Ghost Dances (1981)

• • Choreographer – Christopher Bruce
  • Music – Nicholas Mojsiejenko
  • Set Design – Christopher Bruce
  • Costume Design – Belinda Scarlett
  • Lighting Design – Nick Chelton
  • Cast of 11 Dancers – Houston Ballet performs it in the footage.
• Context :

  • During the period of Augusto Pinochet's rule, various investigations have identified the murder of 1,200 to 3,200 people with up to 80,000 people forcibly interned and as many as 30,000 tortured. According to the Chilean government, the official number of deaths and forced disappearances stands at 3,095.
• Starting Points

  Music – South American Folk Music 

                     arranged by Nicholas Mojsiejenko 

  Political oppression in Chile 

  • People abusing their position in power, not allowing freedom of speech.
  • It resulted in a coup (mass killing)
  •  Bruce’s response to a letter from widow of chilean folk singer and writer Victor Jara, who was murdered during the military coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power in Chile.
  • Dedicated ‘To the innocent people of South America who have been continuously devastated by political oppression.’
• ‘Although it has a South American setting, it is a universal story based on….

  • Cruelty
  • Lack of human rights
  • People who suffer.’

  …and by the end, you’ve knocked these people down, down, again and again, but they always proudly rise up and carry on. There is a kind of dignity to how they finally pass on to where they are going. ‘

  .
• Structure- episodic…with death as the linking theme, changing moods and relationships.
• • Music – Andean folk music, panpipes, guitars, flutes; infectious, rhythmic, tuneful. Inspired by recordings by Inti-illimani in the 1980s by Rambert’s musicians under the name of Incantation.
• Everyday action/gestures

  Example; 

  In section 5 of Ghost Dances, Mis Llamitas, the male and female couple walk forward holding hands 19.10.  (everyday actions). Later she seems mad with him and grabs his tie, he then flings it up, letting go of it (everyday actions)- 20.17

  action/gestures
• Folk Dance

  ‘He creates his own folk dance steps based on a general understanding of the form…obvious elements used include fleet, precise and often intricate footwork, the use of chain and circle dances, and the spinning turns…’

  Example;

  The dancers hold hands with each other in a line, with their upper bodies facing the front and lower body facing stage right, and then run for 2x8 counts as a link chain moving in a circular pathway. They continue the circular pathway with a series of travelling steps that cross in front and behind. (24.56)
• Flexed feet

  Example;

  Two dancers step onto their right foot and extended their left into an arabesque line, with a flexed foot. Their arms are in a matching line, with fists.
• • "Bruce agrees that, on the evidence of Ghost Dances, Swansong, and Cruel Garden (about the death of Lorca at the hands of the Fascists in Spain), human rights themes have provided him with a strong source of inspiration. He remains a passionate advocate for the role of dance and the arts in society and believes that seeing good work and the chance to perform, either as an amateur or a professional, can not only enrich lives, but can also be a civilising influence."