Ghost Dances

‘Ghost dances’ is a dramatic piece of dance, choreographed by Christopher Bruce in 1981. This dance is a tribute to the people who lived through South America’s turbulent past, where a political party in Chile murdered the country’s people if they did not share the same political views as them. There are many techniques Christopher Bruce used to contribute to our understanding of Ghost dances to really make it come alive.

One of the important factors used in Ghost dances is the music. The music used in this dance is South American folk music from the Andes, which mainly uses pan pipes, guitars and flutes. This music is used throughout the piece in a variety of speeds. Some of the songs use voices and singing whereas some are just instrumental. This music helps contribute to our understanding as the different speeds used in the different sections show what is being expressed in the scene. For example in section 4 ( the scene which uses four girls and one man, all dancing together) the music is upbeat and happy sounding, as they are all having fun.

However it is not just the music that contributes, as at the end of every section, where a person is taken away by the ghost dancers, the same dripping noise is introduced, which makes us think of blood dripping, as the people are dying. This creates a eery, haunting atmosphere and helps us concentrate on the sadness and pain felt.

The set design used in this piece seems to be set in a mountainous, rocky landscape which looks like the mouth of a cave. The colors used are very dark, for example; purple, dark blue, black and grey, which suggests this piece is set at night. This night-time appearance contributes to our understanding as night time is when people have nightmares, the darkness is haunting and people often relate darkness to death or horror.

The lighting used in this dance is quite simple it mainly uses :little light at the beginning of the sections, where it is dark and mysterious; a strong, bright white light on the center of the stage which builds up throughout the sections; and a yellowish-gel light, focused from the right hand side of the stage, which I think represents heaven, and the ghosts take the villagers into the light at the end of each section.

I think that not much light is used in the first section where the ghost dancers perform their motif as it creates shadows around their bodies, making them appear skeletal and really accentuates their body paint and costumes. This makes them seem even more haunting and intimidating to the audience.

I think the costumes worn by the ghost dancers really help us understand their part in the dance. The three main dancers wear: full head masks ( which appear skull like with hollow eyes and mouth)including a hair piece with black, matted hair; full body make-up (their body’s are painted pale, black and grey paint is used to accentuate their bones, making their skeletons appear more prominent); black, ragged loin clothes with rags and tassels hanging down; rags and tassels are also used around the elbows and knee’s. The dancers all have bare feet. These costumes show us how the dancers are skeletal and death like figures, and how intimidating they are to the audience and other dancers as they look very scary. The costumes help to portray the fear that was cast upon the people of Chile, and this is also reflected in the menacing movements of the ghost dancers.

The other eight dancers all wear quite casual, day-to-day clothes ( the women mostly wear light,flowing, cotton dresses or skirts which are plain with no designs on them.These dresses and skirts are all different colors, which show individuality in the separate characters, even though they are in the same situation.

They also do not wear shoes. The hair is either worn in a tight bun (mostly used on the older women to represent their age such as the mother in section three) or left long and flowing (usually on the younger women, such as the ‘young lover’ in the llama section, section 5).

The men either wear suits (although these do not look new, many are ragged or ripped) and cotton shirts, or loose-fitting casual trousers and a cotton shirt. The men wearing suits wear black jazz shoes, whereas the others have bare feet.

This shows us how anyone and everyone was brought into the horror of the situation, it was not just a certain group of people. Villagers, business men, women, teenagers and the elderly were all dragged in to the same position. These costumes also help us to recognize the relationships between characters, such as the young lovers in section five. The man looks young and silly as he is wearing a ridiculously long tie with a colorful pattern , and the young lady wears a white cotton dress, which shows her youth and virginity.