Modern dance

For the debut album by Pere Ubu, see The Modern Dance.
Main articles: Dance and Concert dance
Martha Graham in 1948

Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance (as opposed to participation dance), primarily arising out of Germany and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The oversimplification of modern dance's history often leads to the erroneous explanation that the art form emerged merely as a rejection of, or rebellion against classical ballet. An in-depth analysis of the context of the emergence of modern dance reveals that as early as the 1880s, a range of socioeconomic changes in both the United States and Europe was initiating tremendous shifts in the dance world.

In America, increasing industrialization, the rise of a middle class (which had more disposable income and free time), and the decline of Victorian social strictures led to, among other changes, a new interest in health and physical fitness.[1] "It was in this atmosphere that a 'new dance' was emerging as much from a rejection of social structures as from a dissatisfaction with ballet."[2] During that same period, "the champions of physical education helped to prepare the way for modern dance, and gymnastic exercises served as technical starting points for young women who longed to dance"[3]—and women's colleges were already offering "aesthetic dance" courses by the end of the 1880s[4]

Concurrently, dance artists such as Isadora Duncan, Maud Allen, and Loie Fuller were pioneering new forms and practices in what is now called aesthetic or free dance for performance. These dancers disregarded ballet's strict movement vocabulary, the particular, limited set of movements that were considered proper to ballet, and stopped wearing corsets and pointe shoes in the search for greater freedom of movement. Emil Rath, who wrote at length about this emerging artform at the time stated,

"Music and rhythmic bodily movement are twin sisters of art, as they have come into existence simultaneously...today we see in the artistic work of Isadora Duncan, Maud Allen, and others the use of a form of dancing which strives to portray in movements what the music master expresses in his compositions—interpretative dancing."[5]

American modern dance can be divided (roughly) into three periods or eras:[6]

Dates Era Examples of Artists Notes
1880-1923 Early Modern Period Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Eleanor Anderson New Dance, Free Dance, and Modern Romanticism could be other names for this period. While artistic practice changed tremendously during this period, clearly distinct modern dance techniques had not yet emerged.
1923-1946 Central Modern Period Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Katherine Dunham, Charles Weidman, Lester Horton Many dance artists during this era searched for an American way of moving, and created an American artform. They also developed clearly defined and recognizable dance training systems.
1946-1957 Late Modern Period José Limón, Pearl Primus, Merce Cunningham, Talley Beatty, Erick Hawkins, Anna Sokolow, Anna Halprin, Paul Taylor This period brought clarity of abstractionism, the rise of the avant-garde, and paved the way for postmodernist dance.

From roughly 1914 forward, sociopolitical concerns added fuel to the continued development of modernist dance in the United States and Germany. The First and Second World Wars, the rise of fascism, the Great Depression (in the US), and the evolution of other artforms each informed modern dance along the way. Moving into the 1960s, new ideas about dance began to emerge, again in large part as a response to both earlier dance forms as much as to social changes. Eventually, postmodern dance artists would reject the formalism of modern dance, and include elements such as performance art, contact improvisation, release-technique, and improvisation.[7]

The discussion that follows is by no means an exhaustive list of modern dance artists in either the United States or Germany. As will become clear below, modern dance has evolved with each subsequent generation of participating artists. Artistic content has morphed and shifted from one choreographer to another, and so too have styles and techniques. Artists such as Martha Graham and Lester Horton developed techniques in the Central Modern Period that are still taught worldwide, and numerous other types of modern dance exist today—many of which are associated with renowned schools and master teachers.

Free dance

Isadora Duncan in 1903
Main article: Free dance

Expressionist and early modern dance in Europe

Dancer at the Laban school, Berlin 1929

In Europe, Mary Wigman, Francois Delsarte, Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (Eurhythmics), and Rudolf Laban developed theories of human movement and expression, and methods of instruction that led to the development of European modern and Expressionist dance. Other pioneers included Kurt Jooss (Ausdruckstanz) and Harald Kreutzberg.

Radical dance

Disturbed by the Great Depression and the rising threat of fascism in Europe, the radical dancers tried to raise consciousness by dramatizing the economic, social, ethnic and political crises of their time.

Early modern dance in America

In 1915, Ruth St. Denis founded the Denishawn school and dance company with her husband Ted Shawn.[10] St. Denis was responsible for most of the creative work, and Shawn was responsible for teaching technique and composition. Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman were all pupils at the school and members of the dance company. Seeking a wider and more accepting audience for their work, Duncan, Fuller, and Ruth St. Denis all toured Europe. Fuller's work also received little support outside Europe. St. Denis returned to the United States to continue her work.

Martha Graham and Bertram Ross in 1961; photo by Carl van Vechten

Martha Graham is often regarded as the founding mother of modern 20th-century concert dance.[11] Graham viewed ballet as too one-sided: European, imperialistic, and un-American.[12] She became a student at the Denishawn school in 1916 and then moved to New York City in 1923, where she performed in musical comedies, music halls, and worked on her own choreography.[13] Graham developed her own dance technique, Graham technique, that hinged on concepts of contraction and release.[11] In Graham's teachings, she wanted her students to "Feel". To "Feel", means having a heightened sense of awareness of being grounded to the floor while, at the same time, feeling the energy throughout your entire body, extending it to the audience.[14] Her principal contributions to dance are the focus of the ‘center’ of the body (as contrast to ballet's emphasis on limbs), coordination between breathing and movement, and a dancer’s relationship with the floor.[13]

After shedding the techniques and compositional methods of their teachers the early modern dancers developed their own methods and ideologies and dance techniques that became the foundation for modern dance practice:

Popularization in America

In 1927, newspapers regularly began assigning dance critics, such as Walter Terry, and Edwin Denby, who approached performances from the viewpoint of a movement specialist rather than as a reviewer of music or drama. Educators accepted modern dance into college and university curricula, first as a part of physical education, then as performing art. Many college teachers were trained at the Bennington Summer School of the Dance, which was established at Bennington College in 1934.

Of the Bennington program, Agnes de Mille wrote, "...there was a fine commingling of all kinds of artists, musicians, and designers, and secondly, because all those responsible for booking the college concert series across the continent were assembled there. ... free from the limiting strictures of the three big monopolistic managements, who pressed for preference of their European clients. As a consequence, for the first time American dancers were hired to tour America nationwide, and this marked the beginning of their solvency." (de Mille, 1991, p. 20

Today, modern dance continues to be popular across the world. Ballet companies have begun incorporating modern dance not only into their class repertoire, but their performances as well. Modern dance is one of the only art forms that allow free expression and that is why it remains so well loved by many. The ability to free yourself while you dance is a quality that not many forms of dance poses. With modern dance, there are no boundaries; you simply dance through your feelings, which creates an extraordinary art form.

African American modern dance

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform "Revelations"

The development of modern dance embraced the contributions of African American dance artists regardless of whether they made pure modern dance works or blended modern dance with African and Caribbean influences.

Legacy of modern dance

The legacy of modern dance can be seen in lineage of 20th-century concert dance forms. Although often producing divergent dance forms, many seminal dance artists share a common heritage that can be traced back to free dance.

Postmodern dance

Main article: Postmodern dance

Postmodern dance developed in the 1960s in United States when society questioned truths and ideologies in politics and art. This period was marked by social and cultural experimentation in the arts. Choreographers no longer created specific 'schools' or 'styles'. The influences from different periods of dance became more vague and fragmented.[11] It is very common for postmodern dance to be performed to little or no music at all.

Contemporary dance

Main article: Contemporary dance
Danceworks rehearsal of "Stone Soup" with semi-improvised music from composer Seth Warren-Crow and Apple iLife sound clip "Tour Bus"

Contemporary dance emerged in the 1950s as the dance form that is combining the modern dance elements and the classical ballet elements.[15] It can use elements from non-Western dance cultures, such as African dancing with bent knees as a characteristic trait, and Butoh, Japanese contemporary dancing that developed in the 1950s.[11][16] It is also derived from modern European themes like poetic and everyday elements, broken lines, nonlinear movements, and repetition. Many contemporary dancers are trained daily in classical ballet to keep up with the technicality of the choreography given. These dancers tend to follow ideas of efficient bodily movement, taking up space, and attention to detail. Contemporary dance today includes both concert and commercial dance because of the lines being blurred by pop culture and television shows. According to Treva Bedinghaus,"Modern dancers use dancing to express their innermost emotions, often to get closer to their inner-selves. Before attempting to choreograph a routine, the modern dancer decides which emotions to try to convey to the audience. Many modern dancers choose a subject near and dear to their hearts, such as a lost love or a personal failure. The dancer will choose music that relates to the story they wish to tell, or choose to use no music at all, and then choose a costume to reflect their chosen emotions."[17]

Teachers and their students

This list illustrates the basic teacher / student links in modern dance.

Rudolf von Laban and pupils at his dance school, Berlin 1929

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kurth, P. (2001). Isadora: A sensational life. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. pp. 28–29.
  2. ↑ Legg, Joshua (2011). Introduction to Modern Dance Techniques. Hightstown, NJ: Princeton Book Company. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-87127-3253.
  3. ↑ Anderson, Jack (1997). Art Without Boundaries: The world of modern dance. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. p. 8.
  4. ↑ McPherson, Elizabeth (2008). The Contributions of Martha Hill to American Dance and Dance Education, 1900-1995. Lewisto n: The Edwin Mellen Press. p. 5.
  5. ↑ Rath, Emil (1914). Aesthetic Dancing. New York: A. S. Barnes Company. p. v-vi.
  6. ↑ Legg, Joshua (2011). Introduction to Modern Dance Techniques. Hightstown, NJ: Princeton Book Company. p. xviii. ISBN 978-0-87127-3253.
  7. ↑ Scheff, Helene; Marty Sprague; Susan McGreevy-Nichols (2010). Exploring dance forms and styles: a guide to concert, world, social, and historical dance. Human Kinetics. p. 87. ISBN 0-7360-8023-6.
  8. ↑ Ware, Susan. "Notable American Women". Harvard University Press, 2004, p. 305-306.
  9. ↑ Siegel, Marcia B. "The Shapes of Change: Images of American Dance". University of California Press, 1979, p. 168-169.
  10. ↑ Cullen, Frank. "Vaudeville: Old & New". Psychology Press, 2007, p. 449.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Origins of Contemporary Dance". Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  12. ↑ "Modern Dance Pioneers". Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  13. 1 2 "Modern Dance History". Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  14. ↑ Bird's Eye View: Dancing with Martha Graham and on Broadway/Dorothy Bird and Joyce Greenberg; with an introduction by Marcia B. Siegel, 1997
  15. ↑ "Difference Between Modern and Contemporary Dance". Retrieved 18 March 2012.
  16. ↑ "Contemporary Dance History". Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  17. ↑ "What Is Modern Dance?". Retrieved 20 November 2013.

Sources

Further reading

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