Women In Ballet Essay example -- essays research papers fc

Ballet is an art form born out of the expressionism and creativeness of the Renaissance period (Kraus 63). From the first concert dance performed in 1580 to the present, women postulate been represent as fragile and dependent on men. One such ballet is The Nutcracker in which the girl-heroine Clara relies on the Nutcracker to save her from the evil setback King.     The first production of The Nutcracker was performed for critics, public figures, and members of high society and original lack luster reviews on December 17, 1892 (Anderson 40-52). The layer opens in the living-room of a middle-class German family, the Stahlbaums, during a party on Christmas Eve. lighting fills the air in anticipation of the nights festivities. The Stahlbaum children, shy Clara and her brother Fritz, are caught in the enchantment of the evening. Guests arrive and presents are exchanged all this is a regular(prenominal) Christmas scene, until the magic begins. Drosselmeyer, Cl aras godfather, arrives late with his nephew, a boy near Claras age, and a nuthatch for Clara. Clara very much likes Drosselmeyers charming and courteous nephew and is excessively fond of her remote new toy. With the last dance, the party is brought to an end. Clara, unable to sleep, creeps d ownstairs for whiz last look at her nutcracker. She falls asleep on the sofa holding the nutcracker in her arms. Clara is awakened to the peculiar sounds of scurrying and rustling. The Christmas head lights have turned on again, as it grows bigger and bigger. All of the toys, including Claras nutcracker, have come to life. Suddenly mice invade the room with intentions to rob and plunder. Under the leaders of the fearsome Mouse King, the mice begin to attack the dolls. The dolls retaliate under the leaders of the Nutcracker, but 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 throws 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 transform into Drosselmeyers nephew. He takes Clara to the palace in the Land of Sweets ruled by the Sugarplum Fairy. unseasoned 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 dream she is being lead by the Nutcracker. This helps further display the whim that a woman not only needs but also wants a man to tell her what to do.      Despite being an outdated story for our modern times, The Nutcracker remains a holiday favorite. Some could not imagine Christmas time without watching the dance of the Sugarplum Fairy or the dispute of the Mouse King and The Nutcracker. Maybe it is the beautiful dancing, the magical Christmas scenes, or the wild-eyed story, but no matter what , is seems The Nutcracker is here to stay.BibliographyAnderson, Jack. The Nutcracker Ballet. current York Mayflower Books, 1979.Balanchine, George. Balanchines Complete Stories of the Great Ballets. Garden City Doubleday & Company, 1954.Banes, Sally. move Women Female bodies on stage. London Routledge, 1998.Guest, Ivor. The Romantic Ballet in Paris. Middleton Wesleyan UP, 1966.Kirstein, Lincoln. Four Centuries of Ballet Fifty Masterworks. New York General Publishing, 1970.Kraus, Richard. History of Dance. Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall, 1969."The Nutcracker." multinational Dictionary of Ballet. 1993