From Page to Stage: Notes on the Partnership of Dance and Literature

Huskey, Sybil, Phi Kappa Phi Forum

Since the inception of western theatrical dance, the literary arts have been used as starting points for dance creation. In the hands of master choreographers, classic modern dance and ballet works have evolved from fairy tales, legends, parables, myths, plays, novels, fables, short stories, and even poems. These verbal/nonverbal partnerships are based on the beliefs and conditions 1) that gesture and movement are imbued with the potential for meaning, 2) that the meaning can be recognized and experienced by the audience, and 3) that particular texts lend themselves to the communicative physicality of dance.

In her 1959 choreographic treatise, The Art of Making Dances, modern-dance choreographer Doris Humphrey wrote, "Character and behavior delineation, which may take an author pages to articulate, might be done in seconds by the dancer who deals directly with the emotional resonance of the text.... Words supply the facts.... The dance must be the area where feeling about these things exists."

FAIRY TALES AND LEGENDS

The magic and fantasy in romantic and classical ballets of the nineteenth century resulted from the legends and tales upon which they were based. Story ballets such as Swan Lake, Coppelia, and …

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Publication information: Article title: From Page to Stage: Notes on the Partnership of Dance and Literature. Contributors: Huskey, Sybil - Author. Magazine title: Phi Kappa Phi Forum. Volume: 87. Issue: 1 Publication date: Spring 2007. Page number: 30+. © 2008 Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group.

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