Martha Graham Essay Example for Free

Martha Graham Essay Throughout history, Modern Dance has been pioneered by inspirational choreographers such as Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham. Martha Graham in particular, revolutionised the dance industry with her numerous choreographed works. By experimenting with foreign movements and establishing the fundamental technique in Modern Dance, Martha Graham clearly expressed this dramatic dance style as a new form of life. Her style, created from raw emotion, challenges the technical barriers of traditional ballet and has evolved into today’s contemporary dance form. Born into a privileged life in 1894 near Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Graham was inspired from her father being a specialised physician interested in the way the human body moves. In 1915, she studied dance with Ted Shawn and Ruth St Denis, the innovative teachers at Denishawn. She then moved to the Greenwhich Village Follies for two years to establish her lengthy career. Living in a time of misconceived ideas, Martha Graham used her dancing genius to represent the many issues in American society in an abstract form. Martha Graham’s technique is classically based but tweaks the usual symmetrical body alignment with sharp, precise and angular shapes. Graham’s moves communicate through the dancer, her emotion and stance on American social issues. These moves are expressed through; contraction, release, spirals, flexed hands and feet, rolls, flexion and suspension, clenched fists, fall and recover, curl and twist. Her stimulus for creating movements was breathing and the way she could emotionally express how she felt about life. The contraction starts from the pelvis and travels up the spine. This curvature in the upper body is developed from an exhalation of breath. The release brings the body back to a neutral position with an inhalation of breath. All of the dancers in her company have an extremely strong core and maintain flexibility even though strength is the dominating component. To train the dancers, Graham would often perform classes with just floor work to strengthen the technical elements (contract, release and spiral) as well as learning control. Here the discipline of dance was drilled before allowing the freedom of performing. Graham was quoted, â€Å"Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired. † Her experimental technique allowed her dramatic view on life to be performed through Modern Dance. One of Graham’s theatrical works Night Journey, displays her established technical elements of modern dance. Inspired by Sophocles’ Greek Tragedy, the dance begins with King Oedipus and his Queen Jacosta complementing each other in their arms. As the dynamics in the music develop, intruding onto the stage are six chorus members (Daughters of the Night) in a grieving state. Lunging forward in a contraction with their fists covering their eyes, they repeat this sequence around the stage recovering to a release in between each contraction. As the contraction is a Graham interpreted symbol of the human emotion grief, this has been consequently used multiple times throughout. Showing locomotion in unison as they clench their fists and flex their hands demonstrates this pleading state. These movements, contractions, releases, developpes, attitudes and shuffling of feet, depict the women as vulnerable to lustful desires. Graham was quoted, â€Å"The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body. † The expression of the upper body is sharp and angular with the reoccurring contraction and release. Non-locomotor movements are often in isolated poses of fear positioned around the males. At the time, women were often discriminated against not having the same power as men. Graham has used this theme to display the social inequality sending a message that men have been in control of women for centuries and that women need to break free. The males use dominating gestures throughout, with the blind-seer Tiresias, portraying power and purpose with the repetition of arabesque promenades and high levels. These foreign movements have expressed the themes in a dramatic way developed from her dance style. In this Greek themed performance, the women wore long black dresses with stripes down the side and crown-like head pieces. King Oedipus wears a simple black tunic revealing most of his body. Tiresias dresses in a black flowing coat, carries a wooden staff, and wears mask to show he is blind. Tiresias uses this wooden staff to indicate his wisdom and this symbolizes truth. The silk rope used to hang Queen Jacosta symbolises the connection to Oedipus from birth til death. The music is an extension to the dancers and enhances this performance dramatically. Wild, fierce and harsh would be a way to describe William Schumann’s dynamic instrumental score. The dancers reacted with the music emotionally as well as physically increasing the overall effect of the performance. This choreographic style has allowed modern dance to communicate life’s emotions through drama intertwining with physical movement and relationships. Martha Graham has created countless choreographic pieces that have revolutionised the traditional outlook on dance. The Martha Graham Company was established in 1926 and is still a leading company to date. She has pioneered the Modern Dance industry by creating the fundamental technique and applying it to her 181 choreographed performances. Martha Graham has created a dance style to express a new form of life which has changed the dance world forever.

Governess Relationships in Brontes Jane Eyre Essay -- Jane Eyre essay

Governess Relationships in Bronte's Jane Eyre    The Victorian governess suffered socially because of her position. The relationship between her and others that were in her class was strained because of her financial situation. She often suffered from "status incongruity." The relationship between a governess and a gentleman was difficult because she was not his financial equal (Peterson 13). While the relationship was strained in her novel Jane Eyre, Bronte leads us to believe that it is not altogether impossible. When speaking of the governess and relationships we must first deal with "status incongruity" in the novel. There are several instances in Jane Eyre where the social strain is clearly displayed. The scene that takes place just before the charades give us a clear depiction of "status incongruity": Will you play? he [Rochester] asked. I shook my head. He did not insist, which I rather feared he would have done: he allowed me to return quietly to my usual seat. He and his aids now withdrew behind the curtain: the other party which was headed by Colonel Dent, sat down on the crescent of chairs. One of the gentlemen, Mr. Eshton, observing me, seemed to propose that I should be asked to join them; but Lady Ingram instantly negatived the notion. "NO" I heard her say: "she looks too stupid for any game of the sort." (185; ch. 18) "Status incongruity" is well displayed here. Rochester (not willing to exclude her) invites Jane to play charades, but offers no protests when she rejects his offer. Jane does not want to participate because she feels uncomfortable. Avoiding the game of charades was Jane’s way of escaping a situation which might have made both parties uncomfortable. She does not want to be placed in a si... ...ndependency (437; ch. 38). It is only when Jane has money of her own and is re-established in the social class to which she belonged that her marriage is able to take place without objections, or further complications. Bronte takes the impossible relationship, and makes it a reality. She does this, however, without losing the realism of the relationship. Jane Eyre is not a story of Cinderella and Prince Charming, Jane does not get rescued. In fact Jane works her way up the social ladder, accomplishing marriage without the social strain it would have had if she were still a governess.       Works Cited Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Beth Newman. Boston: Bedford, 1996. Hughes, Kathryn. The Victorian Governess. London: Hambledon, 1993. Peterson, Jeanne. "The Victorian Governess." Suffer and Be Still. Ed. Martha Vicinus. London: Indiana UP, 1972.

Class Matters… Short Description of a Section of the Book Essay

Class Matters by Bell Hooks, the section â€Å"The Me-Me Class: The Young and the Ruthless† examines how the mass media influences ideas that everyone living in the united States is rich, into the minds of foreigners. This section further notes that the media makes it seem as though social and economic backgrounds have little or no influence on the world of spending because most advertisements seem to make items seems affordable and cheap to acquire. The media reveals the fantasies of life to make people think that the things shown in the media are reality, especially in the eyes of teenagers. This section notes that the media brings about the â€Å"psychological torment; envy† amongst teenagers. The way the media presents issues regarding children/students, makes it seem as though it is easier to acquire money wealth on an outward appearance. This may be done to bring about competition into society, which develops envy amongst individuals if they are unable to acquire a particular item. In this section, it states that it is easier to acquire money and goods than it is to find meaningful values and ethics. This is a really profound statement because it portrays the influence the media has had on the youth to the extent that their values and ethics don’t really have as much meaning to them as that of the money and goods the acquire. This further demonstrates the culture of the youth and how materialistic things have an impact on the way youth view today’s world. The media is indirectly educating the youth with items that seem relevant in the world rather than showcasing the importance of education. This may be the reason why many schools have decided to enforce a rule that students need to wear uniforms. This lessens the amount of items students will be competing with each other. Although the world is set up in a way that competition exists, the fact that students have the same items means that they are less likely to be envious of each other.

Pharmaceutical Drug Pricing Strategy For Pharmaceutical...

Pharmaceutical Drug Pricing Strategy The Veteran’s Health Administration, VHA, uses a systematic government regulated pricing strategy for its pharmaceutical drugs service. The Pharmacy Benefits Management, PBM, service is in place to provide pharmaceutical services to beneficiaries of the VA. PBM’s of the VHA promote wellness, manage disease, ensure patient safety, and optimize health outcomes (VHA, 2015). PBM’s offer managed medication, emergency, and mail order services that help personalize healthcare. They also use research and technology to better serve the VHA and its beneficiaries. Pricing strategies are maintained through the National Acquisition Center, NAC, with the use of the Contract Catalog Search Tool, CCST. The CCST has the ability to search for contracts, pricing, ordering information and socioeconomic information that allows the NAC to compare prices and perform research. The VA uses a Formulary â€Å"to provide high quality, best value pharmaceutical products while assuring the portability and standardization of the pharmacy benefit to eligible Veterans accepted by the Department of Veteran Affairs for care† (VA, 2015). The Formulary is essentially a list of drugs that the VA covers and thus allows to be prescribed through the VHA. In order for prescription drugs to be listed on the formulary, the Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) must reflect all drugs that a particular developer makes. It must also provide the price given to â€Å"the most-favored nonfederalShow MoreRelatedLabeling And Generic Medicine : Pricing And Market Share1346 Words   |   6 PagesAccording to the article â€Å"Originator and generic medicine: pricing and market share† the cost of pharmaceutical drugs accounts for a significant portion of the total health expenditure (Eon Van Der Brendenkamp, 2013). Pricing strategies are used to create affordable costs, while also providing quality for prescription drug management programs. As part of the goals of pricing strategies, benefit management programs use pharmaceutical benefit managers to negotiate prices, create a savings out ofRead MoreBuyer Bargain Power Of The Pharmaceutical Industry1377 Words   |  6 PagesBuyer Bargain Power Buyers in the pharmaceutical industry are broken into physicians, who are the prescribers, patients, who are the users, hospital boards, who are authorizers of purchases and treatments, pharmacists, who are the distributors. Most of them have very minor influence on the pricing of the product, but unfortunately for the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry, they have to face a bargaining giants, the health organizations and the government agencies. Individual patients haveRead MorePricing Strategies For Prescription Drugs Essay891 Words   |  4 PagesPricing Strategies Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers, PBM use several different pricing strategies and tools to charge employers for prescription drugs. These strategies help PBM’s turn a profit while still being able to create a fair and affordable situation to the employer. The goal for PBM’s is to remain competitive while generating a business contract between the organizations and pharmaceutical companies. The organization must be able to take an active role in their contracts to continue to provideRead MoreAcquisition Of Medco Containment Services Inc.1101 Words   |  5 Pagesthe emergence of new identities and properties. Mergers and related acquisitions have occurred in a series of outbreaks. Recently, the pharmaceutical industry is seeing a rush of new mergers and acquisitions because of a combination of investor pressure and a narrowing window of opportunity. The reason for this current pattern is due to the fact that pharmaceutical companies and their associated board of directo rs believe that acquisitions are the clear way to grow revenues. The Merck Company’s acquisitionRead MoreGsk a Merger Too Far1158 Words   |  5 PagesCase study C: GSK, a merger too far? 1- Derive three opportunities and three threats for GSK by first making the PESTEL analysis of the macro-environment surrounding the pharmaceutical industry. (9 points) * PESTEL analysis of the pharmaceutical industry: Political: Since the creation of healthcare insurance, companies have to conform themselves to two kinds of systems: 1) The universal system applied for example in France, with less demand in new technologies. 2) The very selective anglo-saxonRead MoreValeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.1529 Words   |  7 PagesValeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. Corporate Research Paper Submitted by: Zeinab Amin Submitted to: Douglas Kennedy Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Business and Its Environment ECON3340 - A02 Monday, November 28. 2016 â€Æ' TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 3 2 NONMARKET ENVIRONMENT 3 2.1 ISSUES 4 2.2 INTERESTS 5 2.3 INSTITUTIONS 5 2.4 INFORMATION 5 3 INTEGRATED STRATEGY 6 3.1 NON-MARKET STRATEGY 6 3.2 MARKET STRATEGY 7 4 RECOMMENDATION 7 REFERENCES 9 â€Æ' 1 INTRODUCTION How wellRead MorePricing Issues Of The Pharmaceutical Industry1319 Words   |  6 PagesBrinkley MKT 492 Dr. Kelli King December 12, 2016 Pricing issues in the pharmaceutical industry Pricing issues in the pharmaceutical industry is a huge problem in the world today. There are four main issues that cause the prices to be higher than they need to be. These issues are Cost, Value, Power, and Insurance. Lots of pharmaceutical companies will argue that their RD costs of manufacturing drugs is what makes them price the pharmaceuticals the way they do. How true is this? We all know thatRead MoreExpensive Pharmaceutical Products versus Cheaper Analogs894 Words   |  4 PagesThe major players of the pharmaceutical industry, producing expensive products, are under pressure of companies, producing cheaper analogs. The question is not only the high costs but also the high drug safety of these companies. Large â€Å"original† pharmaceutical companies argue that an imitation product cannot guarantee high drug safety and could harm the reputation of the original drug, thereby devalue it, and make it vulnerable to the market. Companies-producers of â€Å"blockbusters† are in an advantageousRead MoreMetabical Positioning And Communications Strategy For a New Weight Loss Drug Harvard Business Essays and Term Papers948 Words   |  4 PagesCommunications Strategy For a New Weight Loss Drug Harvard Business Essays and Term Papers Search Results for metabical positioning and communications strategy for a new weight loss drug harvard business Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,500 * Metabical: Positioning And Communications Strategy For a New Weight-Loss Drug Metabical: Positioning and Communications Strategy for a new Weight-Loss Drug Q amp; A 1. Who is involved in the decision making process? What is the decision... * Metabical: Pricing, PackagingRead MoreGsk Internal Analysis1623 Words   |  7 PagesRecent Strategy, It s important that we generate more growth with less risk. GSK needs to find new sources of growth at a time when governments around the world are reforming healthcare and cutting spending. It is also outsourcing more research to partners to reduce risk. Its long-running collaboration with the US company, Theravance which is responsible for one of GSK s most promising new drugs, the asthma treatment Relovair, which is now in late-stage development. GSK recently upped its