Frontline: Re-Choreographed Dance Performance

more fluid and smoother feeling.

The lighting changes back to a cruel state and then the cyclorama is used which casts shadows which makes the dance more frenetic to make it look like there are more dancers in the background. Frontline uses large clear open spaces. Signal which is another work done by Henri Oguike. Again Oguike was inspired by the music the taiko drum. That inspiration gave the idea of a battle field instrument used to intimidate the enemy and also used to give out commands.

The space and lighting is similar to Frontlines.Again the music is an inspiration which is narrative and uses a lot of musicality, which the dance id done to. The name of the dance Signal refers to the signals of the drums given on the battlefield, the lighting mirrors this as it is mainly a red lighting state which is a red wash, which shows the blood from the battlefield. Frontline uses red lighting as well as showing the Russian heritage and bloodshed from the fighting. In Signal there are distinct lines and corridors on stage, but in Frontline the dancers don't keep to within the lines at all times and cross between the corridors.As the music build to the climax a red circle is formed on the stage, which makes the audience think of the blood on the battlefield.

Again just like Frontline there are no props used. Swansong by Christopher Bruce, uses lighting which suggests a dark, claustrophobic room, with a single small window, high up. The lighting differentiates between the movements when the victim is alone and when he is joined by the guards. In the victims

solo a shaft of light from upstage left appears and the dancer directs many of his movements towards that light.The lighting focuses on the chair during the interrogation scenes, and when he is alone the light form the small window is lit up. The lighting is similar to Frontline in the way that it is focussed on top of the dancers but in the other ways it is not similar.

But the set design is similar to Frontline because it uses an empty stage, which has all black walls. But there are props used which play an important part in this dance to help show the relationships.The most important prop would probably be the chair, because it is a great significant to the victim and his ever changing relationship, this reflects the state of mind what he is thinking. It helps us to see the dance as a metaphor for the life of a dancer who is torn between dancing and retiring.

The chair is also used in many ways for example, prison bars, shield, a weapon and many other things. Flesh & Blood is by Lea Anderson, it could be to do with religion, because the title can also mean win and bread at the Holy Communism.Like in Frontline there is a lot of floor work, which all takes place in a semi-lit studio or in the background of the cathedral and the standing dancers are lit in a soft angelic glow. The set design is mainly sight specific, not like Frontline, but the lighting is similar when on stage, a grey is used like in Frontline and a steel blue, which gives it

a mechanical feel or could be represented as water washing there sins away. Swan Lake is by Matthew Bourne, this dance is completely different to Frontline, and it has no similarities.

The difference is that Swan Lake is that it has a large elaborate stage which the audience might focus on more than the actual dancers. But big seta also help tell the story, in this case if there was not elaborate setting, such as the bed, backdrops and costumes, the story would not be told and we would not know what the dance is about. This dance gives a definite storyline, which helps us to have visual clues what is going on in the story as there is obviously no dialogue.