Category Archives: Dance

Dance recital

Backdrops Perfect for Dance Recitals 

Backdrops, Dance, dance recital

Spring and summer are full of special events such as graduations and the annual dance recital. Whether you are looking to add a little more sparkle to your event or portray a specific setting, decade, scene, or location for your dance recital, look no further than our extensive backdrops available to rent. 

From toddlers in pink fluffy tutus to teens displaying their emerging talent in hip hop, ballet, or tap, dance recitals are a much-anticipated event every year. It’s where dreams become reality and young dancers come into their own right in front of our eyes on stage. 

Backdrops By Charles Stewart has over 1,500 backdrops available for rent. For a full listing by show, style, and theme, check out our custom backdrop listings as well as our backdrops listed by category and show on our site. But for now, here are some of our favorite backdrops that we find to be perfect for your unique dance recital. 

Abstracts

gold stars

Some of our most popular backdrops for dance recitals include the category we call “Abstract.” They are great for a wide variety of performances that can incorporate younger dancers and older, more experienced dancers. 

The Gold Sparkle Backdrop  #2551 features a black background with shiny gold falling sparkles. This is a painted backdrop with no metallic material. It is perfect for dances, disco themes events, and general background for stars in the making. 

circles

The Abstract Circles Backdrop #3158 is perfect for adding some excitement to a dance recital with large colorful circles. The contrasting background colors with large circles can be used for a variety of purposes such as a retro feel, psychedelic mood, fantasy, or a dream world theme. 

points of light

The Points of Light Backdrop # 2525 is another of our favorites for dance recitals. This smoky purple background has points of light shining above dancers. The colors can change with lighting. This particular backdrop is great for hip hop or more modern dance styles and themes. If you are looking for a vibrant color and a little spark of flair in your dance recital we have the backdrops for you. 

Novelty & Dance Backdrops 

Check out our novelty and dance backdrops that span many categories including foreign lands, patriotic, schools, music notes, and much much more. Here are two of our favorite novelty backdrops for your child’s dance recital. 

gala

The Gala Awards Backdrop #3271 embraces an awards night theme with its red curtains framing the stage with purple background and spotlights.

danceIf you’re looking to go a little more bold try this ​​Dance Backdrop #3236 with silhouettes of dancers in front of a kaleidoscope background. We love how the dancers featured show classic ballroom dancing and more modern free-flowing dancers! 

Check out all of our amazing backdrops on our site for your next dance recital. With our wide selection, we are sure to have the option you are looking for this year. 

 

Eccentric Dance

Dance, Focus, Musical Theater

(Certain portions of the following were taken from an article written in the LA Times by Susan King on 8/3/19)

Think of rubber-legged Ray Bolger in 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz” and 1952’s “Where’s Charley?”; long-limbed Charlotte Greenwood, whose trademark high kicks entertained audiences in such musicals as 1940’s “Young People” and 1955’s “Oklahoma!”; and the gravity-defying Nicholas Brothers — Fayard and Harold — whose leaps and astonishing splits were the high points of numerous musicals including 1940’s “Down Argentine Way” and 1941’s “Sun Valley Serenade.”

It was wacky and wild, dazzling to watch, funny and fearless. It wasn’t modern dance, and it certainly wasn’t ballet. The only word for it was “eccentric.”

On 8/5/19 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences shined a spotlight on eccentric dancing and how the art form has also played an important role in animation.

“What eccentric dance is, by definition, is very broad,” said dance historian Betsy Baytos, the curator and host of the evening, who is also an animator and eccentric dancer and choreographer. “It’s loose-limbed. It’s a pantomimic kind of movement, and it’s usually comic by nature. It’s essentially wrapped around the character.”  Since animated characters can have unique features and movements, choreographers must come up with over exaggerated steps that regular humans don’t make.

“We’re trying to convince you that there’re certain things our characters can do that you find illogical but look completely believable,” says animator Eric Goldberg.  “You have to animate a character with a certain amount of weight and intent and all the things that actually make it completely believable for an audience.”  Think of trying to incorporate the movement of a tail or the long neck of a giraffe.

The famous Nicholas brothers will be featured as well. Tony Nicholas, the son of Fayard, was excited to show Nicholas Brothers home movies that evening because they are “something to behold.” He screened some “exciting new footage we have discovered that no one has ever seen.”

So while Hollywood has honored more traditional styles of dance like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and Gene Kelly to the John Travolta disco and Fame and Flashdance to Footloose and High School Musical, it’s nice to see the art of the eccentric dance get it’s due.