A Midsummer Night's Dream - Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre

How to Use This Handbook, cont'.Below is information related to the grouping of activities in this Handbook. The"Activity" pages are designed to be copied and may be used alone as an activity or insupport of another activity.PLOT, THEME AND CHARACTERDramatic structure in its strictest definition does not exist in ballet, though a story balletdoes share the elements of plot, theme, and character. The exercises relating to theseelements focus on familiarizing students with the story and characters of A MidsummerNight’s Dream..The Synopsis is the basis for our activities in this section. Act I including the Epilogueincorporates all of the story elements from Shakespeare's play into the ballet.MUSIC, MOVEMENT AND MIMEMusic and movement are the essence of dance and in classical ballet there is the addeddimension of pantomime, gestures which can be literal or symbolic. In this section youwill find activities designed to acquaint your students with the ballet's music and tointroduce them to the choreographic process.The CD accompanying this handbook has excerpts from Mendelssohn's A MidsummerNight’s Dream Overture and Incidental Music and the Overture to Athalie.COSTUMES, SCENERY AND LIGHTINGIn his book "Perceiving the Arts" Dennis Spore suggests that dance is essentially a visualand theatrical experience and part of our response is to those theatrical elements of dancethat are manifested in the performance.In dance as in theater, technical elements come together to create the spectacle of aproduction; therefore, we should look at costumes, scenery and lighting as an importantpart of dance. The activities in this section should encourage students to consider thesetechnical elements of producing a dance performance.6