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28 - Artistic Performance: Acting, Ballet, and Contemporary Dance

from PART V.B - ARTS, SPORTS, & MOTOR SKILLS

By
Helga Noice  and
Tony Noice
Edited by
K. Anders Ericsson ,
Neil Charness ,
Paul J. Feltovich  and
Robert R. Hoffman
Helga Noice
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Elmhurst College
Tony Noice
Affiliation:
Department of Theatre, Elmhurst College
K. Anders Ericsson
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Neil Charness
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Paul J. Feltovich
Affiliation:
University of West Florida
Robert R. Hoffman
Affiliation:
University of West Florida
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Summary

Acting

History

As an art form, acting dates back well over 2,500 years. Large choruses that performed dance-chant rituals called dithyrambs toured the Greek countryside celebrating the birth of Dionysus, god of wine and fertility. Some historians (e.g., Brockett, 1991) suggest that, although these group presentations sowed the seeds of theatre, only when a dithyramb leader named Thespis stepped forward and talked to members of his chorus (not as himself but as a character in the drama) did the art of theatre truly begin. Soon, writers contributed original dialogue to these presentations, and yearly competitions between dithyrambic groups were held in Athens at a 15,000-seat amphitheatre built for the purpose. Thus, the golden age of dramatic art was launched, showcasing the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes.

When the Romans conquered Greece, playwrights such as Plautus and Terrance based most of their works on Greek models but made them far earthier, as they had to compete with such entertainments as gladiators fighting to the death and humans being fed to the lions. After the Romans, theatre more or less vanished until revived many centuries later by the Church for teaching religious principles (Cohen, 1994). The resulting awakening of public interest led to the Renaissance playwrights, most notably Shakespeare, who, in Hamlet's advice to the players, presented to all future generations the hallmarks of good acting: “… o'erstep not the modesty of nature. For anything so o'erdone is from the purpose of playing whose end was and is to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature” (Shakespeare, 1604/1992 p.137).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance , pp. 489 - 504
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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