of dance also originates from Cuba and the name of the music is also the same. It was introduced by the Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín. The name is onomatopoeic, derived from the rhythm of the guiro (scraper) and the shuffling of the dancers’ feet. • Cha cha basics on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOroZ47kj7U • Cha cha may be either danced to authentic Cuban music, or Latin Pop or Latin Rock. The music for the international ballroom cha-cha-cha is energetic and with a steady beat. The Cuban Cha Cha is more sensual and may involve complex polyrhythms. • Classroom activity for students: Watch the YouTube videos identified for the Mambo and Cha Cha, then divide the class in two groups, one group will do the steps that step forward first and the other group will do the ones that step back first.

Resource: A very popular song with the Cha Cha Cha Rhythm is: ‘Oyé Como Va’- Tito Puente (writer/composer) and popularized by Carlos Santana

Lyrics (Spanish): Oyé, como va,mi ritmo, bueno pa’ gozar, mulata Lyrics (English): Listen, how it goes, my rhythm, let’s have a good time, mulatta

The trio, pictured to the left in the Ballet Hispanico piece, Club Havana, incorporate Cha Cha Cha steps into the dance sequence

Eduardo Patino

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Ballet Hispanico Performs! Club Havana The choreographer, Pedro Ruiz, is a former Ballet

Hispanico Company member. In this piece, he uses music and dance styles from his native Cuba and mixes them with ballroom, ballet, and modern dance to create the work.

Eduardo Patino

Did You Know? Your students will see 2 sections of a larger piece that focus on Mambo and Cha Cha rhythms and Latin dance forms first came to the United States in movements. the 1920’s and 30’s, when Cuban immigrants introduced the Conga and Rumba. In the next wave, Music of Club Havana: from the late 1940’s through the 1950’s, the Mambo Caballo Negro – Perez Prado, and Cha Cha were added to the mix, creating a fever Congo Mulence – Machito, all over New York. Melodia del Rio – Ruben Gonzales

At the same time, American jazz infused a different energy into popular music in Cuba.

Suggested Activities

Sound Rhythms • Like the clapping rhythms teachers use to get students attention, create 3 or 4 clapping rhythms that the students can repeat easily. Next ask 3 or 4 students to come up with their own rhythms that can be repeated by the class. • Have students share ideas for different ways to create a sound using parts of their bodies (feet, snapping fingers, mouths…). Then have every student share their sound to be repeated by the group. • Starting with a simple and sustained clapping, like a metronome, have each student, one at a time, add their rhythm. Keep going for a little while, once every student is included. • Group students using similar body parts. Then, like an orchestra conductor, signal for each group to start and stop as the metronome rhythm is sustained. After a few rounds you can invite students to become the conductor of the ‘orchestra’.

Extension activity: Have groups of students create simple percussion instruments, a different instrument for each group, (listed at the start of the Exploring Dance and Culture Section) and then create a rhythm that fits into a simple metronome beat. Have the group then put the rhythms together.

Body Rhythms • Ask students to think of some activity or chore from everyday life and create a simple mime motion or gesture that conveys one movement associated with that activity. • Have them repeat that single gesture several times so that it creates a rhythmic momentum. Once this rhythmic repetition has been established, the rest of the class can "accompany" it by clapping the beat. • Have several students join the first student in a line and perform precisely the same rhythmic movement. Ask student to share what they notice about the group repeating a rhythmic pattern. (e.g how "meaning," can be made through through "choreographed" rhythm in space.

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Poly-rhythms • Have half the group create a rhythm based on eight beats (accenting and/or leaving out certain beats) and perform this rhythm for the rest of the group. • Have the other half of the group establish a different 8-beat rhythm - i.e., with different accents or omissions - and perform it. • Now have both groups "perform" their own beats together. The basic 8-beat will be the same for both, but their accented rhythms will be different. • For a more advanced exercise in counter-rhythms, have one team establish a slow clapped 1 - 2 beat, with a heavy accent on the "1". Separately, have a second team establish a 1 - 2 - 3 beat in the same tempo, that is, with the heavy "1" beat falling at the same time as in the first group. • Now have both groups try to clap their rhythms at once, keeping strictly to their own team's beat. This "2 against 3" is a typical African and Latin American rhythm.

Note: For greater effect, these rhythm activities can be explored using home made "instruments" constructed from bottle caps, cans, rattles, boxes, etc. -- whatever is at hand -- thus creating your own batuque [ba-TOO-kee] as in Brazilian samba!

Ballet Hispanico Performs! Batucada Fantástica

Batucada Fantastica pays homage to Brazilian Carnival with electric performances by eight soloists, culminating in a riot of ensemble dancing by the company. The accompanying percussion

instruments include some which are unique to Brazil and known as batuque.

The choreographer transforms "everyday" movements -- be they from popular or folk dances, from rituals, or from simple actions such as walking and waving goodbye -- into a heightened gestural "shorthand" that can convey feelings, character or action.

Your students will see three soloists and the ensemble finale.

Rosalie O’Connor

Discussion topics for students: • What kinds of occasions make you feel like celebrating? What do you do to celebrate? What kinds of ways do members of your family celebrate? • Where might you go when you feel like dancing? In your culture, are there any times when people dance in the streets? • In what way(s) do you think a professional performance on stage might be different from the dancing "for fun" that people do at a street celebration or a party?

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Research Topics on Brazil

Berimbau is a single-string percussion instrument, a musical bow, from Brazil. The berimbau's origins are not entirely clear, but there is not much doubt on its African origin, since no Indigenous Brazilian or European people use musical bows, and very similar instruments are played in the southern parts of Africa. The berimbau was eventually incorporated into the practice of the Afro- Brazilian martial art capoeira, where it commands how the capoeiristas move in the roda.

Samba is a dance and music style in Brazil with movements originating in African and European roots. The word is derived from the Portuguese verb sambar, meaning "to dance to rhythm." It is a worldwide recognized symbol of Brazil and the Carnival and is the national dance of Brazil.

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, music, and dance. It was created in Brazil by slaves brought from Africa, especially from present day Angola, some time after the 16th century. Participants form a roda, or circle, and take turns either playing musical instruments (such as the Berimbau), singing, or ritually sparring in pairs in the center of the circle. The sparring is marked by fluid acrobatic play, feints, and extensive use of sweeps and kicks. Its origins and purpose are a matter of debate, with theories ranging from views of Capoeira as a uniquely Brazilian folk dance with improvised fighting movements to claims that it is a battle-ready fighting form directly descended from ancient African techniques.

Berimbau players and Capoeira Dancers and singers

Text courtesy: Wikipedia.org Photos courtesy: www.brazilianroots.com

Suggested Activity

• When you are feeling happy or feel like partying, what kind of music do you like to dance to? What kinds of movements make you feel good? Can you create these movements? Have groups create an 8 count sequence of happy movements that they can share with each other (or connect into a larger sequence)

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Ballet Hispanico Performs! Rhythm from the Drums Bomba

Bomba, (Puerto Rico) is a result of the African influence on the island of Puerto Rico. It was developed in coastal towns, where large communities of black workers grew up around the sugar-cane mills. In the village of Loiza Aldea, La Bomba continues to be a joyous annual celebration.

The pounding drums help the dancers articulate wavy and percussive movements with their bodies and costumes. Bomba Drum Instead of just following the beat, traditional Bomba Image from www.puertoritmo.com dances are structured with improvised dialogue with the lead drummer. Suggested Activity People of all ages form a circle around the drummers. A solo dancer steps into the circle, greets the drummers, Pair students, have one student improvise an 8 count and begins, establishing the step and the rhythm that the movement and have the other replicate that musicians must follow. Different soloists, both men and movement with sound. (clapping, voice or women, take turns in the center, with the drummers percussion instrument/drum). Allow time for roles always matching their rhythms. to be switched.

Although the dance style of la bomba derives from Africa, Have students reflect on what it was like to be the the singing is in Spanish, the language brought to Puerto mover and what it was like to be the musician. Rico by the conquistadores. In the first song, the women sing, “Where is Dolores? Let's dance, Dolores!" In the last, the lyrics are about "mi pañuelo blanco" -- my white handkerchief -- an important prop for the men. Another European contribution is the wide skirts.

Research topic on Puerto Rico

Puerto Rican culture is a mix of four cultures, African (from the slaves), Taíno (Amerindians), Spanish, and more recently, North American.

Plena Plena is a type of music from Puerto Rico where the lyrics generally tell stories and deal with current events. Manuel A. Jiménez, or El Canario, is well known as one of the original Plena performers.

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Blending Forms As different cultures moved from Europe and Africa into Latin America, existing dance forms incorporated new techniques and styles.

Culture Blend: African, European, and Indigenous

Ballet Hispanico Performs! Los Viejitos1

Dancers wear disguises and clay masks and act like a group of older men, known in Spanish as viejitos. In this piece, they disrupt the village market with their silly antics. This is the most popular dance of the State of Michoacán, in Mexico.

The cultural influences for the dance are largely indigenous and Spanish, with movements focused on stamping and use of the single-unit torso. The dual heritage instruments are

Cheryl Cheryl Mann the violin and guitar. The dance is considered silly and fun because everyone knows that young men are the ones

wearing the disguises!

Los Viejitos Video Clips: The original meaning of the dance has been lost. It has come to represent the richness of life expressed in dance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emk6xHd It is usually performed around the holidays. ApNI 1 Ballet Hispanico performing Los Viejitos: http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/danza-de- http://kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=A67231 los-viejitos-elderly-dance-tonala-jalisco-0 Clips 2 and 3

Suggested Activity

Show students the video a video clip of the dance that is available on the internet and them show them the clip of Ballet Hispanico performing the dance. Ask them to identify the differences and similarities (in costume, in movement qualities, in music). Also ask them to think about the differences between performing on a stage (as Ballet Hispanico does) and performing in a public space (as in the suggested video clips)

Research Topics on Mexico: • In Michoacán, Mexico, the indigenous population was called the Purhépecha Indians, also known as the Tarascans. They did not have a written culture. It was passed down from generation to generation in an oral tradition.

• Other Mexican Dances: Jarabe Tapatio-Mexican Hat Dance, La Danza Venado-Dear Dance, Jarocho A clip of Ballet Hispanico performing Jarocho is available at: http://kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=A67231 (clip 7)

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Elements of Dance

Eduardo Patino

“For me, dance combines mastery of movement with artistry of expression.” Anne Green Gilbert

Key Dance Concepts: Elements of Dance

The concept of Space: refers to the space through which the dancer’s body moves. Sample components are: general or personal space, level, size, direction, pathway, focus

The concept of Time: is applied as both a musical and dance elements. Sample components are: beat, tempo, speed, rhythm, sudden, sustained

The concept of Force: refers to the force applied to dance to accentuate the weight, attack, strength, and flow of a dancer’s movement. Sample components are: sharp, strong, light, heavy, bound, free flow

The concept of body: refers to the awareness of specific body parts and how they can be moved in isolation and combination. Sample components are: body parts, shapes, regions (upper/lower, right/left, front/back)

The concept of relationship: refers to the relationship the dancers’ body parts have to everything else. Sample components are: spatial relationships, time relationships, force of movement relationships, relationship to music, to each other.

Edited from Creative Dance for all Ages, Anne Green Gilbert and Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) from the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL), 92nd Street Y.

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Suggested Activities Embodying the Elements of Dance

Space: refers to the space through which the dancer’s body moves. • Ask students to move through the space in specific line shapes (straight, curvy, diagonal, zig zag, vertical, horizontal…) • Have line shapes on individually written on a card, divide students into 4 groups and have each group pick one card from which to create a sequence that moves in the line spacing. • Have two groups at a time present their sequence. • Ask students to not only look at the line spacing but also: o Whether the group moved in personal or general space o Whether they had high, medium or low movements in the space o Whether their movements were big or small. o Whether they noticed any type of relationship (time, force, movement)

Time: the way the body moves in relation to time (tempo, speed, rhythm, sustained, syncopated). • Ask students to think about the concept of time. How do you tell time? (seconds, minutes, hours) Any movement takes time, but unlike a clock the speed can speed up and slow down. • Mirroring: In pairs, have students face each other (one will be the mirror and the other will initiate the movement that the ‘mirror’ must follow). Ask lead to come up with slow movements that the mirror can follow. • Shadowing: Have the mirror then become the person that the other person must shadow. Allow leads to do faster movements. • Slowland/Fastland: Divide room into two areas that students can move between. One is dedicated as Slowland and the other is Fastland. (medium speed can be on the border of the two lands)

Force: refers to the force applied to dance to accentuate the weight, strength, and flow of movement. • Smoothland/Sharpland: Divide room into two areas that students can move between. One is dedicated as Smoothland and the other is Sharpland. • Make 4 groups and have them come up with a sequence of Smooth and Sharp movements that they can do strongly or lightly. Have each group share their sequence for the class. • Ask students whether they noticed any type of relationships (spatial, time, movement)

Body: refers to specific body parts and how they can be moved in isolation and in combination. • Ask the group to come up with 4 body parts to explore in movement. One at a time have them move around the space moving that body part in as many different ways that they can imagine for each identified body part. (you can have them decide individually to move from one body part to the next or to give them a signal that indicates moving from one body part to the next) • Divide the group into two so that they can see how others explore the body parts and how it looks in a group. • Ask the audience to not only look at the exploration of specified body parts but also: o The shapes that are being created o What groupings they see happening o What the movement through the space looks like (locomotor) o Whether they noticed any type of relationship (spatial, time, force, movement)

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Making Meaning

Body language In everyday life, body language (gestures, movement, facial expressions) conveys a lot of emotion. People watching a dance performance, tend to make connections between the movements and an emotion and often create a story, even if the dance they are watching is not in narrative form.

Suggested Activities

• Sit the students in a circle on the floor. Ask them to imagine that they are feeling sad, and then to sit as though they were feeling happy. Alternate the two contrasting emotions and resulting body postures. Observe and discuss physical changes they saw and experienced. • Ask a student to create one movement, using any or all parts of the body, based on an everyday action or event of his/her choice (walking to school, riding a bus, watering the garden, shoveling snow, brushing your hair, etc.) Now ask the student to pick a card with an adverb of feeling written on it (sadly, hopefully, cheerfully, angrily, absent-mindedly, etc.) Ask the rest of the group to guess what emotion is being portrayed by the body language. • Have class develop a list of common actions performed in the course of daily life. (brushing teeth/hair, riding bike, walking) Then ask them to assign a movement/gesture/posture that will go with each action. Pick 4 or 5 to perform sequentially. Audience members can share orally or write the story they see in each group’s performance. • Ask the students to watch 1/2 hour of television with the sound off, considering the following questions: • Were you able to see the emotions between characters? • What kinds of movements tell you when a character is angry, shy, happy, uncomfortable, sad, surprised, etc.? • Can you create your own dance using some of the movements you observe on "silent TV?"

Ballet Hispanico Performs! Nací

Contemporary choreographer, Andrea Miller, drawing from the duality of her Spanish and Jewish-

American background, brings her distinctive voice to an exploration of Sephardic culture from Spain in an excerpt of her new piece Naci (Spain/USA).

The piece is set to the stirring echoes of folkloric music. Music: Tony Galif, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Capilla Antigua de Chinchilla

Rosalie O’Connor

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Suggested Activity

A picture is worth a thousand words: Divide participants into groups of 4 or 5. Each group will focus on one of the pictures on the following page. Have your students look at the image and ask them to brainstorm words or phrases that come to mind. Consider using the following questions/categories:

• What words would you use to describe the image? • What verbs or action words do you see? • How does the image make you feel? • How would you describe the shapes made by the dancers’ bodies?

Have each groups pick 4 words that they brainstormed and ask them to create a tableaux (that can be photographed).

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Rosalie O’Connor

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Design Elements: props, costumes, lights, sound

Costumes, props, lighting, in addition to the sound (music) play an important role in a performance. They work with the choreography to create the desired aesthetic effect. Choreographers use these design elements in a very specific way.

Wardrobe Director, Diana Ruettiger, designed and made the costumes in the Ballet Hispanico piece, Batucada Fantástica

Suggested Activity • Divide students into groups of 4. Each individual in the group will have a specific role. (Choreographer, Prop Designer, Lighting Designer and Costume Designer) • Give each group a specific theme to explore or allow them to come up with their own theme in which they think have to through the props, lighting, and costuming they would want to choose. • Each person must find a way to represent their artistic choices visually (on paper). • They may want to include music choices (but it is not necessary to the activity) • Have each group share their theme and choices made to the group. o How do the design elements enhance the movement and space.

To help start the process, you can have students discuss the body shapes in this image, in relation to the lighting and costuming. (Ballet Hispanico’s Batucada Fantástica) Rosalie O’Connor

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Watching Dance

When you see Ballet Hispanico perform, (or any other dance), here are some questions to help focus your attention and that incorporate the elements of dance5:

POSTURES AND GESTURES • What feelings or mood do the dancers’ movements make you think of? • Are the movements fast or slow, repetitious or changing, angular or curved? • What parts of the body are used most? • What gestures are repeated more than once? Why do you think they are being repeated? • What do the dancers’ facial expressions tell you? • If the dancers spoke, what do you think they would say?

SPATIAL PATTERNS • What groupings do you see? (Solos, duets, larger groups?) How do the groupings change? • What "designs" do the dancers form onstage? (Circles, lines, squares?) Do they move forward and back, across, on a diagonal? Are some of these patterns repeated?

MUSIC • What instrument(s) do you hear? Is there singing? In what language? • Is the music fast or slow? Does it change during the dance? In what ways? • If you close your eyes, what mood does the music create? How might you describe the music? • Do the dancers’ movements connect with the music? If so how?

THEATRICAL EFFECTS • Besides the performers that you see, who else might have helped make this dance possible? (Choreographer, Costume Designer, Lighting Designer, Musicians, Stage Manager…) • Describe the stage set, lighting, costumes, and the props used. Do they help you understand more about the piece? If so, how? • Does the lighting change during the piece? In what ways? What kind of affect does the lighting have on the dancers’ movements? • What are the costumes? How do the costumes influence your understanding of the dance?

5 A Performance Review Form is available in the appendix and can be printed and copied for participants to have on hand while watching the show or to use just after. 23 BALLET HISPANICO

Behind the Scenes Ballet Hispanico combines artistic excellence, social responsibility, and pride in heritage

About Ballet Hispanico

Ballet Hispanico, founded in 1970, is the nation’s preeminent ambassador of dance and Hispanic culture. Today, under the artistic direction of Eduardo Vilaro, Ballet Hispanico continues to celebrate and explore the diverse facets of the Latino Diaspora through the world renowned professional Company, the School of Dance, and our Education and Outreach program.

The Ballet Hispanico Dance Company has performed its unique blend of dance styles, music, and Latino cultures for an audience of over two million people throughout the United States, Latin America, and Europe. The repertory consists of 79 commissions by master choreographers such as Sergio Trujillo, Talley Beatty, and Vicente Nebrada, as well as young talents such as Andrea Miller and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. The dancers are “highly individualistic performers who can shift easily from ballet and modern to a whole range of Latin styles.” – Hedy Weiss, The Chicago Tribune

School of Dance welcomes over 700 students annually offering a curriculum of Spanish dance, ballet, and contemporary techniques including Limon, Hip Hop, Afro-Caribbean, and Latin social dance.

Education and Outreach provides a series of dance education activities designed to serve students, families, educators, dance audiences, and the general public, in New York City and while the Company is on tour.

Ballet Hispanico, 1971 Ballet Hispanico, 2007

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Founder TINA RAMIREZ

Tina recognized a need to provide access, training, and performance opportunities for Latino dancers in the late 1960’s. As a result she created Ballet Hispanico. Born in Venezuela, she is the daughter of a Mexican bullfighter, and grand-niece to the founder of Puerto Rico’s first secular school for girls. Because of her passion and commitment to dance and education she has earned many awards and honors in recognition of her work, including the National Medal of Arts in 2005.

Artistic Director EDUARDO VILARO

Eduardo came to New York City at the age of six from his native Cuba. While he adjusted to this new community he found joy in his early experiences of dance and decided to pursue it more as a scholarship recipient at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. Before becoming the Artistic Director at Ballet Hispanico, he founded a Chicago based company called Luna Negra Dance Theater. Prior to that, he was also principle dancer in the Ballet Hispanico Dance Company for 10 years.

Cheryl Cheryl Mann

OTHER PEOPLE WHO HELP MAKE IT HAPPEN Joshua Preston, Technical Director Kay Meyers, Stage Manager Diana Ruettiger, Wardrobe Director Choreographers, Composers, Lighting Designers, Musicians, Educators, Graphic Designers, Photographers, Videographers, Sound Engineers

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BALLET HISPANICO COMPANY DANCERS

ERIC RIVERA, a native of RODNEY HAMILTON, a Puerto Rico is in his thirteenth native of St. Louis, is now in his season with Ballet Hispanico eighth season with Ballet Hispanico.

ANGELICA BURGOS is of WALDEMAR QUIÑONES- Dominican-Armenian heritage VILLANUEVA is from Puerto and is beginning her sixth Rico and is in his fifth season with

season with Ballet Hispanico. Ballet Hispanico.

NICHOLAS VILLENEUVE, JESSICA BATTEN trained with a native Canadian, was raised in New Jersey Dance Theater Kingston, Jamaica. This is his fifth Ensemble. This is her fourth season season with Ballet Hispanico. with Ballet Hispanico.

MIN-TZU LI, a native of JEFFERY HOVER graduated summa Taiwan. This is her third cum laude from Butler University. This season with Ballet Hispanico. is his third season with Ballet Hispanico.

YESID LOPEZ, is originally VANESSA VALECILLOS, joined Ballet from Colombia. This is his Nacional de Caracas under the second season with Ballet renowned director Vicente Nebrada Hispanico. at age fifteen. This is her first season with Ballet Hispanico.

JESSICA ALEJANDRA WYATT, MARINA FABILA was born and received her training The School raised in Southern California. This is of Oregon Ballet Theater. This is her first season with Ballet her first season with Ballet Hispanico.

Hispanico.

RACHEL MCSWEEN is a California native. This is her first season with Ballet Hispanico.

Appendix

• ¡Viajes! Program • Performance Reflection Form • Percussion Instruments • Glossary of Terms

BALLET HISPANICO Eduardo Vilaro Verdery Roosevelt Artistic Director Executive Director Mercedes Pablos Rachel Watts School Director Director of Education and Outreach

COMMITTED TO EDUCATION

Ballet Hispanico, founded 1970 by Tina Ramirez, is the nation’s preeminent ambassador of dance and Hispanic cultures. Today, under the artistic direction of Eduardo Vilaro, Ballet Hispanico continues to celebrate and explore the diverse facets of the Latino diaspora through the world renowned professional Company, the School of Dance, and our Education and Outreach program.

Special thanks to JP Morgan Chase & Co for supporting Chase Primeros Pasos on Tour

Batucada Fantástica's original production was made possible, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. Club Havana's original production was made possible, in part, by gifts from Jody and John Arnhold, Dhuanne and Douglas Tansill and Caroline Newhouse; by grants from American Express Company and AT&T; and with commissioning funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.

Ballet Hispanico's Education and Outreach Program is supported, in part, by The Ford Foundation, The Hearst Foundations, Louise and Ardé Bulova Fund, Con Edison, May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation Inc., The Bay and Paul Foundations, and by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

167 West 89th Street I New York, NY 10024 212.362.6710 I BalletHispanico.org Nací (excerpts) Choreography: Andrea Miller ¡Viajes! Music: Tony Galif, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Capilla Antigua de Chinchilla Costume Design: Diana Ruettiger Club Havana (excerpts) Choreography: Pedro Ruiz Jessica Batten, Rodney Hamilton, Jeffery Hover, Min-Tzu Li Music: López, Gonzáles, Salim, Prado, and Repilado Yesid Lopez, Vanessa Valecillos, Jessica Alejandra Wyatt Costume Design: Emilio Sosa

Cha Cha Cha Mambo Drawing from her Jewish-American and Spanish background, Andrea Miller Angelica Burgos Min-Tzu Li/Rodney Hamilton explores concepts of community and displacement in the Sephardic culture of Waldemar Quiñones-Villanueva Jessica Batten/Jeffery Hover Spain. The piece is set to the stirring echoes of folkloric music. Eric Rivera Rachel McSween/Nicholas Villeneuve If the dancers spoke what do you think they would say? The choreographer, Pedro Ruiz, is a former Ballet Hispanico Company member. In this piece, he uses music and dance styles from his native Cuba and Batucada Fantástica (excerpts) mixes them with ballroom, ballet, and modern dance. You will see two sections Choreography: Vicente Nebrada that focus on Mambo and Cha Cha Cha rhythms and movements that originated Music: Luciano Perrone in Cuba. Costume Design: Diana Ruettiger

See if you can find when the dancers do the three steps Soloists: Min-Tzu Li, Waldemar Quiñones-Villanueva, Jeffery Hover of Cha Cha Cha in the trio. Coda: Company Excerpts from Viva Las Americas: Choreography: Anita Gonzalez Batucada Fantástica celebrates the Brazilian Carnival. The word in the title, Music: Traditional batucada, refers to the celebratory street parade that happens at Carnival Costume Design: Patricia Zipprodt time. It is an outburst of dancing, music making and partying, featuring elaborate costumes and masks. The battery of accompanying percussion Bomba instruments, which includes some unique to Brazil, is called batuque. Angelica Burgos, Vanessa Valecillos, Jessica Alejandra Wyatt Rodney Hamilton, Waldemar Quiñones-Villanueva, Nicholas Villeneuve See if you can find movements repeated when the whole

group dances together. The African influence on the island of Puerto Rico is represented in this dance. A social celebration dance, the pounding drums help the dancers articulate wavy and percussive movements in their bodies and with their costumes. Los Viejitos Viejitos: Jessica Batten, Jeffery Hover, Rachel McSween, Eric Rivera Villagers: Rodney Hamilton, Min-Tzu Li, Yesid Lopez Waldemar Quiñones-Villanueva, Jessica Alejandra Wyatt

This is a popular dance of the State of Michoacán, in Mexico. Dancers wear clay masks, use canes, and act like a group of older men, known in Spanish as viejitos. To the sounds of string instruments, they disrupt the village market with their silly antics. The cultural influence on this dance is mainly a mix from Spain and the indigenous people of that region.

Do you know any famous people of Puerto Rican and Mexican heritage? Ballet Hispanico Performance Reflection Form

Name: ______Date: ______

Capture your immediate thoughts as you watch, and right after, the performance while the images and reactions are still fresh in your mind. (Please use the blank space on the back of this page if you need it)

Name(s) of dance(s): ______

What words would you use to describe the movement?

Describe the impact of the following on one (or each) of the dances you saw: Lighting, Costumes, Music, Props/Sets

What was the most striking image you remember? What surprised you?

Was there any part of it where questions came up for you? If so, what was the question?

What did you like best? Why?

Percussion Instruments

Bongo Drums: Cencerro: A pair of joined small hand drums that is thought to have A large hand-held cowbell that is played with a stick, originated in Cuba around 1900. It is used to create sharp producing two notes according to where it is struck. quick rhythms often heard in Latin dance music

Conga Drum: Claves: A large drum capable of many different musical sounds A percussive instrument known as the “foundation of through different techniques such as striking or rubbing. The rhythm” for Afro-Latin music. They are two identical drum comes in a wide range of sizes from small called quinto wooden strikers (KEEN-toe) to large called tumbadora (toom-bah-DOOR-ah).

Timbales: Maracas: A percussion set composed of two metal drums and two Hand-held rattles or shakers, made from gourds, coconuts, cow bells and often a cymbal. The set is played with stick and wood or rawhide, and filled with beans. Found throughout can produce a wide range of beats and combinations. the Americas as well as Africa.

Castanets: A percussion instrument mostly used in Moorish, Ottoman, Guiro: ancient Roman, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin A percussion instrument that is played by scraping a stick American music. The instrument consists of a pair of concave along the instruments carved ridges. Depending on the shells joined on one edge by string. These are held in the instruments country of origin, it is often made out of a dried hand and used to produce clicks for rhythmic accents or a gourd or metal and is usually played by a vocalist. ripping or rattling sound consisting of a rapid series of clicks. They are traditionally made of hardwood, although fiberglass is becoming increasingly popular.

Glossary of Terms accent An emphasis or stress on certain musical counts or within specific movements. articulated torso Flexible and independent movement of parts of the body trunk. ballet A stylized form of dance that attempts to create the illusions of control, majesty, and weightlessness through special techniques such as the straight spine, the pointed toe and the turned out leg. batuque Old Brazilian word for samba; the samba beat; Brazilian neighborhood percussion bands. [Portuguese; pron. ba-TOO-kee] batucada Street celebration of drumming, music and dance bomba A Puerto Rican dance form of African ancestry canon The equivalent of a musical ‘round’, in which an identical movement phrase is performed by two or more dancers or groups of dancers, with staggered starting points.

Carnival/Carnaval A street celebration important in many Latin and Catholic cultures, often (though not always) one week before the Christian holiday of Lent; a fusion of Spanish/Portuguese, Catholic and African customs; characterized by frenzied music and dancing and elaborate costumes and masks. choreography The creation of a dance through the arrangement of movement. The person who makes the dance is the choreographer. conquistadores Spaniards who conquered Central and South America in the 16th century. dance elements Basic aspects of dance, i.e. the body (shapes and actions); dynamics (movement qualities through energy and time); space; and relationship (between dancers, dancers and audience, dance and sound) energy The degree and control of force in a movement; ranges from light to strong, and from free to bound. gesture A movement of the body or part of the body that expresses an emotion or idea, eg. wave, reach, fist shake, stampin of the foot, nod of the head, a movement emblematic of a working activity such as planting, hunting, or fishing; a movement emblematic of a daily activity such as washing the face. indigenous Referring to any population native to an area.

Glossary of Terms (cont.)

improvisation Movement created spontaneously in a free or structured environment. It involves an instantaneous choice of actions on the part of the dancer, affected by chance elements, such as the movement choices of other dancers or musicians in the room. jarocho People, culture, dance and music of the Mexican state of Veracruz. [Spanish; pron. ha-ROH-cho] mambo Afro-Cuban dance originating in Congolese religious cults; became very popular with big bands in the 1950's. patterns Designs in space, created either by repeated movements of an individual dancer or by formations of a group of dancers. props Theater term for "stage properties," or objects placed on the stage or handled by dancers or actors during their performance. The fans in Pacholí and the pieces of fabric in Guajira are props. ranchera A musical style that grew out of early Mexican dance music. Música ranchera is for listening more than for dancing, and usually features song lyrics about love and loss. samba Brazilian national dance, of African origin. tempo The speed or pace of music. zapateado Heelwork in Spanish and Spanish-American dance that beats out a complex rhythm (from Spanish zapato, shoe). [Spanish; pron. sah-pah-tay-AH-doe]

Further Resources Children’s Books: Brazil ABC’s: A Book about the People and Places of Brazil; Seidman, David. 2007 Picture Window Books. Festivals of the World: Brazil.; McKay, Susan. 1997. Times Edison PTE Ltd. Kitchen Dance; Maurie J. Manning; 2008 José! Born to Dance: The Story of José Limon; Susanna Reich and Raul Colon (Illustrator); 2005

Research Books: Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press; 1992. Caribbean Dance From Abakua to Zouk: How Movement Shapes Identity; ed. Susanna Sloat; 2005 Everynight Life: Culture and Dance in Latin America; Eds. Celeste Fraser Delgado and José Esteban Muñoz; 1997 The Latin Tinge: The Impact of Latin Music on the United States; Roberts, John Storm; New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. National Rhythms, African Roots: The Deep History of Latin American Popular Dance; John Charles Chasteen; 2004 Samba! and other Afro-Brazilian Dance Expressions; King, Anita. New York: Roots of Brazil, Inc., 1989. Voices of the Americas: Traditional Music and Dance from North, South, and Central America, and the Caribbean. Allen, Ray, ed. New York: World Music Institute, 1988.

TV, Movies, Documentaries: Buena Vista Social Club; Documentary about Cuban musicians Cubamania!; Documentary about Cuban music and dance Dancing with the Stars, www.abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/ Mad Hot Ballroom, Documentary about NYC students learning ballroom dance

Websites: Ballet Hispanico; www.ballethispanico.org Mambo basics on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrMrOrKuK-o New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; Dance Collections: www.nypl.org/research Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture; Dance and Culture Collections; www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html

Contact Information and Credits

Rachel Watts Director of Education and Outreach Ballet Hispanico [email protected]

Greg Stuart Company General Manager Ballet Hispanico [email protected]

Please send comments and samples of student work to: Education Department, Ballet Hispanico 167 W. 89th Street, New York, NY 10024 Or email: [email protected] 212.362.6710 ext. 14

Educational Supplement Credits: Written by: Rachel Watts, Director of Education and Outreach

Additional study guide input from: Lenore Gale, PhD Dance Education Consultant Erin Gomach, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts Anne Johnson, Marketing Manager Jessica Nicoll, Dance Education Consultant Tina Ramirez, Founder, Ballet Hispanico Marie-Louise Stegall, Director of External Affairs Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director

Special thanks to JP Morgan Chase & Co. for supporting Chase Primeros Pasos on Tour

Ballet Hispanico's Primeros Pasos program is supported, in part, by Ford Foundation, The Hearst Foundations, Louise and Ardé Bulova Fund, Con Edison, Goldie Anna Charitable Trust, Partners for Arts Education, May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation Inc., The Bay and Paul Foundations, and by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Special thanks to JP Morgan Chase & Co. for supporting Chase Primeros Pasos on Tour.