Women In Ballet Essay example -- essays research papers fc

Ballet is an art form born out of the expressionism and creativity of the reincarnation period (Kraus 63). From the offset ballet performed in 1580 to the present, women rich person been portrayed as fragile and dependent on men. One such ballet is The nuthatch in which the girl-heroine Clara relies on the Nutcracker to save her from the evil pinch King.     The first production of The Nutcracker was performed for critics, public figures, and members of high society and received pretermit luster reviews on December 17, 1892 (Anderson 40-52). The story opens in the parlor of a middle-class German family, the Stahlbaums, during a party on Christmas Eve. Excitement fills the bank line in anticipation of the nights festivities. The Stahlbaum children, shy Clara and her brother Fritz, are caught in the fancyal spell of the evening. Guests arrive and presents are exchanged all this is a typical Christmas scene, until the magic begins. Drosselmeyer, Claras godfat her, arrives late with his nephew, a boy near Claras age, and a nutcracker for Clara. Clara really much likes Drosselmeyers charming and courteous nephew and is also fond of her strange sunrise(prenominal) toy. With the perish dance, the party is brought to an end. Clara, unable to sleep, creeps downstairs for one last look at her nutcracker. She falls asleep on the sofa prop the nutcracker in her arms. Clara is awakened to the peculiar sounds of scurrying and rustling. The Christmas tree lights have turned on again, as it grows bigger and bigger. All of the toys, including Claras nutcracker, have come in to life. Suddenly mice invade the room with intentions to rob and plunder. Under the leadership of the fearsome creep King, the mice begin to attack the dolls. The dolls retaliate under the leadership of the Nutcracker, provided are unable to fight off their enemy. The Nutcracker, left unharmed, engages in a duel with the Mouse King. He appears to be losing when Clara throw s her slipper at the Mouse King. This distracts the Mouse King enabling the Nutcracker to deal a final blow to the Mouse King. The mice scatter, and the toys are saved. The Nutcracker thanks Clara and is transformed into Drosselmeyers nephew. He takes Clara to the palace in the Land of Sweets ruled by the Sugarplum faery. Young Drosselmeyer impresses the Sugarplum Fairy with his tale of the nights adventure. As a reward, she promises the children ... ...l that even in Claras own pipe dream she is being lead by the Nutcracker. This helps further display the belief that a woman not only needs still also wants a man to tell her what to do.      Despite being an outdated story for our red-brick times, The Nutcracker remains a holiday favorite. Some could not hazard Christmas time without watching the dance of the Sugarplum Fairy or the battle of the Mouse King and The Nutcracker. Maybe it is the beautiful dancing, the magical Christmas scenes, or the romantic story, but no matter what, is seems The Nutcracker is here to stay.BibliographyAnderson, Jack. The Nutcracker Ballet. New York mayflower Books, 1979.Balanchine, George. Balanchines Complete Stories of the Great Ballets. Garden City Doubleday & Company, 1954.Banes, Sally. Dancing Women female bodies on stage. London Routledge, 1998.Guest, Ivor. The Romantic Ballet in Paris. Middleton Wesleyan UP, 1966.Kirstein, Lincoln. intravenous feeding Centuries of Ballet Fifty Masterworks. New York General Publishing, 1970.Kraus, Richard. History of Dance. Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall, 1969."The Nutcracker." International lexicon of Ballet. 1993