How and why does Christopher Bruce use ballet in his choreography?
I’ve never seen Ghost Dancers but I have studied Swansong… The ballet is fused with tap and contemporary, which makes it more layered and captivating for an audience to watch and it adds elements of originality and individuality to the choreography. Ballet is also one of the most strict styles of dance having specific positions and requirements of the body which cannot be manipulated without it becoming contemporary dance. This strictness and confined nature of the dance style could represent part of the plot of Swansong – for example: the strictness and precision or the movement could represent how strict the prison guards are towards the prisoner. Just try using symbolisism of the charcateristics of ballet and linking it to concept, actions, dynamics and relationships in the dance.
