Analysis of Dance in Musical Films

How does the location of the dance change the choreographic elements in the dance? Give one indoor and outdoor example for each film.

             Different settings change dance moves and choreography based on whether the dance is an indoor dance or an outdoor dance. A good example of the scenes from movie the West Side Story is the gym scene, which featured the characters Mambo and Cha-cha, and the scene that has the Mambo performance. As the scene that had the Mambo performance was an indoor scene in the movie, the presence of many instruments helped in making the performance lively while the gym scene had fewer instruments although the choreographic moves are vibrant. From the movie Hello, Dolly! (1969) the outdoor scene of Cornelius and the Chimneysweep dance, which portray different choreographic moves based on the difference of the audience.

2.  How do these dances propel the story along? What function does each dance serve?

            Dance is an important element in movies as seen from the films West Side Story (1961) and Hello, Dolly! (1969). Some of the general functions of dance are maintaining the storylines of the movie and breaking the monotony of narration (Negron-Muntaner 1). As seen in the movie films West Side Story (1961), dance also enhances tragedy, which ensures that the film corresponded to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. 

3.  How does the movement vocabulary support the aesthetic goal of the musical? Use Language of Dance® (LOD) concepts to articulate your ideas.

            The aesthetic goal in the two films was to produce enjoyable musical films. Choreography is a protuberant art with audiences around the globe (Barbra Film Archives 1). There are different types of dances for example indoor dances and street/outdoor dances, which were used in the film to ensure the audiences, loved the films. Most of the dance and choreographic moves are quite thrilling, which is an aspect that audiences of musical films want to watch in movies. This makes the movement vocabulary in the two films important in relaying of the dance aspects to dance audiences through the two musical films.

Works Cited

Barbra Film Archives. “Hello, Dolly!” Filming Locations & Production Design. Available at:   http://barbra-archives.com/films/hello_dolly_3_streisand.html.

Negron-Muntaner, Frances. Feeling Pretty: West Side Story and Puerto Rican Identity             Discourses. MUSE journals Vol. 18.

No. 2. Available at:             https://muse.jhu.edu/article/31870/summary