Confucian Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Confucian Ethics - Essay Example Confucius, the founder of Confucianism believed on a golden rule based on the belief that people should do unto others, what they would like to be done unto them His ethical code was based on humanity, love, and morality. Rather than being based on religious beliefs, Confucianism is based on a system of social and ethical principles. In East Asia, Confucianism touches on all aspects of life (Slote and De Vos 5). These include the family, education, society, and government. Although Confucianism has most of the times been grouped together with other religions such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Judaism, it is not a systemised religion. According to Slote and De Vos, â€Å"a viable way of life for so many and for so long, Confucianism has sometimes been viewed as a philosophy and sometimes as a religion† (5). ... Confucius stressed that despite the fact that strict observation of traditional rituals is important, a devoted spirit and a sincere heart are even more important. He found no value in performing rituals, while a person was inhuman or lacked humanness. According to him, taking a keen look at person’s actions, motives, and preferences, then his or her real character is revealed and cannot be concealed. Confucian ethics revolve around associations among human beings. The philosophy mainly â€Å"revolves around family relationships, especially around the relationships between parents and children, between elder and younger brothers, and between husband and wife† (Yao 32-33). The Confucian belief is based on the grounds that fulfilment or responsibilities in these relationships should be done with a complete and genuine heart. However, despite revolving around the family, the Confucian moral philosophy is not restrained within the family, but also the society. Emphasis is p laced on the family because it is the foundation of peace around the world and order in the society. According to Yao (33), the Confucian â€Å"logic is that the family is the basic unit of the human community and that harmonious family relationships will inevitably lead to a harmonious society and a peaceful state†. The virtues of leaders within their families are very vital and determine how they rule organisations and a nation, since the basis of their actions, motives, and preferences is found within their family units. This consequently has an effect on a whole nation. A ruler who has intense love and devotion for his relatives, parents, friends, wife, and children is humane to the common people in the society and treats them with honour and consideration. Such kinds of rulers are

Virtue and Happiness Essay Example for Free

Virtue and Happiness Essay There are so many different circumstances under which someone will perform an action that it can be confusing when to determine if an action is virtuous. There can be factors of ignorance or factors of pressure to do certain actions. Pressure, ignorance, or reward can have a various affects on a person’s choices about virtuous acts but when it causes his or her moral actions to be compromised, then only certain situations can pressure or ignorance be an excuse. Courage is a virtue that can be determined by choices that a person can make. A person that only does an act because he sees some personal gain from the act such as saving a child from a fire may not have committed a virtuous act because of the motive behind it such as fame or honor. However, a person who has done a virtuous act can still be honored and glorified with the act still being virtuous. If that person were held at gunpoint and told to save the child, if he performed the act it would be hard to determine if it was truly virtuous. It does not mean that it was not a virtuous act, but it would be hard to tell what the motive was behind the action. Near the end of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle talks about the range of peoples characteristics. Aristotle states that the: â€Å"†¦of the moral states to be avoided there are three kinds-vice, incontinence, brutishness. † (Aristotle. Page 157.) Aristotle states that there are the opposites of these which are virtue, continence, and the super-virtue. Vice would mean the person knows what they are doing is wrong but does it regardless. Incontinence would mean that a person has an incorrect moral that they act on, causing them to act in a manner that was not virtuous. And brutishness would be a person acting purely on urge and having no emotional or rational or even irrational thought behind what they are doing. It would be primarily animalistic in nature. Looking at Aristotle’s view on â€Å"the best life† or a â€Å"happy life,† it can be seen that virtue is what he really believes will lead to a â€Å"good† life. The fact that there are many different ways in which someone may be virtuous or not shows that acting on desire can be right as well as wrong. And many different situations can determine this right or wrong act. Aristotle states that one must fulfill the desire for happiness by virtuous means and that our rational mind can lead us away from the correct way of fulfilling our ultimate desire.

Anti Oppressive Practice in Social Work Essay

Anti Oppressive Practice in Social Work Essay I will demonstrate the role of the practitioner on Reflective Anti-oppressive practice. l will reflect upon the effect that my experiences had on me . In relation to supporting care housing will identify the underlying values of being a reflective practitioner. In the essay, I will explore and draw upon a range of Models and theorys themes as shown: †¢ Thompson -PCS model †¢ Tuckman theory (1983) Banks (2001) explore oppression, discrimination and anti-oppressive practices are based on society that creates divisions and how people divide themselves. Conducting a session about sex education set targets to assess the young people is to treat people with respect and value each other, avoid negative discrimination(quote). Dalrymple et al, (1995) defines the anti-oppressive practice is about a process of change, ich leads service users from feeling powerless to powerful (Dalrymple andBurke, 1995). Empowerment links with anti-oppressive practice, in that the social worker can work with service users enables them to overcome barriers to solving problems. Braye et al (1997) identify the challenges faced in practice, it is about positively working to myths and stereotypes speak out and act against the way professional practices and the law itself discriminate against certain groups of people (Braye andPreston-Shoot, 1997). Case study: homeless pregnant young person Young person 18 years old sharing at her friends home. She is 3 week pregnant; her boyfriend has left her and both arguing all the time. There are no support from home as her mother on benefits and living off her. The organisation is run by supported housing is called Vincent de Paul society SVP, which is an international charity Christian voluntary organisation. SVP aim to tackle poverty and disadvantages provides accommodation and support for clients through contact with supporting people between 16-25 years old(svp.org.uk, 2012). The types of vulnerable group who are homeless are served females only Clients with learning disabilities and mental-health problems accommodated. SVP is a community based valued which is supported by the local authorities (svp.org.uk, 2012 ). Value based within the local community, especially in relation to the framework of occupation in supported housing these identified the service provided for young people. values of choice is to respects the rights from where they live as well as promote young people rights to make their own decisions choices. The aim of forming is to identify the boundaries on both interpersonal and task behaviours (Tuckman,1965). I have applied Tuckmans theory in the workplace because this has helped to identify leadership within a group stage development. The stages are the following; , Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Tuckmans (1965) approach as a linear model was applying to the group. The standards and norms of behaviour are establishing. Forming identified to work with group service users together. However not everyone does not want to engage From storming to norming stages, working with client P is recoded by doing key sessions weekly Client P have to make the choice to conform with, she is awareness breach her contract . Asking open and closed questions are the key to build a good rapport with the service user. The PCS modal identifies the levels of oppression; Personal Cultural Structural The PCS Model Personal Beliefs, attitudes and behaviour How people regard or treat others Cultural Accepted values and codes of conduct Consensus Structure Structural and institutions within society which act to perpetuate social divisions, prejudice and discrimination Personal (P) level Individual actions that I come into contact with, for example service user. Cultural (C) Level This analysis is related to the shared values or commonalties. For example, shared beliefs about what is right and wrong, good or bad, can form a consensus. Structural (S) Level This analysis demonstrates how oppression is sewn into the fabric of society through institutions that support both cultural norms and personal beliefs. Some institutions such as sections of the media, religion and the government can cement the beliefs. Case study: homeless pregnant young person P: Young person 18 years old sharing at her friends home. She is 3 week pregnant; her boyfriend has left her and both arguing all the time. There is no support from home as her mother is on benefits and living off her. There is argument with her new boyfriend for support. C: being homeless within the community she is sharing her thoughts and feelings with different groups. S: Network of divisions, social services, health, local authority Practitioners will support with learning tools that transform to challenge oppression. Thompson, (2006) have identified the barriers in relating to ethical practice to identify form group- based approaches to anti-discriminatory practice to work together on issues of inequality, discrimination and oppression (Thompson, 2006). Challenging practice with young people engages them into ways at using wider policy objectives ia person centred base. Service users will openly discuss and debate issues within a safe environment amongst their peers and focus on building ones confidence and reassurance within a group, as well as maintaining the learners concentration. These principles are about being worthy of attention regardless what they can do and who they are as follows †¢ Respects and promote young peoples rights to make their decision or choices, unless the welfare of them as seriously threatened. †¢ Promote the welfare and safety while permitting them to learn through activities. †¢ Contributes towards the promotion of social justices for young people and encourages them to respect differences, diversity and challenging discrimination. †¢ Act with a profession integrity (Banks, 2001) When assessing young people it is necessary to take into consideration that there are no right or wrong answers. By using open questions, this allow service user to engage with the practitioner to expand on their opinions and experiences.. Conclusion Using the PCS model, I recognised the signs within groups to work together and support each other on their strengths and weakness. Thompson, (1994) identified the barriers in relating to ethical practice to identify form group- based approaches to anti-discriminatory practice is to work together on issues of inequality, discrimination and oppression. Tuckmans theory in the workplace has helped to identify leadership within a group stage development. I identify the stages through tuckmans theory has helped to be non judegment al with clients as their strengths and weakness can be assesss to build up their esteem and confidence for them to rapport a good working relationship.

Jerome Robbins and Agnes de Mille

Jerome Robbins and Agnes de Mille An analysis of the life and works of the choreographers Jerome Robbins and Agnes de Mille and therole of dance in musical theatre Agnes de Mille and Jerome Robbins worked in musical theatre in what is widely regarded to be the industrys Golden Era. Many would say that it was their innovative approach to choreography in musical theatre that brought an energy and a dynamism to the musical, accounting for its surge in popularity. It is certainly true that they did much to elevate the role of dance in musical theatre, which was previously largely merely as an accessory to the main dramatic event; pretty women with bare flesh parading around the stage. Robbins and De Mille regarded dance as a serious art form and strove to portray it as such on the stage. Musical theatre, as we know it today, did not come into being until the twentieth century, but song and dance have been a part of theatre for thousands ofyears. From as early as the 5th century BC the Ancient Greeks employed music and dance in many of their comedies and tragedies to entertain the public. The Romans carried on this tradition from the 3rdcentury BC, with many plays by Plautus including song and dance. They invented the first tap shoes by attaching metal plates to their shoes so that the entire audience, who would sit in a colossal open-air theatre, could hear the dancesteps (1). In the Middle Ages travelling minstrels and troupes of actors, dancers and singers performed popular songs and slapstick comedy. The religious dramas of the 12th and 13th centuries also included liturgical songs, although no dancing. In the French court of the Renaissance Louis XIV insisted that song and dance be incorporated into his entertainments. In America, some of the first dramatic roles to be performed by dancers were in melodrama, which is unsurprising considering the highly stylised movement of melodramatic actors lends itself more to dance than to anything else. Mlle Celeste, who was later to become one of the most famous dancers of the nineteenth century, was first billed in America as the celebrated melodramatic actress (2). Across the nineteenth century, circuses, showboats and pantomimes all included dance in some form. Stars such as Mlle Celeste and Fanny Essler helped create a popular demand for dance and companies began to include more elaborate dances in their evenings bill. Melodrama and pantomimes would often incorporate complex ballets into their entertainments. In England the most popular form of entertainment for the working- and middle-classes was the music hall, which staged vaudeville entertainment in the way of singers, dancers and speciality acts. Vaudeville was also extremely popular in America in th e nineteenth century, and by the 1890s dance acts were ever more in demand. Dances were still, however, largely performed in between the acts of the main production or before the end-piece to fill the gaps. The role of dance in the theatre at that time was limited mainly to entractes. They existed purely to appease the audience, to show piece a star, or to titillate predominantly male audiences with allowing spectacle of female limbs in tights(3). Jack Cole referred to the dances and the dancers in theatre at this timeas wallpaper (4). It wasnt really until the 1930s that dance began to be an important part of the musical. George Balanchine, who trained at the Russian Imperial Ballet School before working with Serge Diaghilevs Ballets Russes, regarded dance as a legitimate and important component in musical theatre. He believed dance to be the greatest expressive medium and first introduced ballet onto the popular musical stage with Ziegfeld Follies. Dancers in the theatre began to be taken seriously, rather than regarded merely as pretty girls baring a lot of leg; Into a choreographic world that was a mÃÆ'Â ©lange of decorative movement, legs and taps,Balanchine opened the door and ballet leapt on to the popular musical stage,directed by a supreme artist (5). Whereas previously only routines had been performed on the theatrical stage, Balanchine choreographed dances.He refused for his dances to be merely bite-size slices of entertainment sandwiched between the main attraction and insisted that they be part of th e plot, integrated seamlessly into the action. For the first time in a musical the dances in Balanchines On Your Toes actually helped to advance the plot. When, in 1982, On Your Toes returned to Broadway, Carol Lawson of the New York Times wrote; On YourToes was a turning point in the history of musical comedy, for Mr.Balanchines dances were more than mere interludes. Instead they served as essential aspects of the plot, and were thoroughly integrated parts of the production.(6) Balanchine paved the way for AgnesDe Mille and Jerome Robbins to totally change the dynamics of dance in musical theatre, and thereby in musicals has a whole. De Mille introduced the concept of using dance as a vehicle for story-telling and Robbins transformed the role of choreographer in a musical to being director of the entire show, making dance the driving force. Agnes De Mille Asa child, although she came from a theatrical family, De Mille was not permitted formal dance training, but would improvise pieces to perform to guests and nightly improvised to the accompaniment of her mother on the Orchestrelle (7).She would practice her melodramatic acting skills every night before performing flexibility exercises to limber up her body in readiness for the stage. When in Hollywood with her family her true dancers instinct became evident as she fell in love with the wide open spaces of the country surrounding the town;this would be a recurring theme in her later choreography. In her autobiography, Dance to the Piper, she exclaimed; The descendinggrassy slopes filled me with a passion to run, to roll in delirium, to wreck mybody on the earth. Space means this to a dancer or to a child! The descentthrough theair, the finding of earth-footage, the embracing and struggle with thefundamental ground.These are to a dancer what strong scents are to an animal. (8) Theday De Mille first watched Anna Pavlova perform only increased her desire tobecome a dancer. She was enthralled, awed, and dumbstruck, and describes thatmoment with passion and gusto (9). It was this that encouraged de Mille toorganise her first dance show with a group of other girls but she was still notallowed dance lessons and became frustrated with the limited dancing she coulddo. It wasnt until her sister was advised by an orthopaedist to start balletdancing that she too was permitted to attend the Theodore Kosloff School ofImperial Russian Ballet. Whilst there she learnt technique and poise andtrained her body into that of a dancers. She worked feverishly hard, perhapseven more so because her parents would not allow her to have lessons more thantwice a week, leaving her lagging behind the rest of the class. She resortedto practicing in her mothers bathroom, where she had installed a barre for her. Bythe time De Mille had finished high school however, she had grown to loath therigours of daily practice and decided to abandon her classes and her solitarypractices and go to college. During her time at UCLA De Mille occasionallystaged dances for student rallies and towards the end of her college life shestarted exercising with the mind to getting back up on her points. She decidedto dance professionally after meeting Douglass Montgomery, who convinced herthat she could. Things were never going to be easy for her though. She movedto New York at a time when dancers [were] hired on the sheen of the stockingand the wink of their agent, and when the few dance companies that existed onBroadway were small and dedicated to the personal exploitation of some star(10). I have mentioned earlier the limited opportunities a dancer had in thistime, where no pure ballet was being performed in either music shows ormoving picture shows and there was no such word as choreography. Whenrehearsing for a concert of her own choreography Montgomery taught De Mille howto act through her dancing; he taught me that every gesture must have someexplicit meaning (11). She decided to perform character studies whereby thedancing revealed personality and was natural in the course of the story. Rightfrom the start she wanted to employ dance as more than light entertainment, asa vital story-telling vehicle. These first attempts, being only charactersketches, were quite light by nature, and the style was folk rather thanballet, but it was different to what anybody else had done on the stage before.When she performed some of these at a concert she was received well but whenshe auditioned for Charles Cochran and Noel Coward they told her that she wasmore suited to the concert hall, and that she would never make it in thetheatre. Aftertouring with Adolph Bolm, she was commissioned as a dancer-choreographer on ChristopherMorleys revival of The Black Crook but the drunken, noisy audience madeher hand her notice in. It was in the thirties that the dance scene in NewYork began to stir. Every Sunday a couple of dance concerts were given, withsoloists experimenting with every dance form imaginable. De Mille remembers,we were out remodel our entire craft there were no rules we struck sparksfrom one another (12). For five years De Mille taught herself to choreograph,but she was trying to learn to compose dances, not pantomimes, nor dramaticstories, nor character studies, but planned sequences of sustained movementwhich would be original and compelling (13). She viewed dance as a seriousart form and wanted to choreograph dances that would present it as such, butwith barely any formal training behind her she found this very difficult.After disastrously choreographing Flying Colours De Mille and her mothermoved to Londo n where, as in New York, she choreographed and danced in her ownrecitals to critical acclaim but with no financial gain. At one recital though,Marie Rambert and Arnold Haskell were amongst the audience and were impressedenough to ask her to stay in London to continue her recitals and be taught atThe Ballet Club. Itwas at The Ballet Club that De Mille met Anthony Tudor and Fredrick Ashton,both of whom would go on to become important choreographers and who, with her,would revolutionise the dance world. In 1933 she choreographed the dances forCharles B. Cochrans Nymph Errant in London but during the thirties DeMille returned to America several times, dancing in her uncles production of Cleopatrain 1934 and choreographing Irving Thalburgs film-version of Romeo andJuliet. On the latter project she had to endure her dances being cut topieces as the camera cut out most of the group work and showed only snippets ofthe rest. The custom at the time was not to show a whole dance but to providelight entertainment with cuttings of dances. OnHooray for What De Mille came up against the type of men that insisteddancers were hired for their sex appeal and that dances were performed to sellsex. These were the sort of men that were keeping dance from becoming aserious, important art form and that issued it with only a decorative functionin theatre and films. The management wanted the girls exposed as much aspossible, face front always, bosom bared, legs just visible to the waist, DeMille recalls (14). As she refused to conform exactly, wanting her owncreative input, she was fired with one word, before her choreography was rippedto shreds. Without the security of Equity many of the dancers and actors werefired without warning as the Business Manager exacted his vision of abosoms-and-legs chorus-line extravaganza. At this time on Broadway dances, attheir best, were slick and well-formed, but with no great moments of dramaticrevelation (15). When De Mille returned to Broadway some years later she wasto dramatically change thi s notion. In1940 Ballet Theatre was formed and De Mille was invited to become one of thechoreographers, on the understanding that she was not to dance herself. It wasa highly creative time for De Mille and she was able to work with some of thefinest dancers and choreographers of the time. It was at Ballet Theatre thatDe Mille created her first ballet, Black Ritual, a controversial piecewith black dancers; the first time this had ever been attempted by a seriousballet company. Having had only brief and frenzied flurries with commercialtroupes of mixed prostitutes and chorus dancers she had not had the experienceof setting a schedule of choreographing and rehearsing and was extremelynervous. Her dancers did not help matters by being consistently late and byarriving unprepared. The ballet was not received well but shortly after shewas hired by a successful booking manager for a national tour. De Mille andher dancers prepared for the tour through blood, sweat and tears but it was atotal success, a nd De Mille discovered something vital: although the managersmay not, the public liked and appreciated her work. Notlong after returning to New York, De Mille was asked by Ballet Theatre tocreate Three Virgins and a Devil, which was a huge hit and dÃÆ'Â ©buted theyoung Jerome Robbins. In 1942 she was commissioned to create a ballet for theBallet Russe de Monte Carlo. She extended a piece she had partly choreographedyears earlier, and Rodeo was the result. The ballet formed the basisfor a uniquely American dance style, using folk themes, tap dance andenergetic, fast-paced movements, capturing the essence of a cowboys manner.Teaching male dancers who were used to the precision and elegance of balletproved to be difficult so De Mille resorted to acting lessons to help herdancers find their characters. She wanted them to be cowboys; shewanted them to communicate dramatic meaning. Come opening night they wereprepared and the audience adored them. De Mille had created an entirely newand exciting dance style; it was the first of its kind, and the moment wasquick with birth (16). De Mille successfull y turned ballet into musicalcomedy, and gave the form real energy and gusto, with movements never beforeseen in this very precise of dance forms. Wehad breached the bulwarks De Mille exclaims in Dance to the Piper (17).She, with a few choreographers before her, had created a new tradition, onewith a different root impulse to traditional ballet. She asserts that tocreate a style that truly differs from ballet one must base that style onanother technique. De Mille integrated folk dances into her work, withoutlowering the performances to comedy caricatures. Her work, like that of fellowchoreographer Anthony Tudor, conveyed theatrical meaning through dance steps;the line between actor and dancer was blurred. Rather than dancers usingtraditional technique and performing well-known steps, where the human bodiesare used merely as units of design, grouped, lumped, and directed intopredetermined masses, De Mille strove for originality and dramaticcommunication in her choreography. She writes of Tudors work; Tudordeveloped the story-telling quality of his choreography to such a degree thateach gesture, formed out of the emotional components of the moment, is almostas explicit as though the dancers spoke. The new choreography does not arrangeold steps into new patterns; the emotion evolves steps, gestures, and rhythms. (18) Reading De Millesexplanation of her method for creating dance in Dance to the Piper, oneis reminded of a director beginning to stage a play. She spends much time oncharacterisation; finding the right gestures and stance for each character actsas a stimulus for the choreographic process (19). De Mille did not createimpersonal dancers but characters acting out, through dance, a story. Fromthe success of Rodeo, as well as for its all-American style and theme,De Mille was asked by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein to choreographdances for their new production, Oklahoma! De Mille knew the projectwas going to be difficult as, unlike ballet where the choreographer is themaster and ruler of the show, many elements other than dance contribute to formmusical theatre. The performers must take direction from the director, thecomposer, the author of the book, and the producer. The dance director gotlittle say in the arrangement. Singing and acting were the main components inmusical theatre at the time; dance was merely for decoration. When casting thedancers, De Mille insisted on talent and personality, Rodgers wanted faces,although his idea of a face had frequently to do with the character in it,but Mamoulian, the director, wanted slim legs above all (20). It was assumedthat the public, also, were far more interested in the singing and the dramathan the dancing. The num bers of dances were therefore limited. De Milleinsisted, however, that every dancer was hired for just one reason that heor she was the best available performer for the role (21). She did not cavein to the whim of the director; she wanted her dancers to be seriousprofessionals, and Rodgers agreed. Once, during rehearsals, a note was playedout of tune and one of the chorus faces winced with pain, but it was notannoyance or amusement, it was agonised concern. When Rodgers saw herexpression one he had never seen cross a chorus girls face he realisedthat responsible artists had entered the ranks (22). The chorus dancers wereno longer pretty faces, good legs but nothing between the ears; everyperformer, including the dancers, knew their craft. Another difficulty DeMille would have was that the dances would have to be created from the impetusof the book, they would have to build the authors line and develop his action(23), rather than being created from scratch from characters develope d by her.De Mille was also faced with the problem of swiftly travelling from dialogue,to song, to dance, and back to dialogue again without it looking farcical. Asthe choreographer she was going to have to learn surgery, to graft and splice(23). DeMille achieved all this and more. She succeeded in elevating her role aschoreographer to that of equal importance with the playwright, the composer andthe lyricist, and she did what no choreographer had successfully done before -she integrated the ballets into the story. Her dancers were not merelydecoration but characters, and she worked with them to achieve depth ofcharacter, motivation and emotion. Dancers could no longer project theirpersonal response to a piece of music. They needed to move as the charactersthey were portraying. Their reactions, their facial expressions, all needed tofurther the audiences understanding of their character. This requiredin-depth script readings and analysis of character motivations, just as adirector would insist on for his or her actors. De Mille realised that this canreally help the dancer. Whereas in ballet the dancer has to rely on what theyfeel to give the dance energy and dynamism, they now had the singing and actingto give them background and motivation to help give their dancing, as thesecharacters, expressive movement (24). If the role of dance in Oklahoma!was to communicate dramatic meaning to the audience, and to further the plot,the dancer had to become the character, and know it inside-out. AsDe Mille herself notes, it was Anthony Tudor who first shocked audiences intoviewing a ballet dancer as an individual capable of dramatic communicationthrough her body, by clothing them in long Edwardian dresses (25). No longerwas the ballet dancer the stylised, typical image that made it acceptable forwomen to bare their legs and arms and wrap their limbs around a man. She wasnow familiar; like their mothers and aunties. They could now communicate humantruths and take part in the telling of a story. Dressed as the characters of aSouth-western town, rather than tights and a tutu, the audience was able to seethe dancers as humans with a story to tell. Thecrowning glory of De Milles choreography on Oklahoma! was without doubtthe dream-ballet which occurs at the end of Act 1. With this De Milleexperimented with something entirely new in musical theatre, and for many yearsto come barely a musical was made without it containing a dream ballet. Inthis extended ballet Laurie acts out her quandary through dance; a highlyimaginative method of moving the story forward. Dance was inextricably boundto the plot of the musical. Whereas in previous musicals dance was merely aside entertainment and could be cut without the story losing any of itsmeaning, one could not take the dream ballet out of Oklahoma! withoutruining the plot. By using dance the thoughts and feelings in the mind and theheart of Laurie could be conveyed and explored far more effectively thanthrough straight dialogue. The dances were intended to strengthen theaudiences understanding of the characters and further the plot, as well ascomplement the lyrics and the dialogue, and i t worked. Now, as well as singingand acting, dancing added to the dramatic impact of the musical on theaudience. AsKislan notes, dance also adds to the important theme of open space in Oklahoma.It is the guiding metaphor for the promise of the American Dream and thelimitless opportunities for the brand new state the lovers are destined tolive in (26). The audience is always aware of the physical space on stage asthe dancers never seem crowded, no matter how many occupy the space. In thedream ballet Curly lifts Laurie up in the air, reaching for the sky, and theballetic style danced in constantly opens the body up, extending arms and legsto give the impression of limitless space. In Dance to the Piper DeMille writes of the sense of space ballet dancers work with; Every joint andsinew is pulled long, the arms are wide and free the stretching up and out,the liberating jump, the racing over and away from the earth (27). Thefeeling of space conveyed on stage through dance complements the songs, withlyrics such as plenty of room to swing a rope/plenty of heart and plenty ofhope (28). Atlast dance as more than an accessory, but as a serious art form, had arrivedonto the popular stage, and the audience were roaring. They were howling.People hadnt seen girls and boys dance like this in so long. Of course, theyhad been dancing like this, but not just where this audience could see them(29). Perhaps the most important accomplishment for dance in Oklahoma!was that De Mille was a choreographer on the show, not a dance director. Thedifference being that dance directors worked for audience approval;choreographers work for audience enlightenment (30). Her dances were integralto the story they added and enlightened rather than decorated. This was anew role for dance in musical theatre. DeMille went on to choreograph the dances for many more Broadway musicals in the1940s and 1950s, including One Touch of Venus in 1943, Carousel in 1945, Brigadoon in1947, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1949, and Paint Your Wagon in1951. Tally-Ho(1944) and FallRiver Legend (1948) provided her with the opportunity to further herrevolutionary style. She continued to cast dancers that were skilled at projectingcharacter as well as performing the correct steps. Kislan records that dancersthat worked with De Mille have testified to her fantastic ability to sense eventhe smallest dramatic quality in their dancing, and, together, manage to set itfree and integrate it into the choreography so that the dance is alwaysexpressive of the drama (31). De Mille was still responsible to the director, the lyricist andthe author of the book though. Her choreography had to fit the other elementsof the musical, and dance was often of secondary importance to those elements.Choreographers such as Jerome Robbins were to change the role of thechoreographer, and thus the role of dance in musical theatre, forever. Banishedwas the mindless aesthetics that enslaved dance to the colossal, opulent, andlavish needs of the producer, the star, or the specialty act (32). Dance wasto be given the highest status of the production. The choreographer was torule the show. Indeed, the choreographer would no longer be merely the dancecreator, but the director-choreographer; the dance-director follows, thechoreographer adapts, but the director-choreographer leads (32). JeromeRobbins was a pioneer of this change in status for the role of dance in musicaltheatre. Jerome Robbins Robbinswas born into a devoutly Jewish family in 1918, but resented being Jewish, withits conservatism and old ways. His large family, however, provided him withmany theatrical contacts and influences. His uncle, Jack Silverman, startedout as a ballroom dancer with the two men he was living with, Bing Crosby andGeorge Raft. Edward G. Robinson was also related, and another of Robbinsuncles, Daniel Davenport, owned a chain of vaudeville and burlesque theatres.Davenports father and his brother performed on the vaudeville circuit underthe name of the Davenport Brothers, staging acrobatic acts. It is to this partof the family that Robbins owes his zest for vaudeville-comedy. Robbinsparents ensured that both their children were educated in the arts, and this iswhere Jerome shone. He saw it as an escape route, a way by which he could haveaccess to the possibilities which lay beyond his community; When I was a childart seemed like a tunnel to me. At the end of that tunnel, I could see lightwhere the world opened up, waiting for me (33). Both he and his sister,Sonia, were strongly encouraged by their mother to aspire to the stage. Soniatook dance lessons and Jerome music lessons, and by the time he was three and ahalf he was composing pieces and giving recitals on the piano. Indeed, heexcelled in anything creative that he tried, but admitted that this wasbecause, the only world that was really exciting for me was the world in whichI could make believe that things were not the way they were (33). The worldof musical theatre was therefore the perfect world for him, later, to live in. Robbinshad to keep his love of dance a secret from his parents, especially his father,and his school friends, who were all into sports. As his sister danced her wayinto the spotlight Jerome was left practicing in private, often with the helpof Sonia. At the Weehawken schools he attended Robbins performed in manyschool plays, but it was at his summer camps that he fell in love with Gilbertand Sullivan musicals, and played the comic leads in HMS Pinafore, TheMikado, and Pirates of Penzance. Jeromes knack for comedy was madeevident through his performances in these roles. A fellow camper latercommented, Jerry had a tremendous sense of humour in everything he did (34).He still kept his dancing a secret though. At one parents day at the camphowever, Robbins performed a dance on the table-tennis table and, as anothercamper remembers, had the adults in tears. Furthermore, This was a bigaudience and he was completely uninhibited (34). Robbinseventually took dance lessons with Sonias dance teacher in modern dance, theform that was the emerging trend in the Depression years of the 1930s, whenpeople wanted a dance form that could more readily express the social realismsof the time than could ballet. Jerome witnessed many pioneering greats of thedance stage, such as Martha Graham, Charles Weidman, and Doris Humphrey, but in1932 he was to meet the man he would later call his guru, Gluck Sandor (35).Sandor directed, choreographed and danced in many of the productions staged atthe Dance Centre, at which Sonia danced. He worked in vaudeville and onBroadway in the 1920s and was a tremendously expressive dancer, manipulatingevery gesture for dramatic effect, which was to a have profound influence onRobbins future work. As Robbins himself has cited, We dancers were taught toperform with the concentration of an actor (36). Anzia Kubicek, a dancer,remembers that Sandor, preferred to do things with a story line hisimagination w ould just go a mile a minute, and he worked with the bodies he hadto work with, which were sometimes very limited (37). Robbins would work withboth principles in his choreography, starting with a story from which hisdancers could develop their characters, and therefore their movements. Aftergraduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1935 Robbins entered New YorkUniversity to study Chemistry, but in his second year his fathers corsetbusiness was in danger of going bankrupt and he could no longer fullyfinancially support Jeromes education. Jerome was by this point desperate todrop out and follow his dream of becoming a professional dancer and, throughhis sister, he managed to successfully audition for an apprenticeship withSandors company. With the help of Sandor, Jerome convinced his parents tolet him try to make it as dancer, and he left the university. Sandor persuadedan unconvinced Robbins to concentrate on ballet rather than modern dance but itwasnt until he saw Alexandra Danilova perform with the Ballet Russes that Robbinsagreed that ballet held many opportunities for him. Jerome progressed quicklyand Sandor recognised him as a natural dancer, recalling years later; Oncehe saw something, he could do it backward. Before I would do a thing he had it.He could anticipate what was to come. He was sensitive and he was musical. (38) In1937 Robbins secured his first part in The Brothers Ashkenazi, whichintensified his passion for the theatre. Throughout its run he would practiceon the barre, much to the bewilderment of the Yiddish cast of the play. Hisfellow performers recall him constantly dancing (39). After two years trainingat the Dance Centre, and having procured roles in various plays, Robbins leftthe company in search of more commercial work. He found work in the chorus ofa number of musicals which, in the thirties, were largely comic. AlthoughRobbins went on to choreograph and dance in such musicals, he also wanted totake the medium further, and use musical theatre as a vehicle for explorationinto the human psyche. He would later say, Musicals tend to be facetious. Noone has ever used them as a medium to depict deep personal struggle, and Ithink this can be done (40). He would go on to do just that. Aswell as his brief encounters with Broadway, in the summer of 1937 Robbins startedworking as part of the entertainment staff at Camp Tamiment, a summer job hewould have for five years. The resort played host to many up-and-comingtalents, such as Danny Kaye, Imogene Coca, and Carol Channing. It was avirtual breeding ground for musicians, comedians, singers and dancers. Robbinschoreographed and danced in many of the performances held in the social hall.It was a very creative atmosphere, with new productions performed every week.Max Lieberman, director of the entertainment program at Tamiment, strove forBroadway-quality pieces, and with only a week to create and rehearse each one,ideas had to flow. Robbins work was of two extremes; burlesque sketches onthe one hand and socially serious dramatic dances such as Strange Fruit andDeath of a Loyalist on the other. Some of his pieces were performed atthe 92nd Street YMHA, under the auspices of the Theatre ArtsCommittee, as well as in the Str aw Hat Revue, which Tamiment opened onBroadway in 1939. The revue was an amalgamation of many of the sketchesperformed at that summers camp but, due to the sensitive atmosphere followingthe outbreak of war in Europe, they were only allowed to include the comedysketches. Robbins suffered a huge blow to his ego when Jerome Andrews, who hadbeen brought in by the backers to supervise the dances, was given sole crediton the billing for the choreography. It did however give him a determinationto be wholly in charge of

Gothic Arches Versus Romanesque Arches Essay -- Architecture

Thesis, Argument Outline, and Evidence In the late 12th century the Romanesque period of style morphed into the Gothic period of style. The Romanesque period was characterized by the following: thick walls, barrel/round arches, supporting groin vaults, and thick buttresses (Calkins 1998, 110). The Gothic period was characterized by the following: thin walls, pointed arches, stained glass, and flying buttresses (Icher 1998, 20-30). During the early medieval years, the use of thick walls in building a church or cathedral was not only to create a stable monumental building but to help protect the building during wars or battles. Building thick stone walls also helped protect the building from â€Å"incendiarism† which tended to happen frequently when older wooden churches were under attack (Fitchen 1981, 42-6). The seemingly smooth transition between the two periods can easily be seen with the change of using barrel arches to using pointed arches in cathedral architecture. By transitioning from barrel arches to point ed arches, cathedral builders were able to create greater support for cathedral roofs while conserving stone, reducing the sizes of buttresses and walls, and they also created a new meaning to what churches symbolized. The main argument, for the thesis above, is how with the use of pointed arches contributed to the downsizing use of stone in other sections of cathedral construction. The use of barrel arches in the past cathedral construction restricted the height limitations of the cathedral due to the height and width ratio of the barrel archway. But pointed archways increased the spectrum of height and width variations because of the design of the pointed arch itself. The flexibility of the pointed arch can be attributed... ... what cathedrals symbolize. With supporting evidence from the discipline of geometry and examples from cathedrals, such as Saint Denis and the Beauvis Cathedral; the use and development of the pointed arch has forever transformed the architectural landscape of medieval Europe. Works Cited Anderson, William. The Rise of the Gothic. New Hampshire: Salem House Publishers, 1985. Calkins, Robert G. Medieval Architecture in Western Europe: from A.D. 300 to 1500. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 1998. Fitchen, John. The Construction of Gothic Cathedrals: a Study of Medieval Vault Erection. Phoenix ed. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1981. Hiscock, Nigel. The Wise Master Builder: Platonic Geometry in Plans of Medieval Abbeys and Cathedrals. Chicago: Ashgate Pub Ltd, 2000. Icher, Franà §ois. Building the Great Cathedrals. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.

Marginality and Othering in Metalious’ Peyton Place Essay -- Peyton Pl

Marginality and Othering in Metalious’Peyton Place Metalious’ best known novel, Peyton Place, was a bestseller and a media phenomenon in the mid-1950s and 1960s, creating a stir because of its depictions of teenage sexuality, incest, and illegal abortion. Surprisingly, however, few close examinations of the novel’s content and style have been published by literary critics. This essay provides a discussion of a key concern in the novel: racial, ethnic, geographical, and sexual marginality. Written to challenge the inscription of white, middle class, nuclear family life as the standard by which difference should be measured, Peyton Place features several characters who inhabit the metaphorical margins of American society, including Samuel Peyton, an escaped slave and the founder of the town; Tomoas Makris, a mysteriously handsome Greek school principal with several resemblances to George Metalious; and Selena Cross, a dark-skinned, beautiful young woman describes as a â€Å"gypsy,† whose life ties in to the incest and abortion subplots within the novel. I will provide a working definition of marginality and â€Å"othering† to begin this essay, followed by a discussion of Metalious’ social status as a French Canadian in New Hampshire, a description of the characterizations of Samuel Peyton and Selena Cross, and a final word on realism, reception, and the novel’s legacy. Marginality and â€Å"othering† are terms that have a long history in literary and critical discourse of the 20th century. In cultural criticism of the last three decades, these terms have been used to describe differences in power among individuals, nations, and cultural forms. In Orientalism, for instance, Edward Said invokes this idea of marg... ...ched understanding of the novel’s legacy. The unique and provocative treatments of marginality and othering in Peyton Place illustrate conflicts and anxieties that remain unresolved in 21st century American culture. Works Cited Mussell, Kay. Fantasy and Reconciliation: Contemporary Formulas of Women’s Romance Fiction. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984. Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1979. Sorrell, Richard S. â€Å"A Novelist and Her Ethnicity: Grace Metalious as a Franco-American,† Historical New Hampshire, Fall 1980: 284-327. Stearns, Jane and Michael Stearns. â€Å"Peyton Place.† Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. New York: Harper, 1992: 381-383. Toth, Emily. Inside Peyton Place: The Life of Grace Metalious. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001. â€Å"Unpopular Best Seller.† Life, November 12, 1956: 104.

Level of Stress Among Call Centre Employees Essay

Level of Stress among Call Centre Employees Submission date: 8th January, 2008 Submitted By: Ayesha Khalid Ayesha Sarfaraz Nazool-e-Tabassum Saira Khan Mussaffa Butt Submitted to Dr. Farah Malik Associate Professor Department of Psychology Government College University Lahore Introduction Stress is used as a general label for a vast complex, interdisciplinary area of interest and study, much of which is health related. Most often stress is related to personal discomfort associated with an over demanding or distressinglifestyle situation (Adams & Bromley, 1998) stress is a part of everyday life, we experience stress each day, although it is acknowledged that the degree of stress varies considerably depending on the complexity of the situation and availability of support. For some, the stress is manageable and work or home life is not affected. For others, however, the stress reaches a critical point where there may be a need for medical or psychiatric assistance (Weiten, 2001). The causes of stress can include any event or occurrence that a person considers a threat to his or her coping strategies or resources. Researchers generally agree that a certain degree of stress is a normal part of a living organism’s response to the inevitable changes in its physical or social environment, and that positive, as well as negative, events can generate stress as well as negative occurrences (Frey, 2002). There can be innumerable stress factors since different individuals react differently to the samestress conditions. Extreme stress situations for an individual may prove to be mild for another,for yet another person the situations might not qualify as stressing at all. (http://www. lifepositive. com/stress. html). The fact that women report and exhibit higher level of psychological distress than men has been explained in three major ways. The methodological artifact explanation suggests that women are socialized to be more expressive and therefore will admit more emotional symptoms than men in response to the standard psychological stress (Frey, 2002). The stress exposure argument suggests that women face more stressor in general or more severe, persistent stressors than men. Whereas the vulnerability argument suggest that women lack coping resources such as high self esteem, a sense of mastery or appropriate coping strategies for handling the stressors to which they are exposed. Newman (1984 c. f. Eckenrode, 1991) suggested that women over report minor symptoms that inflate over all distress scores (Eller, 2000). Stress in humans in general results from interactions between persons and their environment that are perceived as straining or exceeding their adaptive capacities and threatening their well-being. The element of perception indicates that human stress responses reflect differences in personality, as well as differences in physical strength or general health (Frey, 2002). Stress is often termed asa twentieth century syndrome, born out of man’s race towards modern progress and its ensuingcomplexities. For that matter, causes such as a simple flight delay to managing a teenage child athome can put you under stress. Listing the causes of stress is tricky yet replete with practical diversity (http://www. lifepositive. com/stress. html). General cause of stress include primarily, Threat; a perceived threat will lead a person to feel stressed. This can include physical threats, social threats, financial threat, and so on. Fear; Fear leads to imagined outcomes, which are the real source of stress. Uncertainty; When people are not certain, they are unable to predict, and hence feel they are not in control, and hence may feel fear or feel threatened by that which is causing the uncertainty (http://www. workstress. net/causes. htm). Apart from certain general causes another reason is cognitive dissonance; it is when there is a gap between what people do and what they think, then the outcome experience is cognitive dissonance, which is felt as stress.