Introduction to Arts &

Humanities

Performing Arts

Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities

 Introduction

Performance art, a time-based art form that

typically features a live presentation to an audience
or to onlookers (as on a street) and draws on such
arts as
 Acting, poetry, music, dance, and painting.

 It is generally an event rather than an artifact, by

nature ephemeral, though it is often recorded on
video and by means of still photography.
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 History of Performing Arts
 The performing arts have origins in early civilizations.
 GREEKS
 The Greeks were influential in art, dance, music, and
theater.
 Poems written by poets such as Sophocles and Euripides
were performed, sometimes with dancers, before live
audiences in theaters and arenas in ancient Greece.
 MUSIC
 The Greeks also developed a notation system for music.
 Researchers have theorized that early man created music
and singing in an effort to imitate birds, animals, and other
sounds
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Artsof nature.
& Humanities
 History of Performing Arts
 EGYPTIANS
 Egyptians and other groups played harps in rituals
honoring their gods. Other early instruments were drums
and trumpets such as the shofar, which was a ram’s horn
commonly used in Jewish temples and still used today.
 ROMAN CATHOLICS
 In medieval times, the Roman Catholic Church provided
formal music education to train boys to sing Gregorian
chants, which were simple melodies with specific notes.
The focus on creating music for multiple instruments
began in the 1700s and 1800s.
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 History of Performing Arts
 ROMAN CATHOLICS
 It was then that composers Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg
Friedrich Handel, Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, among many others,
created different harmonies and melodies through
complex instrumental compositions.
 Other musical forms emerged during this time, such as the
opera, which combined orchestral music with theater.
 By the 1800s, the orchestra had an established structure in
which similar instruments were grouped into sections:
strings, woodwind, brass, percussion
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 History of Performing Arts
 The types of music that have developed since the 1900s
include the blues, jazz, gospel, country, folk, rock and roll,
hip hop, and more.
 Inventions like the phonograph, radio, television, the
computer, and the Internet have increased awareness and
knowledge of other cultures’ music and musicians.
 Music from around the world can now be heard through
online streaming services such as iTunes, Spotify, Pandora,
and others.

Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities

 History of Performing Arts
 DANCE
 Dance dates back to early times, with ritual ceremonies
performed by tribal societies to ask the spirits and gods for
success with battles, hunts, or harvests.
 Dance took center stage in religious ceremonies and
festivals for Egyptians, Israelites, and other groups.
 The Greeks and Romans also focused on dance in
education and entertainment.
 Ballet, which was initially performed in royal courts,
evolved by the 18th century to a professional art that was
performed on public stages.
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 History of Performing Arts
 DANCE
 Early famous choreographers and dancers included
Auguste Vestris, Jean-Georges Noverre, and Franz
Hilverding.
 The ballet La Fille mal gardée, choreographed by French
ballet master Jean Dauberval, premiered in July 1789, and
is still performed today.
 Ballroom dancing started with the aristocracy, later
spreading to public dance halls in the mid-1700s in London
and then through Europe and America.
 In the early 20th century modern dance emerged, allowing
for personal expression and freer movement than ballet.
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 History of Performing Arts
 DANCE
 Musical theater and comedy continue to be popular forms
of entertainment, featuring a variety of dance types,
including modern, ballet, and jazz.
 The TV shows Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You
Can Dance are also popular and raise the public's
awareness of different dance styles and choreography.

Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities

 History of Performing Arts
 THEATER ACTING
 Theater acting originated with the Greeks around 535 B.C.
 History has it that Thespis of Icaria was the first actor to
appear on a stage, reading lines from poems and creating
different characters through various masks and props.
 The word “thespian,” meaning actor or relating to drama
and theater, derives from Thespis.
 Greek tragedies and comedies were performed in outdoor
theaters for live audiences.
 In medieval times Christian churches created religious plays
that were performed during church services to reenact
various religious stories.
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 History of Performing Arts
 THEATER ACTING
 Starting in the 16th century, actors performed plays for royal
courts throughout Europe, including Italy, Spain, and
England.
 The 1500s also saw the first appearance of theaters being
built that were dedicated to stage performance, e.g., in
London, many permanent, public playhouses were custom
built, including Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
 Prior to this, performances were typically held in rustic
settings, such as pubs and outdoor courtyards.
 William Shakespeare was an early founder of playwriting; he
created many plays in the 1600s that continue to be
performed for theater, television, and film audiences.
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 History of Performing Arts
 THEATER ACTING
 In the 1800s and early 1900s, melodrama and Romanticism
influenced theater, which featured elaborate stage settings and
scenery, extremely emotional acting, and plays that focused on
such topics as nationalism or glorifying nature or the past.
 Vaudeville was a popular performing art in the United States,
particularly in New York City, in the early 1900s, with a mix of
performers who acted out plays, danced, sang, told jokes, and
played instruments.
 In 1899, the first “Broadway” theater in New York City, Victoria
Theater, was built on West 42nd Street. Well-known theater
actors in the early to mid-1900s included Ethel Barrymore,
Lionel Barrymore, John etc.
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 History of Performing Arts
 THEATER ACTING
 Since the 1900s many acting schools have been created, as
well as drama departments in academia.
 Examples of acting techniques and methods that are taught
include Stanislavski’s System, a more naturalistic and
disciplined technique, and Lee Strasberg’s method, which
encourages actors to draw from their personal, emotional
experiences when portraying characters.
 There’s also the Stella Adler method, in which an actor’s
imagination as well as emotional recall is used.
 Robert DeNiro, Mark Ruffalo, and Benecio Del Toro, among
many others, are Adler alumni.

Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities

 Structure of Performing Arts
 The performing arts industry consists of professional and
amateur performance organizations and theaters.
 There are for-profit organizations as well as nonprofit
performance arts groups.
 Dancers
 Dance companies employ professional dancers to perform
programs on a regular schedule that typically runs for up to
nine months.
 Dance shows are held several nights a week.
 There are also daytime shows in addition to daily rehearsals.
 Dance shows are also taken on the road, and dancers are
expected to travel to other cities, states, or countries.
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 Structure of Performing Arts
 Dancers
 Dance companies also employ choreographers, master
dancers, recruiters, administrators, lighting and set
designers, makeup artists, and publicists.
 In May 2018, approximately 13,900 dancers and 7,200
choreographers worked in the United States, according to
the Department of Labor.
 Nearly 30 percent of all the U.S. dancers were employed by
performing arts companies.
 Professional dancers may also own their own dance schools
 They may teach adults and/or children dance styles for
professional dance roles.
 Dance styles like ballet, modern, jazz, tap, or other are taught
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 Structure of Performing Arts
 Musicians
 Musicians may be instrumentalists or singers, performing
independently or with bands or orchestras.
 The musical groups may be small, such as string quartets, or
large ensembles, with everything from string and percussion
to vocal sections.
 They may also perform with operas, Broadway productions,
dance companies, and other performing arts.
 Musicians audition for temporary and full-time positions in
bands, orchestras, and choirs.
 They may specialize in one type of music, such as classical or
rock, or in a range of styles, including pop, jazz, blues, and
more, performing in theaters, music clubs, or arenas etc.
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 Structure of Performing Arts
 Actors
 Actors work for commercial theater companies and
nonprofit companies.
 Commercial theater companies, such as Broadway theaters,
typically produce large, well-known plays that have proven to
be financially successful.
 Nonprofit theater companies tend to produce more
experimental plays.
 Actors audition for roles by memorizing and reciting lines
from scripts.
 They rehearse with other actors and performers, working
closely with directors and producers.
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 Structure of Performing Arts
 Actors
 Their work environment may be an indoor theater or
outdoor venue, such as a theater in a park. They may also
perform at festivals, theme parks, and even on cruise ships.
 Actors’ schedules vary depending upon the production
schedule. When they are cast in a role, the production may
last for several weeks or months.
 Daytime rehearsals can be long and shows are usually in the
evenings and on weekends.
 Actors may also work for companies that tour the country.
 As in most jobs in the performing arts, actors often
supplement their income by holding other jobs; this is
especially true for those starting out in the field.
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities
 THANK YOU
Salman Ahmad Khan - Intro to Arts & Humanities