Getting Ready (20 minutes)
The following information will help you focus and organize your professional
- Describe where historical references occur in a video segment from
- Analyze costume designs for Parade, focusing on how they convey
character and dictate movement. Create a costume element and explore
how costumes affect character development and movement.
- Analyze and interpret works of painter René Magritte and choreographer
Alwin Nikolais, comparing the artists works to Quidam.
Create a movement sequence that incorporates an original prop or costume
element and references to Magritte and Nikolais.
- Conduct research into the history of street performance and how its
influence is felt in Cirque du Soleils Quidam. Take on
the role of an art historian discussing a specific type of street performance.
These are questions for your group to consider as you work through the
- What are historical references?
- How do historical references affect the creation of new works of art?
Materials and Resources
Facilitator: Distribute the handout, Criticism:
Purposes and Process (PDF).
Discuss your experience with having your students write critiques.
- What knowledge base was necessary for your students to succeed?
- How did your students work together?
- With what kinds of vocabulary did your students need the most help?
Discuss these questions:
- How does art history inform and influence contemporary works of art?
- How do individual art forms affect or inform each other in a multi-arts
Facilitator: If you have a videotape of Cirque du Soleils
Quidam, use it to provide examples of historical references:
- Cue the program tape by setting the time counter in your videocassette
player to 0:00 when you see the title Quidam at the beginning
of the performance, then running the tape fast-forward to 9:50. Play
the segment of Quidam that runs from 9:50 to 18:50 on the time
counter (running time approximately nine minutes).
- The section to be viewed begins with a team of female acrobats performing
with yo-yos. It continues with a transition in which Zoe swings and
the father walks through the air, an aerial performer works on a suspended
red fabric streamer, and a clown runs with sparklers.
- When a clown enters with a hula-hoop, stop the tape.
In the videotape, look for specific examples of:
- where art history influenced the performance and
- where individual art forms affected or informed each other in the
To download PDF files, you will need a free copy of Acrobat