The Stage and the School

Chapter 15: Theater and Other Art Forms

Overview

Many art forms, including dance, music, and fine art, are combined in theatrical productions to support and enhance theme, mood, character, action, and setting and thereby enrich the experience of theater.

Music can be fully expressed only through performance because it is an auditory means of communication. Melody, which includes tempo, rhythm, volume, key, and harmony, controls the mood of a musical piece; and lyrics help the listeners interpret the music. Music has existed as long as humans have existed; however, the ancient Greeks were the first to write down their music. Music has undergone many changes since then, and each era has had its own set of musical standards.

Dance, too, is an ancient art form and has seen many mutations over time. Unlike music, dance is primarily a kinesthetic and visual medium. However, dance performances are usually accompanied by music, making a dance performance both a visual and auditory experience. Ballets, like Swan Lake , have plots with characters and action that the dancers must present to the audience. Out of classical ballet came many forms of modern dance. Modern-dance choreographers generally portray universal emotions, but in the twentieth century, they also added social commentary to their compositions.

Fine art is a visual art form that expresses theme and mood through color, line, texture, shape, and form. Arts are also influenced by the various artistic movements throughout history. For example, in the mid-nineteenth century, artists became interested in accurately representing everyday life, or realism.

Although all of these art forms exist separately, they also blend together at times. Theater incorporates fine art in its costuming and set design, music in its musical numbers and dance in its dance numbers. The combination of various mediums in theater is called synthesis. Also, all of the arts are affected directly by the period in which they are created—including the politics and philosophies of the time. For example, the romantic and realist movements flowed through fine art, drama, music, dance, and literature.