The interplay of poetry, music, and movement in the jazz-ballet Bittersweet

Author

Nora C. McCampbell

Date of Award

8-1983

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major Professor

Gene McCutchen

Committee Members

Richard Croskey, Lorayne Lester

Abstract

The intent of this paper was to explore the commonalities between dance, poetry, and music in the expression of the human experience and to show how the interplay of these arts produced its choreographic counterpart, a four-part jazz-ballet entitled Bittersweet. Together, the dance and this accompanying discussion constituted the thesis project.

Bittersweet was premiered March 11, 1982, at the Clarence Brown Theatre at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Composed of four sections, the work involved a cast of sixteen dancers, eight male and eight female, and was approximately 15 minutes in length. The motivation behind the work was to amplify the spectrum of life experience: the ebb and flow of human success and failure, optimism and pessimism, hope and despair, joy and pain, undying spirit and capacity for endurance--his faith in the promise It focused upon mankind's of a new day.

These universal life experiences--these themes--may be found in a vast myriad of creative idioms; truly, this expression of the human condition may well be the common denominator of all art. Because of its highly subjective and ethereal nature, the art of dance has been related to the art of poetic expression. It is of further note that a large body of poetry exists which is rich in dance imagery, whose authors employ the use of dance images, in particular, to communicate their unique philosophies on life.

Another of the many modes of self-expression and communication is music. Music, and especially song, has long afforded mankind with a natural opportunity for release, and has provided, as well, inspiration for some poets, who have experimented with its structural and rhythmical implications on their poetry, Inasmuch as songwriters may view their labor as poetic art, the apparent intimacy of the arts with the polarities and dualities of daily existence is widely evident as thematic links among them. Thus, the obvious interplay of poetry and music—and the manner in which each relates to the dance--was explored, as well as the direct bearing of both upon the thesis work, Bittersweet.

Recommended Citation

McCampbell, Nora C., "The interplay of poetry, music, and movement in the jazz-ballet Bittersweet. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 1983.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/14855