Thursday, January 30, 2020

History of Dance Essay Example for Free

History of Dance Essay INTRODUCTION: Once upon a time there was dance! In dance there are many forms. There is Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip hop, partner dancing, modern, and country and western. Dance originated many, many years ago. People used it to express emotions and stories. As time went on so did new dance techniques. Ballet came into the world around the 15th century Italian Renaissance and it slowly became the backbone for all dancing styles. As Albert Einstein said â€Å"dancers are the athletes of God. † SPEECH: Danced changed throughout the centuries *Centuries* As stated earlier the 15th century was the beginning of Ballet. During the time of both the 15th and 16th centuries ballet was only performed in royal courts where performers would get the audience to participate. Male dancers were the majority of dancers during this time period. To portray women in their performances they wore masks. In the 17th Century King Louis XIV (14th), who also was a dancer, performed in The Sun King ballet de la nuit. Louis XIV also founded Academie Royale de Musique (The Paris Opera. ) Ballet was becoming more theatrical during this time period, and female dancers were becoming the majority of performers. The ballet Les Indes Galantes (the gallant Indies) was the first ballet to feature women. During the 18th century the costumes were very extravagant. These costumes included masks, wigs, corsets, and hoop skirts. All were big and voluptuous. Two rivals, rebels, and amazing dancers at this time were Marie Camargo and Marie Salle. Marie Camargo started dancing in 1726. Because of Camargo’s gracefulness and quickness she ditched the traditional costume by shortening her skirt and wearing slippers to improve her techniques (leaps). Salle who started dancing in 1721, danced in a muslim costume (greek robe like), hair down, and unornamented to express that dance should be natural and expressed. Both dancers opened many new doors in the world of ballet. The 19th century was the time where ballerinas were the most popular performer in Europe. The Romantic Movement evolved during the 19th Century. Which was concerned with the supernatural world of spirits and magic and often portrayed women as passive and fragile. The use of pointe shoes were increased during this time period. Pointe shoes are satin shoes with wooden blocks in the toes to keep dancers on their toes all the time. Each pointe shoe is constructed to the dancer, no two pointe shoes are alike. As dance continued in the centuries it continued to change and flourish. The 20th century was the century where different styles and forms began to break away. Traditional ballet was still there but a more modernized version came into play. In order to move forward from this point you need an understanding of the types and styles there are in ballet *Types and Styles of Ballet*. There are two styles in ballet and they are story and plotless. Story Ballets, obviously, tell a story. Between the music and the dance a story is portrayed. Popular stories told were love stories. Another type of ballet is plotless. In a plotless ballet, no story is portrayed. Instead an image is created and aims to cause emotion. The three styles of ballet include classical, neo- classical, and contemporary. Classical reached its height in the 19th century, when you think of ballet this is the first thing people normally think about. Many graceful and and flowing movements are depicted in this style. Neo-Classical Ballet was introduced in the 20th century. Speed and energy in these dances were increased. In this style classical form was manipulated a lot and the rules for classical were broken. Contemporary Ballet was influenced by the movement of modern dance. Many new moves and techniques were established. Floor work and the turning in of the legs was a major change. There was a greater movement and body line in this style. With the changing of ballet through the centuries and the difference in types and styles, five positions and moves were always constant *ABC’s Of Ballet*. As a dancer, when I think of ballet I immediately think of the five positions. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. I know, I know not hard to remember. These positions have been around since the start of ballet in the 15th century. This is the grammar of ballet and the classical building blocks. No matter what century, type, or style of ballet these positions are there. Ballet is a whole new world when you think about it. Theres so much information that many people do not know. There is information I don’t even know. Here are some random and fun facts I discovered. Mindless trivia or surprisingly interesting? *Mindless trivia or surprisingly interesting? * A professional male dancer lifts over 1 ? tons worth of ballerinas during performances Most ballerinas go through two to three pairs of pointe shoes a week Tutus cost up to $2,000 to make and take 60 to 90 hours of labor with 100 yards of ruffle First ballet dancers didn’t dance in tutus or satin shoes-more focused on footwork and positioning 3 hour performance is equivalent to 2 90 minute soccer games or running 18 miles (and they say dance isn’t a sport). Pointe shoes add a minimum of 7 inches to a dancer A Prima ballerina can complete 32 fouette turns while staying in the same place. After pointe shoe is HOT to the touch Those are only a pinch of information there is from the world a ballet. CONCLUSION: In conclusion ballet is definitely the backbone to dance. Without its evolution from the 15th Century Italian Renaissance dance would not be where it is now. When you think of ballet don’t think of it as a little thing, ballet is full of history, it even teaches you many things such as gracefulness, poise, stamina, discipline, and lots of technique. Dancers all around the world are connected to one thing and that is ballet. â€Å"I dance because there is no greater feeling in the world than moving to a piece of music and letting the rest of the world disappear† Unknown You lose yourself and find yourself THANK YOU.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Attack in Pearl Harbor Essay example -- History

Attack in Pearl Harbor Attack in Pearl Harbor in December 1941 shocked United States to its core. It signaled not only an utter destruction of an important naval base and the loss of many lives, it in the first place signified the beginning of a great struggle for nation’s survival. At time when France fails to Germany, and Russia and Great Britain are at the verge of failing, nothing seemed to prevent the Nazi and its powerful allies to conquer the world. And though Attack in Pearl Harbor was shocking, the nightmare of expected upcoming tribulations was much greater. While incidents similar to that in Pearl Harbor were perhaps unconsciously expected by many Americans as they were observing great struggles on European scenes of war, they still couldn’t accept so miserable defeat of their naval base. As Hitler came to blame the German Jews for the defeat of Germany in WWI, Americans came to blame the American Japanese for the defeat of their forces in Pearl Harbor. As there was no solid evidence of the German Jews treacheries activities against their German government also there was no conclusive evidence of even a single American Japanese engaged in treason against America. Regardless how justifiable Internment of Japanese though to be during World War II (and by some today), it occupies, according to most historians an infamous place in American history. However it is possible to learn how to shape foresight policies during similar cases, if we learn from hindsight. â€Å"What did the Internment of Japanese American Mean† book, edited by Alice Yang Murray introduces through 5 different essay, different aspects of Japanese internment: â€Å"Reasons for internment†, â€Å"Legality of internment then and after†, â€Å"Precedents of Japanese internment abroad†, â€Å"Resistance to internment by Japanese Americans†, â€Å"Perception of internment by the Japanese American families and communities†. In the first part Roger Daniels describes the rise of paranoia against Japanese, and its underling racist motifs. He then goes into describing with some details on how the decision for mass evacuation evolved in the upper echelons of the government and military. The process of arriving to the decision is described by Daniels as intermingled with prejudices and lack of evidence. â€Å"Catch 22 situation† is particularly notable in this essay, which occurred when the absence of evidence ... ...tensively and genuinely (that is by advocates of interment camps themselves). Even while most historians condemn Japanese Internment, a balanced debate of both sides is more informative than unilateral presentation of the issue. We could relate Japanese Internment to current history, by referring to Patriot Act. While Patriot Act doesn’t force Arab Americans into internment camps, it could be used to prosecute, and deny civil liberties to many Arab Americans, including citizens. It is possible to argue that Patriot Act is justified out of security reason as the attack during September 11 occurred from interior of the country, rather from exterior, as it happen at Pearl Harbor, nonetheless most of the Arab terrorists, lived a relatively short time in the United States and did not hold citizenship. As United States is a melting pot, even if its effect is not always apparent, the likelihood for Arab American naturalized (and especially born) citizens, as for Japanese American, to commit sabotage, is not significant greater than for a Anglo-Saxon naturalized citizen (like Timothy McVeigh) to do so. Respect for civil liberties of all Americans thus is not only just but justifiable.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Pow 13 Imp 1 Corey Camel

POW #13 Corey Camel Problem Statement: Corey the Camel has a small banana grove in the desert, her harvest this year was 3,000 bananas. The market where Corey sells her bananas is 1,000 miles away. Corey has to walk to the market to sell her bananas, for each mile Corey walks, she eats one banana. Corey can only carry 1,000 bananas at a time. In this POW the goal is to find the number of bananas that Corey can get to the market. Process: To find the answer to this POW I did the mini POW, as suggested. I used the same process for POW 13, as I did for the mini POW.The process is as follows: 1. Corey starts the trip with 1,000 bananas. 2. She travels 200 miles, she’s left with 800 bananas. She stashes 600 bananas at 200 mile point, keeping 200 the trip back. 3. Corey picks up another 1,000 bananas. 4. She travels 200 miles, she has 800 left. She then picks up 200 from the bananas stashed. She now carries 1000 bananas and has 400 more stashed. 5. She travels an additional 333 1/3 miles, she’s left with 666 2/3 bananas, she stashes 333 1/3 there (533 1/3 mile point), she has 333 1/3 bananas left. 6. She then travels back 333 1/3 miles to 200 mile point.She has no bananas left, so picks up 200 stashed (leaving 200 still at 200 mile point), and travels back to the grove, 200 miles away. 7. She picks up another 1,000 bananas at the grove. 8. She travels to the 200 mile point, leaving her with 800 bananas, she picks up remaining 200 stashed. 9. With 1,000 bananas, she travels 333 1/3 miles to 533 1/3 mile point, she is then left with 666 2/3 bananas. 10. She picks up all 333 1/3 that were stashed there 11. She’s back at 1000 bananas 12. She makes remaining 466 2/3 mile trip, 1000-466 2/3 = 533 1/3 bananas left to sell at the market.Solution: a. Corey the Camel will have 533 1/3 bananas to sell at the market. b. Yes, I do think that my solution is the best possible, because if you try stashing less bananas at the 200 mile point, or traveling further before stashing bananas, you always fall short of the 533 1/3 bananas that this method gives you. 533 1/3 is the most possible bananas that Corey the Camel can get to the market. c. The problems are basically identical, just the mini POW uses smaller numbers. It’s easier to work with and helped a lot in finding the answer to the POW.The answer is related, because you go basically the same steps, just with smaller amounts of bananas and miles. Evaluation: I definitely think that this POW was worthwhile; it made me think deeply about what the answer could be. I got a little frustrated for a moment, because at first glance, I would expect the answer to the POW to be 0 bananas, however, the more you look at it, you figure out multiple ways to solve it. The best part about this POW was it’s critical thinking factor, you really need to take into account many perspectives and ways to solve the problem.

Monday, January 6, 2020

Philosophy Jokes to Understand the Self and Cognition

Philosophy of mind is a rich field for jokes since quite a lot of humor is about the strangeness of being human and the difference between knowing something from the outside and knowing it from the inside (i.e. from a subjective perspective). Here are a few choice items. The Silent Parrot A man sees a parrot in a pet shop and asks how much it costs. â€Å"Well, he’s a good talker, says the owner, â€Å"so I can’t let him go for less than $100.†            Ã‚   â€Å"Hmm,† says the man, â€Å"that ‘s a bit steep. How about that miniature turkey over there? â€Å"Oh, I’m afraid he’d stretch your budget even more†, answers the owner. â€Å"That turkey sells for $500.† â€Å"What!† exclaims the customer. â€Å"How come the turkey’s five times the price of the parrot when the parrot can talk and the turkey can’t? â€Å"Ah, well, â€Å"says the store owner. â€Å"It’s true the parrot can talk and the turkey can’t. But that turkey is a remarkable phenomenon. He’s a philosopher.   He may not talk, but he thinks! The joke here, of course, is that the claim about the turkey’s ability to think is unverifiable since it doesn’t manifest itself in any way that is publicly observable. Empiricism in all its forms tends to be skeptical of any such claims. In the philosophy of mind, one robust form of empiricism is behaviorism. Behaviorists hold that all talk of â€Å"private†, â€Å"inner† mental events, should be translatable into statements about observable behavior (which includes linguistic behavior). If this can’t be done, then the claims about inner mental states are unverifiable and hence meaningless, or at least unscientific. Behaviourism Q: How does a behaviorist greet another behaviorist? A: Youre feeling fine. How am I? The point here is that behaviorists reduce all mental concepts to descriptions of how people behave. They do this because of behavior, unlike a person’s inner thought and feelings, is publicly observable. Part of the motivation for doing this is to make psychology more scientific–or at least more the â€Å"hard† sciences such as physics and chemistry which consist entirely of descriptions of objective phenomena. The problem, though, at least as far as the critics of behaviorism are concerned, is that we all know perfectly well that we aren’t just a lump of nature exhibiting patterns of behavior. We have consciousness, subjectivity, what has been called an â€Å"inscape.† To deny this, or to deny that our private access to it can be a source of knowledge (e.g. about how we are feeling) is absurd. And it leads to the sort of absurdity captured in the above exchange. Knowledge of Other Minds A four-year-old girl comes running to her father bawling loudly and holding her head. â€Å"What’s wrong, honey?† asks the concerned parent. Between sobs, the girl explains that she’d been playing with her nine-month-old baby brother when the baby had suddenly grabbed her hair and pulled hard. â€Å"Oh well†, says her father, these things are bound to happen sometimes. You see, the baby doesn’t know that when he pulls your hair he’s hurting you. Comforted, the girl goes back to the nursery. But a minute later there’s another outburst of sobbing and screaming. The father goes to see what the problem is now and finds that this time it’s the baby who’s in tears. â€Å"What’s the matter with him?† he asks his daughter. â€Å"Oh, nothing much, she says. â€Å"Only now he knows.† A classic problem of modern philosophy is whether I can justify my belief that other people have subjective experiences similar to mine. The joke illustrates the significant fact that this is a belief we acquire very early in life. The girl has no doubt that the baby feels pain similar to her own. It may also tell us something about how we arrive at this belief. Interestingly, what the girl says at the end is quite possibly false. The baby may only know that his sister did something to his head which hurt. That might be enough to stop him pulling her hair in future. But it won’t be too long before he goes beyond mere pragmatic avoidance of hair pulling and accepts the standard explanation of why he should he eschew it. The Unconscious A hunter is stalking through the forest when he is suddenly charged by a bear. HE shoots but misses.   In seconds, the bear is upon him. It grabs his gun and breaks it in two. It then proceeds to sodomize the hunter. The hunter is, of course, furious. Two days later he returns to the forest with a brand new high-powered rifle. All day he hunts for the bear, and towards dusk comes across it. As he aims the bear charges.   Again the shot goes wide. Again the bear grabs the gun, smashes it to bits and then sodomizes the hunter. Beside himself with rage, the hunter returns the next day with an AK 47. After another long search he finds the bear, but this time the carriage jams as he tries to shoot the charging animal. Once again the bear breaks apart the weapon and throws it away. But this time, instead of taking the usual liberties, he puts his paws on the man’s shoulders and says, gently: â€Å"Let’s be honest with each other. This isn’t really about hunting, is it?† This is a pretty funny joke. One thing interesting about it, though, is that it relies on the listener understanding that the bear’s words refer to unconscious motivations and desires. Since Freud, the existence of these is widely accepted. But at the time of Descartes, the notion that you could have thoughts, beliefs, wishes, and motives that you were not aware of would have been considered absurd by many people. The mind was thought to be transparent; anything â€Å"in† it could be readily identified and examined through introspection. So back in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this joke would probably have fallen flat. Descartess Death The great French philosopher Rene Descartes is most famous for his statement, â€Å"I think, therefore I am.† He made this certainty the starting point of his entire philosophy. What is less known is that he died in rather unusual circumstances. He was sitting in a cafà © one day when a waiter approached him, coffee pot in hand. â€Å"Would you like more coffee, monsieur?† asked the waiter. â€Å"I think not,† Descartes replied---and poof! . . . he disappeared.