Deborah Bull investigates the science of dance in new series
The Dancer's Body
Deborah
Bull, former prima ballerina with The Royal Ballet presents,
and often dances, her new landmark series for 91热爆 TWO, The Dancer's
Body.
The
series, starting on 21 September, and also written by Deborah Bull,
breaks new ground in creating a bridge between science and the performing
arts.
It
investigates the science behind those elements of the human body,
brain and mind that make performance possible, and understood.
Specially
commissioned new dance features in each of the programmes, including
two pieces by unconventional and innovative choreographer Wayne
McGregor in programme one and a duet by David Bintley, director
of Birmingham Royal Ballet, in programme three.
The
Dancer's Body investigates how the human body adapts through training
and looks at the dancer's specific skills, such as flexibility,
turning and jumping.
In
the second programme, Deborah Bull explores the dancer's brain,
discovering how movement is learnt and remembered and what lies
behind a dancer's exceptional ability for control and co-ordination.
Throughout
the series Deborah Bull puts her body through a series of challenges
in order to illuminate its workings.
She
performs on stage at the Royal Opera House, experiences a flight
simulator's autopilot, tears around the Manchester velodrome on
a racing bike, examines dizziness on Dr Michael Gresty's spinning
chair and is slid into the cavernous interior of a magnetic resonance
imaging machine to examine her brain.
Deborah
Bull says: "The Dancer's Body has provided a wonderful opportunity
for me to investigate the questions I've always wanted to answer
about an art form I've practised for so long.
"It
has allowed me to take a long, hard look at how dancers do the seemingly
impossible - and how audiences read so much into what they see."
Deborah
isn't the only star performer in this series.
The
programmes include performances from ballet stars such as 19-year-old
Marianella Nunez, The Royal Ballet's youngest principal dancer (and
known as one of the best "turners" in the business) and
male dancers Akram Khan, Jonathan Cope, Ivan Putrov, Edward Watson
(renowned for his incredible flexibility), Thomas Edur and the striking
Italian Alessandro Molin.
Sir
Anthony Dowell, one of the greatest male dancers the UK has produced,
comes out of retirement to see if he can remember a dance he last
performed in 1982.
Programme
1 - A Machine that Dances - 21 September 2002
Programme
1 investigates the physicality of dance, concentrating on the anatomy
and physiology of the dancer's body and the complex interplay of
muscle, tendon and ligament which produce movement.
Deborah
shows how the body has to adapt to become a professional dancer
and discovers, finally, why a dancer's trick of "spotting"
whilst turning prevents dizziness.
Dancers,
synchronised swimmers and stars from The Royal Ballet display their
extraordinary flexible talents, and the American hip hop dancer,
Bill Shannon challenges conventional notions of disability as he
dances through New York's traffic on his crutches and skateboard.
Programme
2 - A Headful of Footsteps - 28 September 2002
The
second programme probes the human brain, the complex interplay of
brain, nerve cells, memory and emotions that make performance possible.
During
the programme, Deborah returns to the place she first learnt to
dance, a hall above an amusement arcade in Skegness, where veteran
teacher Janice Sutton still puts hopeful children through their
paces.
A
sixth-sense called proprioception - fundamental to movement control,
but something most people don't even know exists - is investigated
as Deborah meets the only person in the world who manages to walk
despite having lost this crucial sense.
Programme
3 - Move like you mean it - 5 October 2002
The
last programme examines the dancer's body as a medium for communication:
what dance is for and what it means, and how gesture and movement
are even older than spoken language.
It
reveals how dancers and choreographers set about conveying feelings
and telling stories without words and how the audience's brain takes
in and interprets dance.
Deborah
also investigates the relationship between human body language and
dance.
Brain
scientists Sarah Jayne Blakemore, Vilayanur Ramachandran and Semir
Zeki use tennis, tango and Bollywood spectaculars to illustrate
how we interpret movement and why we get pleasure from watching
dancers perform.
Two
specially commissioned dances, by Wayne McGergor and David Bintley,
demonstrate how two choreographers can interpret a single theme
in radically different ways.
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