Dance

Dance is a performance art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period or place of origin.

An important distinction is to be drawn between the contexts of theatrical and participatory dance, although these two categories are not always completely separate; both may have special functions, whether social, ceremonial, competitive, erotic, martial, or sacred/liturgical. Others disciplines of human movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, figure skating, synchronized swimming and many other forms of athletics.

Performance and participation

Theatrical dance, also called performance or concert dance, is intended primarily as a spectacle, usually a performance upon a stage by virtuoso dancers. It often tells a story, perhaps using mime, costume and scenery, or else it may simply interpret the musical accompaniment, which is often specially composed. Examples are western ballet and modern dance, Classical Indian dance and Chinese and Japanese song and dance dramas. Most classical forms are centred upon dance alone, but performance dance may also appear in opera and other forms of musical theatre.

Dancer (novel)

Dancer is a novel based on the life of Rudolf Nureyev, written by Colum McCann and published in 2003.

Background

Nureyev was a Russian ballet dancer who achieved fame with the Kirov Ballet before defecting to the West in 1961 and subsequently became "one of the most written-about dancers in history". He died in 1992. McCann, born in Ireland, had previously written novels, short stories and newspaper reports while travelling and teaching in the United States and Japan; some of his work was set in Ireland and Northern Ireland. In 2001, already having "a growing reputation as an international writer", he moved to Russia where he researched his novel based on Nureyev while teaching English. A decade after the book's publication, McCann commented that he personally saw Nureyev as "a monster".

Plot and structure

The book begins on the Eastern Front during World War Two, with Nureyev performing for injured Soviet soldiers as a child. It covers his good fortune in gaining the chance to study ballet in his home country, his success there and then his life, work, loves and excesses as a celebrity after his defection to the West.

Hot Space

Hot Space is the tenth studio album by British rock band Queen, released in May 1982. Marking a notable shift in direction from their earlier work, they employed many elements of disco, funk, rhythm and blues, dance and pop music on the album. This made the album less popular with fans who preferred the traditional rock style they had come to associate with the band.

Queen's decision to record a dance-oriented album germinated with the massive success in the US of their 1980 hit "Another One Bites the Dust" (and to a lesser extent, the UK success of the song too).

"Under Pressure", Queen's collaboration with David Bowie, was released in 1981 and became the band's second #1 hit in the UK. Though included on Hot Space, the song was a separate project and recorded ahead of the album, before the controversy over Queen's new sound (disco-influenced rock music). The album's second single, "Body Language", peaked at #11 on the US charts.

In July 2004, Q magazine listed Hot Space as one of the top fifteen albums where great rock acts lost the plot. Most of the album was recorded in Munich during the most turbulent period in the band's history, and Roger Taylor and Brian May lamented the new sound, with both being very critical of the influence Freddie Mercury's manager Paul Prenter had on the singer. Estimated sales of the album currently stand at four million copies.

Aubrey

Aubrey is an English given name. It is most commonly a female name, although historically its use has been masculine. The name is a Norman French derivation of the Germanic given name Alberic, which consists of the elements alf "elf" and ric "power", with the meaning of "Fair Ruler of the Little People." Before the Norman conquest, the Anglo-Saxons used the corresponding variant Ælf-rīc (see Ælfric).

An early female form is recorded as Aubrée and does not share the same etymology. It is instead derived from the Germanic Albereda or Alberada. It can be found in certain genealogies of the noble Norman families (See f. e. Aubrey of Buonalbergo).

The name is traditionally male, but is more commonly used as a feminine name in the United States. It was the 20th most popular name given to girls born in the United States in 2014. The variants Aubree and Aubrie were the 61st most and 428th most popular given names for girls respectively. It was last ranked among the top 1,000 most common names for boys in the United States in 2002. It was the 479th most common name for all males in the United States in the 1990 census.

Aubrey (song)

"Aubrey" is a song written and composed by David Gates, and originally recorded by the pop-rock group Bread, of which Gates was the leader and primary music producer. It appeared on Bread's 1972 album Guitar Man. The single lasted 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 15.

David Gates wrote the song after watching Breakfast at Tiffany's starring Audrey Hepburn.

This song swapped the assumed gender of the name Aubrey, nearly extinguishing its use as a male name and popularizing it as a female name up to the present. Actress Aubrey Plaza is named after the song, and Canadian rapper Drake (rapper)'s birth name is Aubrey

The main melody of the song was sampled by Vampire Weekend on their song "Step".

Musical structure and lyrics

The song features David Gates' solo voice, with no backup vocals or drumming. It relies on various melodic resources such as orchestral strings, acoustic guitar, celeste, and orchestra bells. In the lyrics, the singer talks about a longing for a girl named Aubrey for whom he had unrequited love ("the hearts that never played in tune"); perhaps a first love. It is also said to be a song about shyness ("I never knew her, but I loved her just the same"). It is regarded as one of Bread's most beautiful, yet melancholic, songs. The song was later recorded by Perry Como and released on his 1973 album And I Love You So.

Aubrey (producer)

Aubrey is a techno and house music producer and DJ Allen Saei. (Not to be confused with the female vocal artist Aubrey Ayala.)

Allen grew up in the suburbs of Portsmouth. When he moved to Cowplain, he had a red nose as a result of having a cold. As the new boy at school, he was teased as having a nose like the contemporary animation character Aubrey (TV series), and the nickname stuck.

As an adolescent, Aubrey became interested in hip-hop. As well as being the leader of the 247 crew (of breakdancers), he is one of the few people from the area to have attended UK Fresh 86. As well as an interest in hip-hop, Aubrey also had an interest in the Chicago sound.

In the summer of 1989, Aubrey got his first booking at a warehouse rave. It was at this time that he started to regularly attend Thursday nights at Top Cats in North End (now the Post Office social club) where he met DJ Pete Couzens, and his peers (Dave Nutbeem, Trevor Mann, Ghost, Jake Marsh, Starry, Johnny Pain and others).