Question: How has Matthew Bourne influenced the Ballet genre

How has Matthew Bourne influenced the Ballet genre

Introduction

Louis XIV organized the teaching and presentation of music and dance by setting up academies . The Acadymie Royal de Musique (1669 ) was officially given the exclusive right to present operas , which led to a new genre , the opera-ballet , initiated by the composer Jean-Baptiste Lully , which combined vocal scenes with danced interludes . Following the developments in Italian opera , composers made new demands on singers who had to study for years in to be able to meet them successfully . After the mid-17th century , singers [banner_entry_middle]

exerted considerable influence on the structure of new works because they demanded showpiece arias at certain places in the text . The dramatic technique of Baroque opera followed set rules : arias were to be sung at the front of the stage , facing the audience the chorus was directed as a static body and the ornate setting was an elaborate decoration with which to the eye rather than a functional definition of the acting area . One effect of the academies was to transfer dance activities from the court to the professional stage , and in 1681 the first professional dancers appeared in Le Triomphe de l ‘amour (The Triumph of Love , choreographed by Charles-Louis Beauchamp to Lully ‘s music

Theatre in Great Britain and Ireland

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC ) was plunged into turmoil again when its artistic director , Adrian Noble , resigned on April 24 , 2002 . Noble ‘s announcement came the week after his West End production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang , a new musical based on the 1968 movie , opened to good reviews and a healthy advance at the box office at the London Palladium Cynics saw Chitty ‘s flying car and future success bearing Noble conveniently away from a mess not necessarily all of his own making

No one knew what would happen to Noble ‘s plan for the proposed demolition of the main Stratford theatre , the so-called Shakespeare village ‘ by the River Avon , or indeed where future London seasons would be presented – now that the company had torn up its contract with the Barbican Theatre , where it had enjoyed special rates and terms of employment for staff . In addition , Noble ‘s intention to operate as a player in the West End seemed fraught with danger , especially since most theatregoing taxpayers saw the government-funded RSC as an idealist alternative to the commercial imperatives of Shaftesbury Avenue , the heart of London ‘s theatre district

How the RSC would recover from this debacle was not clear . Debts mounted with an economically disastrous season of late romances – The Tempest The Winter ‘s Tale , and Pericles – at the Roundhouse in North London . In July , Michael Boyd , an RSC associate director , was named to succeed Noble when his contract expired in March 2003 . Boyd promptly gave an unfortunate press interview in which he said that theatre was no longer all that important , that Shakespeare was horny ‘ and that he hoped to employ Hollywood actors , such as Nicole Kidman

Productions of Much Ado About… [banner_entry_footer]