The Dance of Death is a grotesque allegorical representation in which the figure of Death, generally in the form of a skeleton, is represented interrupting people of every condition and in all situations, and carrying them away; so called from the mocking activity usually displayed by the figure of Death as he leads away his victims. It was frequently drawn by artists of the middle ages for cemeteries and cloisters. These representations were common in Germany, and also in France, where they received the name of Danse Macabre, the derivation of which has been much disputed. The series attributed to Hans Holbein, the younger, was first published at Lyons in 41 plates, increased in a subsequent edition by 12 additional plates. A remarkable Dance of Death was painted, in fresco, on the walls of the churchyard in the suburb of St John at Basel, which was injured, in early times, by being washed over, and is now entirely destroyed. This piece has been ascribed to Holbein; but it has long since been proved that it existed sixty years before his birth. Research Dance of Death
Japanese drama commenced around the 7th century and to date has evolved a wide variety of genres characterised generally by the fusion of dramatic, musical, and dance elements. The music and dance, as well as the subjects, settings, costumes, and acting styles, were rigidly stylised and, until recent times, offered relatively few realistic or naturalistic qualities. Some genres utilise almost exclusively a fixed repertoire of plays, often many centuries old. The earliest known type of Japanese theatrical entertainment is gigaku, which was introduced into Japan in 612 from southern China; it is thought to have been ultimately of Indian or possibly even of Greek origin. Gigaku dances, performed with masks, seem to have been humorous. In the 8th century gigaku fell into disfavour because its frivolous character displeased the Japanese rulers of the period. It was supplanted largely by bugaku, an entertainment introduced from China. Bugaku dances portrayed simple situations such as the return of a general from war.
The performers wore impressive robes, and their dances had exotic splendour. Japanese rulers, intent on imitating Chinese courtetiquette, favoured bugaku, both because of its solemnity and because of its similarity to Chinese court entertainments, and it quickly acquired a ritual character. Bugaku may now be seen only at ceremonies. A type of acrobatic entertainment known as sangaku, transmitted similarly to Japan from the Asian continent and popular in the 8th century, also influenced Japanese drama. Typical acts included tightrope walking, juggling, and sword swallowing. A Combination of these secular entertainments and the sacred dances and songs associated with the Shinto religion gradually evolved into more complex forms of drama. Surviving documents from the 11th century describe comic playlets, and one play still performed, the ritual dance Okina, may date from this period.
Plays were also performed at shrine festivals in support of prayers for harvests or to depict the history of the shrine. The actors and musicians were organised into troupes. By the 14th century the theatre had developed one of its foremost artistic achievements, No drama. These plays included solemn dances intended to suggest the deepest emotions of the principal character and were written in the poetic language of the Japanese classics. A program also often included kyo gen, or farces written in colloquial language. No was brought to the level of great art by the genius of two dramatists, Kanami Kiyotsugu and his son Zeami Motokiyo. No was patronised by the Ashikaga shogunate after a shogun saw the boy Zeami perform in 1374. Zeami developed No into refined aristocratic drama, but after his death it tended to lose its creative vitality and become ritualistic. Many No plays performed at present are by Zeami, and his books of criticism are considered the final authority on the subject.
For a short period after the Meiji restoration in 1868, No was threatened with extinction because of its connections with the discredited shogunate. It survived the threat, however, and thereafter enjoyed popularity with specialised audiences. An entire program of No drama traditionally consists of five No plays in poetry with music and four kyo gen farces in prose without music, performed alternately. Kyogen farces feature representational acting, and the actors wear neither masks nor makeup. No plays avoid representational accuracy in favour of a symbolic treatment of subjects concerning the worlds of the living and the dead. The principal types of No plays are those dealing with deities, the ghosts of warriors, women with tragic destinies, mad persons, and devils or festive spirits. The actors, who often wear masks, are richly and elaborately costumed. The No drama is performed in a theatre with a roofed stage. The audience is seated on two or, less commonly, three sides of the stage. The actors reach the stage by a passageway, called the bridge, which is marked by three pine trees. The only backdrop is a large painted pine. The scenery consists entirely of impressionistic props suggesting the outlines of a building, a boat, or any other object of importance to the play. Only male actors perform in No dramas. When they play the roles of women or of men whose age is markedly different from their own, they wear masks, many of which are exceptionally beautiful. The No drama also includes a chorus that sits at one side of the stage and recites for the actors when they dance, but the chorus has no identity in the drama. Full programs are seldom presented any longer, but kyo gen continues to be an indispensable part of the entire performance, for it presents the humorous aspects of life with which No is never concerned.
At the end of the 15th century two new popular forms appeared; they were the puppet theatre, jo ruri, also called bunraku, and a form known as kabuki. The puppet theatre combines three elements: the puppets; the chanters who sing and declaim for the puppets; and the players of the samisen, a three-stringed instrument, who provide the accompaniment. The greatest Japanese dramatist, Chikamatsu Monzaemon, wrote chiefly for the puppet theatre, the artistic level of which is perhaps higher in Japan than anywhere else in the world. The puppet theatre, after attaining its greatest popularity in the 18th century, lost in public favour to the kabuki, which has continued to be the most popular traditional dramatic genre. By the mid-1980s kabuki was popular with American audiences, and troupes made annual appearances in the USA Kabuki tends to be spectacle rather than drama. Original kabuki texts, as opposed to those adapted from the puppet theatre, are of lesser importance than the remarkable acting, the music and dance, and the brilliantly collared settings.
Kabuki plays are performed in large theatres, with a hanamichi, or raised platform, extending from the back of the theatre to the stage. In addition to the traditional drama, a modern theatrical repertoire consisting of original Japanese plays in a modern idiom and of translations of European plays has been active in Japan since the beginning of the 20th century. Some 20th-century playwrights have attempted to compromise between traditional Japanese forms and essentially Western idioms, either by introducing modern psychology into their treatment of the ancient tales or by making kabuki-style plays out of such European classics as Shakespeare's Macbeth. Highly successful modern presentations of traditional themes are offered in Five Modern No Plays (1956) by Mishima Yukio. Other plays, notably Twilight Crane, produced in 1949, by Kinoshita Junji, are derived from old folktales. Many contemporary Japanese playwrights deal with such themes as conflict in modern Japanese society and problems of social injustice; other playwrights prefer to work out Japanese equivalents of modern symbolic drama or of the American musical comedy. Research Japanese Drama
A masquerade is a party or dance at which fancy masks and costumes are worn. In early times it was connected with religion, but was afterwards discouraged by the fathers of the church. Originating in Italy, the
masquerade was introduced into France by Catherine de'Medici; it reached England during the reign of Henry VIII, and flourished under Elizabeth I, giving rise to a special kind of play - the masque. Masquerading was forbidden in France in 1535 owing to its abuses, but was very popular with Louis XIV. It was again proscribed by the republicans in 1789. Research Masquerade
The Moulin Rouge is a revue theatre in the Montmartre district of Paris, France. Built in 1885 it became a dance hall in 1900, and became famous for its soft-porn revue shows of the 'cancan' immortalised in the posters and drawings of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Today, the revue shows are still soft-porn, with naked and semi-naked dancers prancing about to the sounds of music and accompanied by computer-controlled light shows, and interspersed with magic shows. Research Moulin Rouge
Prom is an originally American term for a dance or ball held at a school or college. The term originated in the middle of the 19th century and slowly took hold in the United Kingdom during the late part of the 20th century and the start of the 21st century, until proms were common-place as leaving celebrations for the eldest students, first at secondary schools (with the children leaving being of an age of about sixteen) and later slowly extending to the leaving celebrations of younger children leaving primary school at an age of about eleven. Typically a prom is a formal-dress affair, the girls wearing expensive, long, evening ball gowns usually of a satin finish and the boys wearing a suit incorporating a dinnerjacket (or tuxedo as the Americans call it, the term tuxedo becoming more common in the United Kingdom at the start of the 21st century). Research Prom
The saraband is a stately dance which was at one time popular in Spain, France and England. It was said to have been invented in the 16th century by the dancer Zarabander, although other sources ascribe it to an Oriental source. In England the saraband was transformed into an ordinary country dance. Research Saraband
The Sumbawa is a breed of pony from the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. They grow to 12 hands high and are mostly dun coloured with a dark dorsal stripe. Typically the breed is quiet and willing with good stamina and endurance, fast and agile and are used in sport and dance. Research Sumbawa Pony
The Sumba is a breed of pony from the Indonesian island of Sumba. They grow to 12 hands high and are mostly dun coloured with a dark dorsal stripe. Typically the breed is quiet and willing with good stamina and endurance, fast and agile and are used in sport and dance. Research Sumba Pony
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Dance of Death
