[00:00.00]Unit 5 Rhythm
[00:-1.00]Lesson 17 Performance
[00:-2.00]Alanis-a True Perormer
[00:-3.00]Canadian singer Alanis Morissette is used spotlight.
[00:-4.00]Her most famous album Jagged Pill,
[00:-5.00]came out in 1995 when she was only twenty-one years old.
[00:-6.00]It sold 15 million copiesand made her world famous.
[00:-7.00]Since then she has made several more albums
[00:-8.00]and she has continued giving great performances on stage
[00:-9.00]Last Thursday night hundreds of fans went the Corn Exchange in Cambridge,
[00:10.00]England to see one of Canada's top singer-songwriters,AN Moriss-ette in concert.
[00:11.00]It was Morissette's performance in Englandsince her song
[00:12.00]'Uninvited' won this year's Grammy Award the best rock song.
[00:13.00]The 30-year-old artist has a dedicated fan base in England.
[00:14.00]There was not a empty seat anywhere in the auditorium at last Thursday's event,
[00:15.00]although it was an incredibly cold night'Sure it's cold outside,
[00:16.00]but I hope warm it up in here for you,'
[00:17.00]Morissette said the large crowd before she started to play.
[00:18.00]During the 3-hour concert,
[00:19.00]the artist used a lot of material from her award-winning album
[00:20.00]'Jagged Little Pill'.She also played a few songs from her new album,
[00:21.00]such as 'Everything But...'which tells the story of someone looking
[00:22.00]for love in the wrong places.
[00:23.00]Morissette gave a creative and powerful performance in another song'Utopia'.
[00:24.00]Her singing was full of feeling;
[00:25.00]the first part of the song was filled with anger,
[00:26.00]while the last part expressed tender love and joy.
[00:27.00]Although the auditorium was cold
[00:28.00]and the sound system caused a few problemsthe audience still managed
[00:29.00]to enjoy the concert.
[00:30.00]Many people in the crowd were obviously dedicated fans
[00:31.00]and they knew the words and sang along to nearly every song.
[00:32.00]Throughout the concert,the atmosphere inside the auditorium was electrifying.
[00:33.00]Everyone agreed that they were greatly impressedby Morissette's
[00:34.00]brilliant music and singing.
[00:35.00]At the end of the three hours,Morissette showed that she was a true performer,
[00:36.00]singing a memorable version of'Heartache'
[00:37.00]She finished the evening with a new song about the life of a superstar.
[00:38.00]While I watched and listened,
[00:39.00]I knew that I was seeing the performance of a real superstar.
[00:40.00]Lesson 19 Experiment in Folk
[00:41.00]Kong goes for folk! As a famous classical pianist,
[00:42.00]Kong Xiangdong surprised his fans last weekby givins a concert
[00:43.00]of Chinese folk music.
[00:44.00]Kons explained that he combined Chinese folk
[00:45.00]music the piano because he wanted to try something new.
[00:46.00]After playing classical music for years,
[00:47.00]Kong felt the need to find some way of being different
[00:48.00]from other classioal musicians.
[00:49.00]As a result of his search, he discovered the potentials of Chinese folk music.
[00:50.00]As his mother was a great music lover,
[00:51.00]music has always been an important part of Kong's life.
[00:52.00]It wasn't always easy for the young Kong Xiangdong.
[00:53.00]He was made to practis the piano so much
[00:54.00]that he sometimes found it unbearat But because he persevered,
[00:55.00]he soon became a great pianist.
[00:56.00]In 1986, he became the youngest prize winnerin
[00:57.00]Moscow's Tchaikovsky international Competition.
[00:58.00]He wa only 18.Because of his talent Kong became famous worldwide.
[00:59.00]But after years of intense pressure,
[-1:00.00]Kong admitted that perhaps he was so busy
[-1:-1.00]that he lost his own identity in some ways Because of this,
[-1:-2.00]he decided to look more closely at his own rootsand rediscovered
[-1:-3.00]the beauty in Chinese folk music.
[-1:-4.00]Kong's new experiment in Chinese folk music
[-1:-5.00]was so important that he even changed his appearance.
[-1:-6.00]He arrived at his first performance of Chinese folk musicwith all his hair shaved off.
[-1:-7.00]Since the music style was new,his hairstyle had to be new too!
[-1:-8.00]Kong wants to play Chinese music so that the world car learn more about China.
[-1:-9.00]But that is not the full story. Kon sees it as a two-way exchange.
[-1:10.00]He wants to play Chinese music so that he can help transform Chinese music.
[-1:11.00]Good luck,Kong Xiangdong!
[-1:12.00]Lesson 20 Let's Dance Ballet
[-1:13.00]Ballet began in Italy and France during the Renaissance
[-1:14.00]and is still an important art form in Western culture.
[-1:15.00]Ballet tells a story with music and actions but no words .
[-1:16.00]...(1)...Another famous Russian ballet is called 'The Nutcracker'.
[-1:17.00]Many countries have produced ballets,including China.
[-1:18.00]One well- known Chinese ballet is called 'The White-haired Girl'.
[-1:19.00]Folk Dance Folk dances are traditional styles
[-1:20.00]of dancing the came from the ordinary people.
[-1:21.00]They are usually group dances that are taught from one genera to another.
[-1:22.00]China is famous for the many different types
[-1:23.00]of folk dances you can see there,
[-1:24.00]including the dragon dances and the lion dances
[-1:25.00]that are performed in Chinese Spring Festival celebrations
[-1:26.00]... (2) ...Today,many well-known folk dances are performed for audiences,
[-1:27.00]like the Yangge.
[-1:28.00]The Yangge is a kind of rural dance,
[-1:29.00]which is ofter performed on festival occasions.
[-1:30.00]In many parts of the countryon the first
[-1:31.00]and fifteenth days of the first lunar month,
[-1:32.00]you will be able to see many dancers,both young and old,
[-1:33.00]dressed in beautiful costumes
[-1:34.00]skip ping back and forth in time to the loud rhythm of cymbals
[-1:35.00]and drums in the parades.
[-1:36.00]Many people visit China during the Spring Festival
[-1:37.00]to see a performance of this unique rural dance.
[-1:38.00]Popular Dance Popular or social dances often came from folk dances,
[-1:39.00]although they are usually popular for only a short time
[-1:40.00]. ...(3)...Until the eighteenth century,
[-1:41.00]social dances were only held in palaces or the homes of aristocrats.
[-1:42.00]However, in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
[-1:43.00]social dancing became more popular.
[-1:44.00]Ballroom dancing,which was a formal dance in a large room
[-1:45.00]became popular in Europe and North America.
[-1:46.00]Central European folk dances, such as the waltz and polka,
[-1:47.00]changed and became the most popular examples of ballroom dances.
[-1:48.00]In the United States the mixing of immigrant cultures produced new forms of dance,
[-1:49.00]such as square dancing and tap dancing.
[-1:50.00]Before the First World War,new ballroom dances came to Europe and America,
[-1:51.00]for example.Fox Trot,Tango, Rumba,Cha-Cha.
[-1:52.00]The Argentine Tango was made internationally popularby Carlos Gardel
[-1:53.00]through his songs and films.
[-1:54.00]From the start of the twentieth century,African-American rhythm
[-1:55.00]and movements also became part of popular social dance:
[-1:56.00]in the 1920s the Charleston;in the 1930s and 1940s the jitterbug;
[-1:57.00]and then the rock 'n'roll dances of the 1950s
[-1:58.00]..(4).. Dancing in couples returned in the 1970s and 1980s with 'disco' music
[-1:59.00]....(5)... This acrobatic form of solo dancing began
[-2:00.00]in the poorer partsof large American cities.
