The reviews and articles for 2004 January to June Music For Ballet Guide Editor's Introduction
Pointe Magazine
April/May 2004 issue Ballet and music are as intertwined as sun and shadow-while one can exist without the other together they are magic. For choreographers, the right music can mean the difference between a ballet that works and one that falls flat. Sources of great music for dance are endless and can range from new commissions to scores that are cobbled together from existing music. We've looked into these two possibilities, and following that, included a list of the latest ballet music releases. Tailor-Made Music
An original score can set the right tone for any ballet. By Steve Sucato
Pointe Magazine
April/May 2004 issue Steve Sucato is a dancer turned writer/critic living in Erie, PA. He regularly writes for several newspapers. "Commissioning an original score for a new dance work is like getting a suit custom-tailored for you. It fits," says David Shimotakahara, artistic director and choreographer of the contemporary ballet company GroundWorks Dancetheater, in Akron, OH "For me, so much pre-existing music carries with it its own intentions and meanings. You may find parts of pre-existing music that are compatible with a particular idea you are trying to develop, but then that score goes off in its own direction and may or may not fit your idea all the way through." "It is really hard to do a story ballet with existing music unless you are going to do a lot of mixing and matching," says Victoria Morgan, Cincinnati Ballet artistic director and choreographer. "The advantage of having a new composition created for a ballet, especially a narrative, is that it really allows you to tell the story. For example, in Prokofiev's original score for Romeo and Juliet, there are themes that come in, get repeated and are interwoven into the score for specific characters and events. In creating a new story ballet set to a score of existing music works, those types of themes can be hard to find." | |
|
