Audience guide for: May 10, 11, 12, 2019 (Discover Dance May 10, 2019) The Vets, Providence RI Music PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Scenario & Choreography MILICA BIJELIC after MARIUS PETIPA, LEV IVANOV Dear Educator, This spring, Festival Ballet Providence performs the mystical ballet,Swan Lake. The audience, whether student or adult will be transported to another time and place as the story of love between a prince and swan maiden, and the curse of an evil sorcerer comes to life onstage. The company’s beautiful dancing as well as the dazzling music, sets and costumes are sure to capture the mind’s imagination, the emotions of the heart, and the spirit of the soul. This comprehensive educational packet is meant to prepare you and your students for your experience at the theater and provide connections to your classroom curriculum. The first section contains information about your arrival at The Veterans Memorial Auditorium and the students’ expected behavior at the theater. We hope this will answer any questions you might have. Then there is a section filled with the history of ballet, the story line of Swan Lake, as well as the science and artistry behind ballet. Please share this information with the students prior to the show so that they will be able to more fully appreciate the performance. You will also find classroom activities to connect to your curriculum. These activities can be simplified or expanded easily to meet your grade level. Please share them with your students before or after the show. We hope this packet will not only support your classroom curriculum, but enhance the overall experience for your school’s field trip toSwan Lake. We can’t wait to see you at the theater! Sincerely, Valerie Cookson-Botto Director of Community Engagement Ty Parmenter in Swan Lake. © 2019, FESTIVAL BALLET PROVIDENCE PAGE 2 THEATER INFORMATION • The performance will begin promptly at the scheduled curtain time and will last approximately two hours, with one intermission. • Let your children know, in advance, what behavior is expected of them. This is a LIVE performance. Unlike television or the movies, the people on stage are there at that moment and are dancing for the audience’s pleasure. • School clothes are appropriate dress, however, some children may choose to “dress up.” • Please plan to arrive at The VETS (One Avenue of the Arts, Providence, RI 02903) at least 30 minutes prior to the performance as latecomers cannot be seated once the performance has begun. • If applicable, your bus driver will be given instructions for where to park and assigned a number that you will reference upon dismissal. • Once you arrive at the theater, please see an usher who will check your group off of our master list and direct you to your seats. • No food, drink, chewing gum, skateboards, cameras, or recording equipment are allowed inside the theater. Please leave these items at home as we do not have provisions for storing them. • It is important to have your children visit the rest rooms before the performance begins. It is not appropriate to visit the rest rooms during a live performance. THEATER ETIQUETTE FOR STUDENTS Students should be encouraged to: • Watch the dancers • Listen to the music • Look at the costumes and set designs • Laugh when they see the dancers do something funny • Clap to show the dancers that they are enjoying the performance when the dancing has finished. It is customary to applaud when the dancers take a bow. Students should NOT be encouraged to: • Talk or make noise because they might miss something important • Chew gum or eat because it is disruptive to others and makes a mess at the theater. • Leave their seats before the lights go on because this is very disruptive to their neighbors © 2019, FESTIVAL BALLET PROVIDENCE PAGE 3 CLASSROOM RESOURCES On the following pages are a few pre- or post-performance assignments for your students to enrich their theater experience and to build personal and cognitive connections with the dancing. Feel free to use any or all of the assignments. If you or your students would like to send them to our studios at 825 Hope St. Providence, RI 02906 or [email protected], we would love to share them on our blog! BALLET BASICS These five basic positions are the foundation for all ballet moves. They will help you understand the positions that a dancers moves through. Each position has a shape for the feet and the arms. Every ballet dancer starts with these five positions and masters them early on to be able to perform complex movements. If you master these moves you will be on your way to becoming a ballet dancer! For each of these movements you must maintain good dancing posture: Stand up tall and straight, don’t let your stomach hang out or your bottom stick out. Think of having a long neck and lift the chin slightly, as if you have glitter on your cheekbones. ACTIVITY - Teach your students the first five positions of ballet: Teach the students as many or as few of these positions as they can learn. Play a game by yelling out the number of a position and having them achieve it as quickly as possible. FIRST POSITION SECOND POSITION THIRD POSITION FOURTH POSITION FIFTH POSITION Feet: Touch your heels Feet: Keep your legs turned Feet: Keep your legs turned Feet: From 3rd position, slide Feet: Put one foot turned out, together and turn out your legs out but slide your feet out and touch one heel in front the front foot forward so they directly in front of the other so that feet make a very wide shoulder-width apart. of the arch of the other foot. are still crossed with six inches foot. The front toe touches the V-shape. Arms: Open the oval so that Arms: Keep one arm opened of space between them. back heel, and the back heel Arms: Make an oval in front your elbows are in line with to the side and cross the other Arms: Keep one arm in front touches the front toe. of your chest, like you are your shoulders. one in front of your chest, like of your chest and lift the other Arms: Make an oval above hugging a beach ball. first position. one in a half oval above your your head with both arms. head. © 2019, FESTIVAL BALLET PROVIDENCE PAGE 4 BALLET VOCABULARY Ballet: a kind of dancing that is performed on a stage and that uses dance, music, costumes, and scenery to tell a story Ballerina: a woman who is a ballet dancer Corps de ballet: a group of dancers that perform together framing the principal dancers. Principal dancer: a dancer of the highest level who often performs leading roles. Usher: a person who shows people to their seats in the theater. Choreographer: a person who creates dances or ballets. Costume Designer: a person who creates costumes for a performance. Lighting Designer: a person who creates the lighting effects for a performance. Stage Manager: a person who coordinates all aspects behind the scenes during the performance to make sure it runs smoothly. Audience: a group of people who gather together to listen to something (such as a concert) or watch something (such as a movie or play) the people who attend a performance. Theater: a place where people gather to watch a performance. Lobby: an open area in a public building (such as a hotel or theater) near the entrance; a foyer or entrance hall Wings: 1. a part of an animal’s body that is used for flying or gliding 2. the area at the side of the stage out of sight Stage: The area of a theater where the dancers perform. House: The area of a theater where the audience sits. En Pointe: To perform a dance movement on the top of one’s toes. Tutu: a ballet skirt worn by a ballerina. Demi-Plie: A half plie in which the legs fold, but only to the point the heels remain on the floor. Chasses: A traveling ballet movement similar to a gallop where the back leg chases the front. Arabesque: A ballet posture where a dancer stands on one leg with the other leg extended to the back. Pas de deux: a dance for two people Fouette: a turn on one leg where the other leg whips in and out to maintain momentum. Waltz: a dance in triple time (3/4) with a swinging or swaying quality. © 2019, FESTIVAL BALLET PROVIDENCE PAGE 5 NADIA’S BACKSTAGE VISIT Use the Ballet Vocabulary words to fill in the blanks for this story. Ever since Nadia could remember she loved to dance. Her favorite type of dance was ___________. She dreamed of becoming a __________________ one day. Today Nadia was especially excited because she was going to visit her aunt at the ____________________. Na- dia’s aunt performed many leading roles as a ___________ ____________ with the ballet com- pany. Nadia had watch her aunt perform many times from the __________________, but today she was going to get a chance to watch from backstage. As she entered the theater an _________________ met her in the _________________ and showed her not to a seat, but to a hidden backstage door. When Nadia arrived backstage, she met the ____________________ ___________________, who was busy checking up on all of the props and scenery. One of the _______________ ______ _____________ dancers hurried across the ____________ with a broken strap on her costume. She asked where she could find the __________________ _________________ to get her costume fixed.