Sympathy for the Devil - Analysis
In this essay, I will describe the movement of the piece Sympathy For The Devil by Christopher Bruce. I will be using the four main concepts of dance illustration; Movement - Spatial and Dynamic, Dancers, Visual Settings and Aural Elements. This essay will also include my personal interpretations of the choreographer's intention. Through research, I will contextualise the work created by the choreographer in four sections; Social, political, historical and economical contexts and link the choreographer's choreographic intention with my findings.
Sympathy For The Devil is a short piece in Rooster choreographed by Christopher Bruce. It was first choreographed in 1991 and Rambert Dance company performed it in 1994. Christopher Bruce born in England began dancing at the age of 11. He studied dance the Rambert School and then later joined the Rambert Ballet in 1963. It took him no time to become one of the leading male dancers for the company. Through the years, the company began to experiment with ballet and modern, specifically the Martha Graham style of dance. In 1977, Bruce was appointed as the company's associate director for the next ten years and over the decade, he created more than 20 works for the company. Between 1986 and 1991 he acted as a associate director for London Festival Ballet (now known as English National Ballet). He was a resident choreographer for the Houston Ballet in 1989. In 1994, he became the artistic director for Rambert Dance Company. He is often said to be political in his work and he incorporates modern dance with classical ballet to popular music artists such as, Bob Dylan and Rolling Stones to name a few. Bruce is known for using themes that focus on personal and political issues. He has created a few abstract pieces however, they also hold a strong undercurrent of emotion. He has used a variety of starting points for his works which include, poetry, literature, music, newspapers and many more. He is a strong supporter of Amnesty International and through his career, voiced his concerns for society, the persecuted and the victims of the wide range of human rights abuses.
Rooster is based on the relationship between men and women. There was a clear intention of the choreographer to celebrate the music of Rolling Stones, using the qualities and stories behind the songs to reflect the 'sexual tension' he witnessed while growing up in the 1960s. 1960s was a time of great change where men and women began to take more equal roles in the society. Popularly known as the Swinging Sixties because of fall of some social taboos relating to sexism and racism that occurred during that time. The most prevalent colour throughout the piece is RED and the colour can be attracted to many emotions such as; love, anger, hatred, passion and lust. 1960s was a time of passion, free love and a lot of hatred towards the government due to the war and other such political issues. Due to the anger and hatred towards the government a huge number of protests were carried out which sparked sexual revolution and gender equality. Sexual revolution gave people the freedom to express themselves physically. This has played a very important role in Christopher's choreographic intentions as those were part of his growing up years and although Rooster was conceptualised years later, the issues were never dealt with in great depth and therefore, it was important for him to resurface those problems.
Rooster, a jazz based choreography is planted upon social themes, specific to gender and era. As his choreographic style has progressed, folk motifs have become a signature feature of his works. The dance is made up of 8 sections, the final being Sympathy for the Devil. Each section was performed to a separate Rolling Stones song. When all 8 are put together, it helps to build an atmosphere of the swinging sixties and contemporary attitudes. Although each piece has its own distinctive mood and theme, they are sometimes linked and the end of one piece leads to the other. There are distinctive movement motifs that re-occur throughout the work:
The 'Rooster Strut' - a walk in which the men mimic the way a cockerel moves
Grooming gestures - male dancers perform this set of action repeatedly, i.e. straightening their cuffs, slicking down their hair, adjusting their ties and at times it is combined with the rooster strut.
Jumps - one of the jumps section suggests a chicken trying to fly with stubby wings
'Everyday gestures' - such as handshaking
'Courtly gestures' - it is repeated throughout the piece where men and women use contact to show their emotions.
Along with these movements, there were some smaller movements such as heel - toe step which was also repeated in the piece. The line formations often contrasted with the large circular arm gestures. The swirls, scoops and twisting of the torso, took inspiration from Graham technique training. Quite a few movements in the piece were lyrical, such as 'introduce myself' by using a stylised bowing movement and the grooming gestures.
Sympathy for the Devil includes all 10 company dancers and it is a fast and energetic dance with lots of exits and entrances. An elaborate bow and forefingers on the head to represent the devil - initially performed by the main dancer from the first section who appears to embody the devil. There are a lot of lyrical movements, for example;
'Please to meet you' - courteous bows are executed
'Made damn sure that Pilates washes his hands and sealed his fate' - a hand gesture is used by rolling hands around each other in forward motion.
The final section of this dance is a quick reprise of all previous sections with excerpts of choreography from each. At the end of this section we see the main male dancer returning to the 'Rooster Strut' and subsequently adjusting his ties and carrying out the grooming gestures till the blackout.
This whole piece is set on an undecorated stage and the lighting is also quite simplistic throughout the work. Pools of light illuminate the centre stage in order to fill up the stage or to pick out a soloist, duet or any dancer. The most complex structure of lighting is carried out in Sympathy for the Devil, with many light cues marking the dancers entries, exits and movements across the stage. Bruce has often used a bare stage as he is consciously aware of the fact that dancers need plenty of space to perform within.
Men had multi - coloured costumes, whereas the women were all dressed identical. Men wore velvet jackets (maroon, black, brown, green and blue), different coloured shirts and ties with black trousers or black jazz pants. On the other hand, women wore a simple dress with red and black colour scheme throughout. The skirt part of the dress has box pleats with red inserts. These dresses were all sleeveless which falls just above the knee.
Sympathy for the Devil like the others was also by Rolling Stones. It pays homage to the Devil and is written in first person narrative, from his point of view, recounting the atrocities committed throughout the history of humanity in the name of devil. It is a piece performed in a rock arrangement with a samba rhythm.
Overall, Rooster is related to the music lyrically, rhythmically and through the socio-cultural context. It is a work that pulls from the past and future to create a fusion between the two allowing for original and creative movement to be discovered.
