Performing arts
The
performing arts differ from the
plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some
art object.
Performing arts include
acrobatics,
busking,
comedy,
dance,
magic,
music,
opera,
film,
juggling,
marching arts, such as
brass bands, and
theatre.
Artists who participate in these arts in front of an audience are called performers, including
actors,
comedians,
dancers,
musicians, and
singers. Performing arts are also supported by workers in related fields, such as
songwriting and
stagecraft.
Performers often adapt their
appearance, such as with
costumes and
stage makeup, etc.
There is also a specialized form of
fine art in which the artists
perform their work live to an audience. This is called
Performance art. Most performance art also involves some form of plastic art, perhaps in the creation of
props. Dance was often referred to as a
plastic art during the
Modern dance era.
;Music
Music as an academic discipline mainly focuses on two career paths, music
performance (focused on the
orchestra and the
concert hall) and
music education (training music teachers). Students learn to play
instruments, but also study
music theory,
musicology,
history of music and
composition. In the liberal arts tradition, music is also used to broaden skills of non-musicians by teaching skills such as concentration and listening.
;Theater
Theatre or
theater (Greek "theatron",
θέατρον) is the branch of the
performing arts concerned with
acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle — indeed any one or more elements of the other performing arts. In addition to the standard narrative dialogue style, theatre takes such forms as
opera,
ballet,
mime,
kabuki,
classical Indian dance,
Chinese opera,
mummers' plays, and
pantomime.
;Dance
Dance (from
Old French dancier, perhaps from
Frankish) generally refers to
human movement either used as a form of
expression or presented in a
social,
spiritual or
performance setting.
Dance is also used to describe methods of
non-verbal communication (see
body language) between humans or
animals (
bee dance, mating dance),
motion in inanimate objects (
the leaves danced in the wind), and certain
musical forms or
genres.
Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who does this is called a choreographer.
Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on
social,
cultural,
aesthetic artistic and
moral constraints and range from functional movement (such as
Folk dance) to codified,
virtuoso techniques such as
ballet. In
sports,
gymnastics,
figure skating and
synchronized swimming are
dance disciplines while
Martial arts '
kata' are often compared to dances.
Starting in the
6th century BC, the
Classical period of performing art began in
Greece, ushered in by the tragic poets such as
Sophocles. These poets wrote plays which, in some cases, incorporated dance (see
Euripides). The
Hellenistic period began the widespread use of
comedy.
However, by the
6th century AD, Western performing arts had been largely ended, as the
Dark Ages began. Between the
9th century and
14th century, performing art in the West was limited to religious historical enactments and
morality plays, organized by the
Church in celebration of holy days and other important events.
Renaissance
In the
15th century performing arts, along with the arts in general, saw a revival as the Renaissance began in
Italy and spread throughout
Europe plays, some of which incorporated dance were performed and
Domenico da Piacenza was credited with the first use of the term
ballo (in
De Arte Saltandi et Choreas Ducendi) instead of
danza (dance) for his
baletti or
balli which later came to be known as
Ballets. The first Ballet
per se is considered to be
Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx's
Ballet Comique de la Royne (
1581).
By the mid-
16th century commedia dell'arte became popular in Europe, introducing the use of
improvisation. This period also introduced the
Elizabethan masque, featuring music, dance and elaborate costumes as well as professional theatrical companies in
England.
William Shakespeare's plays in the late 16th century developed from this new class of professional performance.
In
1597, the first
opera,
Dafne was performed and throughout the
17th century, opera would rapidly become the entertainment of choice for the
aristocracy in most of Europe, and eventually for large numbers of people living in cities and towns throughout Europe.
Modern era
The introduction of the
proscenium arch in Italy during the 17th century established the traditional theater form that persists to this day. Meanwhile, in England, the
Puritans forbid acting, bringing a halt to performing arts which lasted until
1660. After this period, women began to appear in both
French and English plays. The French introduced a formal dance instruction in the late 17th century.
It is also during this time that the first plays are performed in the
American Colonies.
During the
18th century the introduction of the popular
opera buffa brought opera to the masses as an accessible form of performance.
Mozart's
The Marriage of Figaro and
Don Giovanni are landmarks of the late 18th century opera.
At the turn of the 19th century
Beethoven and the
Romantic movement ushered in a new era that lead first to the spectacles of
grand opera and then to the great musical dramas of
Giuseppe Verdi and the
Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) of the operas of
Richard Wagner leading directly to the music of the 20th century.
The
19th century was a period of growth for the performing arts for all social classes, the technical introduction of
gaslight to theaters in the
United States,
burlesque (a British import that became popular in the U.S.),
minstrel dancing, and
variety theater. In ballet, women make great progress in the previously male-dominated art.
Modern dance began in the late 19th century and early
20th century in response to the restrictions of traditional ballet.
Konstantin Stanislavski's
Stanislavski Method revolutionized acting in the early 20th century, and continues to have a major influence on actors of stage and screen to the current day. Both
impressionism and
modern realism were introduced to the stage during this period.
With the invention of the
motion picture in the late 19th century by
Thomas Edison, and the growth of the
motion picture industry in
Hollywood in the early 20th century, film became a dominant performance medium throughout the 20th and
21st centuries.
The
Darktown Follies and the later cultural growth of the
Harlem Renaissance spanned the
1910s to the early
1940s.
Rhythm and blues, a cultural phenomenon of black America became a distinctive genera in the early 20th century.
In the
1930s Jean Rosenthal introduced what would be come modern
stage lighting, changing the nature of the stage as the
Broadway musical became a phenomenon in the United States.
George Gershwin and
Rodgers & Hammerstein radically re-shaped the medium as the
Great depression came to an end and
World War II erupted.
Post-War performance
Post-World War II performing arts were highlighted by the resurgence of both ballet and opera in Europe and the United States.
Alvin Ailey's revolutionary
American Dance Theater was created in the
1950s, signaling the radical changes that were to come to performing arts in the 1950s and
1960s as new cultural themes bombarded the public consciousness in the United States and abroad.
Postmodernism in performing arts dominated the
1960s to large extent.
Rock and roll evolved from
rhythm and blues during the 1950s, and became the staple musical form of popular entertainment.
In
1968,
Hair introduced the
rock opera.
*
Performing arts education*
Apogee Foundation*
Fine art*
Performance art*
Intellectual property in the performing arts in the United States*
Infoplease: Performing Arts Timeline
