1. Ghost Dances
By Amelia, Nicole and Scarlet

2. The Choreographer
Christopher Bruce
• He was Born on October 3rd 1945 in Leicester, England.
• Christopher Bruce trained at the Rambert ballet school.
• Christopher Bruce received a Evening Standard Inaugural
Dance Award in 1974.
Christopher grew up in Scarborough where
his father encouraged him to take classes in
Christopher Bruce has a position of ballet and tap. He won a scholarship to the
Britain’s leading choreographer working Ballet Rambert School at the age of 13 and
with both classical and contemporary after a brief period with Walter Gore’s
companies worldwide. London Ballet he joined Ballet Rambert in
1963.

3. Costume
Belinda Scarlett
• Dehumanised skeletal creatures
• Skull masks
• Matted hair
• Near naked bodies painted with water based make up to
outline muscle groups and emphasise bone structure.
• Apart from their masks and body paint, the Ghost Dancers’
costumes consist of black bands of loose rags and feathers
round their waists, upper arms, wrists and just below their
knees.
• Skull like masks covers the full face Hair and feathers attached

4. Staging and Lighting
The Staging
• it is based on North and South America and the set is a very
spooky place resembling abandonment. It is set at night and
starts of with skeleton like creatures on stage.
• Christopher designed his own stage setting for Ghost dances.
Lighting
• The lighting was designed to be very effective in which it
focuses on the movements and actions of both people and
ghosts.
• The lighting was done by a man called Nick Chelton.

5. Plot and Choreography
• South America, at the time Christopher Bruce choreographed Ghost
Dances, was a tragic place with terrible things happening to the poorer,
common people: fathers taken away from their families and shot or
thrown away in cells and tortured to death. Friends were murdered and
children taken away.
• Ghost Dances has a cruel relentless quality about it, so when people die
they are smashed to the ground cruelly or dragged off by the Ghost
Dancers, cruel creatures who symbolise death. Bruce used the influences
of the Indian past and created a land – a kind of entrance to the
underworld of heaven or hell – where these ghost dancers came from.
• Throughout Ghost Dances we see the peasant villagers carrying on their
everyday lives, aware that death might at any time, knock on their door
and carry them away.
• The dance takes on a mixed quality of fun, of trying to be happy knowing
of the constant threat of death. The villagers, no matter how much their
people are hurt, murdered and taken away, show pride and dignity and
seem to accept the murderings as a fact of life.

6. Theme
Christopher Bruce described that he took the theme of ‘the
Day of the Dead’, this dance has simple symbolism and native
dance movements as a basis to express the troubles of the
innocent people of South American down the ages and their
courage in the face of difficulty. Certainly, Ghost Dances has a
tremendous impact and audiences in many countries have
delighted in its distinctive, rhythmic movement performed to
haunting South American tunes.

7. So why did Christopher Bruce decide
to make ‘Ghost Dances’?
• Christopher Bruce decided to choreograph Ghost dances as he
wanted to make people aware of the political problems occurring
during this era.
• He also wanted to show the world in a different way how terrible the
Pinochet regime was and how it affected people.
• In Ghost Dances the ghosts represent death as they peel off the villagers
one by one.

8. The Dancers!
• In Ghost Dances there are 3 ghosts all of them being male and 8 dead
characters (People), 5 women and 3 men.

9. The First Performance
• Ghost Dances was created for Ballet Rambert and first
performed on 3 July 1981 at the Bristol Theatre Royal.
• It was nominated for the 1982 Society of West End
Theatre Awards as the 'Outstanding Achievement of the
Year in Ballet'.

10. Music
• A Statement from Christopher Bruce - ‘With 'Ghost Dances' I was
immediately effected by the South American folk music and this
happened to come at a time when I was particularly moved by the
situation in Chile so the two elements came together and were the
inspiration for 'Ghost Dances'.

11. Questions Frequently Asked
I know you started dancing with Rambert in 1963 - but what first got you
interested in dance - was it ballet, and how old were you?
• Christopher Bruce: I think I started to train as a dancer before I was
interested in the art form - it was just a weird accident that I went to
dance classes. But my interest developed as I studied from the time that I
joined the Rambert School in 1959. The atmosphere and artistic heritage
permeated the Mercury Theatre and the school and it was an important
part of my early development.
How would you describe your own style of dancing?
• Christopher Bruce: I think my own style was formed largely in the early
years of my career when I was training in classical ballet. Later there were
other influences But I think this initial period enabled me to develop a
very personal way of moving and means of expression

12. Thank you :D x