VA theme : Dance

[Wide Eyed Wanderer]

I chose the topic dance because I have a love/ hate relationship with it. Initially, I was content just painting/ drawing people dancing, but now i think it needs to go beyond that.

So i put colours on a paper and danced with it so they ran down the page. Then I drew a kathak dancer with the big bells used in hindu temples instead of ghungroos ( any number between 20 and several hundreds, depending on experiece of dancer) .

Do you have any ideas? I do not want to draw people merely dancing. Something else.

And I know ibo gives marks for using different media, so any suggestion for media that doesn't take very long? ( VA is my 7th subject so I barely have more than 6-7 hours a week to work on it outside of school)

[yahzuk]

Hey there,

How about sculpture? Take a look at Edgar Degas' The Dancer. Very famous and beautiful piece.

Although taking VA as a 7th subject is a little crazy, I wish you the best of luck

[Wide Eyed Wanderer]

Thankyou Yahzuk (:

It's beautiful (:

Good luck to you too, since you're taking additional subjects too (:

[dessskris]

barongsai (chinese lion) dance!!!

I have watched 2 performances this week and I guess barongsai is a nice thing to be drawn, esp for VA

[Julie]

You can try portraying one type of dance in different movement styles (cubic, surrealistic, photorealistic, etc.). Have you ever thought of focusing on details of the costumes used in dance? You could maybe look closely into those in some way, whether creating them with clay or painting them or drawing them. You could do many objects, each from different cultures to portray the dispersion of various types of dance in our world. Have you looked at forms of dance such as figure skating and gymnastics-based dancing? Those are two good dance-types you could touch on<div><br></div><div>Also, one thing i always try to look at, that people tend to overlook when dealing with "happy" topics: look at the dark side of dancing.</div><div><ul><li>What about the pressure exerted on dancers by their coaches?</li><li>What about the high level of stamina and self-confidence needed for professional dances?</li><li>What about all of the tiring hours, and no social life for professional dancers? It causes a great deal of depression and loneliness?</li><li>What about the feeling of failure in dance (for instance, falling during a competition, not winning a competition etc.)</li></ul></div>

[Wide Eyed Wanderer]

Hi dessskris! I never thought of Lion Dances! I've seen a few barongsai performances in the five years that I lived in Msia but it's kind of hard to find it in India. But that did give me another idea, thought I'd share it with you. In the north part of India, they have a dance form very similar to the Lion dance! Thanks for the idea!

Thanks Julie, those are wonderful ideas! I've actually been following your posts on this site and I think you'd be the best person to ask anything art related! I've been working on the different types of dresses and shoes( more shoes than dresses) worn by dancers.

So far I've just made on work to depict the suffering in dance.

There's also another theme that I like and will start working on, CELEBRATION. I picked it because that's what I think dance is, especially since celebration dances are the only ones I've done!

My next idea deals with another form of cultural dance ( I'll pick one Indian dance form : Most likely kathak or bharatnatyam). I went for this lecture about Kathak and the lady said thatin Kathak, every gesture means something ( Like putting your index finger on your chin means something, making an O using your fingers and thumb means something else, etc.) So what I was thinking is that I could write a message and use these gestures to communicate it. I could take pictures, print them out on canvas boards, and display them in a series. What do you think about it?