UNIVERSIDAD DE CHILE FACULTAD DE FILOSOFA Y HUMANIDADES DEPARTAMENTO DE LINGSTICA LENGUA MODERNA II

PERFORMING ARTS
Pre-reading activity

What are these people famous for? What do they have in common? William Shakespeare Maria Callas Ludwing van Beethoven Harry Houdini Pina Bausch

When was the last time you attended a performance? What did you see? Did you enjoy it? Read a text about Performing Arts and then answer the questions below. Vocabulary Spot Stagecraft: the art of writing, adapting, or staging plays. Costumes: clothes to wear in special occasions, as in the case of a party or to perform. Stage: where actors perform. Branch: a part of something. Speech: to say something. Either: one or the other of two. Motion: movement. The performing arts are those forms of art in which individual people perform separately or together the artist'sownbody,face,andpresenceisneededfortheperformance. These type of arts include the dance, music, opera, drama, magic, oratory and circus arts. Artists who participate in performing arts in front of an audience are called performers, including actors, comedians, dancers, magicians, musicians, and singers. Performing arts are also supported by workers in related fields, such as songwritingandstagecraft. Performers often adapt their appearance, such as with costumes andstagemakeup,etc.Thereis alsoa specializedformoffineartinwhichtheartistsperformtheirworklivetoanaudience.Thisiscalledperformanceart.

Music Music focuses on three career paths: music performance, music education, and musicology (theory, history, etc.). Students learn to play musical instruments, but also study music theory, musicology, history of music and musical composition. In the arts tradition, music is also used to broaden skills of nonmusicians by teachingskillssuchasconcentrationandlistening.

Drama Drama (Greek 'to do', 'seeing place') isthebranch ofthe performing artsconcerned withacting out stories in front of an audience. It uses speech, gesture, music, dance, and soundindeed any one or more elements of the other performing arts. In addition to the standard narrative dialoguestyle of plays, theatretakessuch formsas musicals,opera,ballet,illusion,mime,standupcomedy,amongothers.

Dance Dance (from Old French dancier) generally refers to human movementeither used as a form of expression or in a social, spiritual or performance setting. 'Dance' is also used to describe methods of nonverbal communication between humans or animals (bee dance), motion in inanimate objects (the leaves danced inthe wind),andcertainmusicgenres. Choreographyistheartofmakingdances,andthepersonwhodoesthisiscalledachoreographer. The definition of whatis dance depends onsociety,andgoesfromfolk dance to codified,complex techniques such as ballet. In sports, rhythmic gymnastics, figure skating, ice dancing and synchronized swimming are dance disciplines.Somemartialartshavedancelikemoves.

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What is the difference between performing arts and visual arts? What is music used for? What are two forms that drama takes? What is dance used for? Post-reading activity How popular are performing arts in your country? What is the most popular one? How could you make people be interested in arts? What could the government do?

Grammar Spot Do & Make

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