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Modern dance is usually performed in
bare feet, often with non-traditional costuming.
Modern dance is a dance form developed in the
early 20th century. Although the term
Modern dance has
also been applied to a category of 20th Century
broom dances,
Modern dance as a term
usually refers to
20th
century concert dance.
Origins
In the early 1900s two American female dancers,
Isadora Duncan and
Ruth St. Denis, as well as one German female
dancer,
Mary Wigman, started to rebel
against the rigid constraints of Classical
Ballet. Shedding the authoritarian controls
surrounding classical ballet technique, costume, and shoes, these
early modern dance pioneers focused on creative self-expression
rather than on technical virtuosity. Modern dance is a more
relaxed, free style of dance in which choreographers use emotions
and moods to design their own steps, in contrast to ballet's
structured code of steps. It has a deliberate use of gravity,
whereas ballet strives to be light and airy.
In the United States
In the United States of America people such as
Loie Fuller,
Isadora
Duncan,
Ruth St Denis,
Doris Humphrey and also
Martha Graham developed, styled and also laid
down the foundations of American modern dance.
In Europe
In
Europe,
Mary
Wigman,
Francois Delsarte,
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze,
and
Rudolf von Laban developed
theories of human movement and expression, and methods of
instruction that led to the development of European modern and
Expressionist dance. Their
theories and techniques spread well beyond Europe to influence the
development of modern dance and theater via their students and
disciples, and subsequent generations of teachers and performers
carried these theories and methods to Russia, the United States and
Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
History
Free dance
- 1891 - Loie Fuller (a burlesque skirt dancer) began experimenting with
the effect that gas lighting had on her silk costumes. Fuller
developed a form of natural movement and improvisation techniques
that were used in conjunction with her revolutionary lighting
equipment and translucent silk costumes. She patented her apparatus
and methods of stage lighting that included the use of coloured
gels and burning chemicals for luminescence, and also patented her
voluminous silk stage costumes.
- 1903 - Isadora Duncan developed a
dance technique influenced by the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche and a belief that
dance of the ancient Greeks (natural
and free) was the dance of the future. Duncan developed a
philosophy of dance based on natural and spiritual
concepts and advocated for that acceptance of pure dance
as a high art.
Fuller, Duncan and St. Denis all toured
Europe seeking a wider and more accepting audience
for their work.
Ruth St. Denis returned to the United States
to continue her work. Isadora Duncan
returned to the United States at various points in her life but her
work was not very well received there. She returned to Europe and
died in Paris in 1927. Fuller's work also received little support
outside Europe.
Early modern dance
In 1915, Ruth Dorthy St. Denis founded the
Denishawn school and dance company with her
husband
Ted Shawn. Whilst St. Denis was
responsible for most of the creative work, 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.
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.
- Helen Tamiris - originally trained
in free movement (Irene Lewisohn) and ballet
(Michel Fokine) Tamiris studied
briefly with Isadora Duncan but disliked her emphasis on personal
expression and lyrical movement. Tamiris believed that each dance
must create its own expressive means and as such did not develop an
individual style or technique. As a choreographer Tamiris made
works based on American themes working in both concert dance and musical theatre.
- Lester Horton -
choosing to work in California
(three thousand miles away from the center of
modern dance - New York), Horton developed his own approach that
incorporated diverse elements including Native American dances
and modern Jazz. Horton's dance
technique (Lester Horton Technique) emphasises a whole
body approach including; flexibility, strength, coordination, and
body awareness to allow freedom of expression.
European modern and expressionist dance
Popularization of American Modern Dance
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. 205)
Development of modern dance
Whilst the founders of modern dance continued to make works based
on ancient
myth and
legends following a narrative structure, their
students, the
radical dancers, saw dance as a potential
agent of change. Disturbed by the
Great
Depression and the rising threat of
fascism in Europe, they tried to raise consciousness
by dramatizing the
economic,
social,
ethnic and
political crises of their time.
- Anna Sokolow - A student of Martha
Graham and Louis Horst, Sokolow created her own dance company
(circa 1930). Presenting dramatic contemporary imagery, Sokolow's
compositions were generally abstract, often revealing the full
spectrum of human experience reflecting the tension and alienation
of the time and the truth of human movement.
- José Limón - In 1946, after
studying and performing with Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman,
Limón established his own company with Humphrey as Artistic
Director. It was under her mentorship that Limón created his
signature dance The Moor’s Pavane (1949). Limón’s
choreographic works and technique remain a strong influence on
contemporary dance practice.
- Merce Cunningham - A former
ballet student and performer with Martha Graham, he presented his
first New York solo concert with John Cage
in 1944. Influenced by Cage and embracing modernist ideology using
postmodern processes, Cunningham
introduced chance procedures and pure movement to
choreography and Cunningham technique to the cannon of
20th century dance techniques. Cunningham set the seeds for
postmodern dance with his
non-linear, non-climactic, non-psychological abstract work. In
these works each element is in and of itself expressive, and the
observer (in large part) determines what it communicates.
- Erick Hawkins - A student of
George Balanchine, Hawkins became
a soloist and the first male dancer in Martha Graham's dance
company. In 1951, Hawkins, interested in the new field of kinesiology, opened his own school and developed
his own technique (Hawkins technique) a forerunner of most somatic
dance techniques.
- Alwin Nikolais - A student of
Hanya Holm. Nikolais's use of multimedia
in works such as Masks, Props, and Mobiles (1953),
Totem (1960), and Count Down (1979) was unmatched
by other choreographers. Often presenting his dancers in
constrictive spaces and costumes with complicated sound and sets,
he focused their attention on the physical tasks of overcoming
obstacles he placed in their way. Nikolais viewed the dancer not as
an artist of self-expression, but as a talent who could investigate
the properties of physical space and movement.
African American modern dance
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.
- Katherine Dunham - An African American dancer, and anthropologist. Originally a ballet
dancer, she founded her first company Ballet Negre in 1936
and later the Katherine Dunham Dance Company based in
Chicago,
Illinois
. Dunham opened a school in New York (1945)
where she taught Katherine Dunham Technique, a blend of
African and Caribbean
movement (flexible torso and spine, articulated
pelvis and isolation of the limbs and polyrhythmic movement)
integrated with techniques of ballet and
modern dance.
- Pearl Primus - A dancer,
choreographer, and anthropologist, Primus drew on African and
Caribbean dances to create strong dramatic works characterized by
large leaps in the air. Primus often based her dances on the work
of black writers and on racial and African-American issues. Primus
created works based on Langston
Hughes The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1944), and Lewis Allan's Strange Fruit (1945). Her dance company
developed into the Pearl Primus Dance Language Institute
which teaches her method of blending African-American, Caribbean,
and African influences with modern dance and ballet
techniques.
Legacy of modern dance
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Modern dance often utilizes floor
work.
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 and Contemporary dance
Both
Postmodern dance and
Contemporary dance are built upon the
foundations laid by Modern dance and form part of the greater
category of 20th century concert dance. Where as Postmodern dance
was a direct and opposite response to Modern dance, Contemporary
dance draws on both modern and postmodern dance as a source of
inspiration. The social and artistic upheavals of the late 1960s
and 70s provoked even more radical forms of modern dance. Modern
dance today is much more sophisticated in technique and technology
than when modern dance was founded. The founders composed their
dances entirely of spirit, sould, heart and mind as opposed to
today's modern which has more of a technical aspect as well. The
concern with social problems and the condition of human spirit is
still expressed, but the issues that are presented would have
appalled many of the early modern dancers. The essence of modern
dance is to look forward, not back. Ballet and modern sometimes
fuse together and enrich both forms, but neither is likely to lose
its identity in the process. It is impossible to predict what
directions moder dance will take in the future. Each style could go
in so many different directions and are usually very radical. If
this trend keeps up, future audiences can look forward to an
interesting dance forum.
Teachers and their students
This list illustrates the basic teacher / student links in modern
dance. For more detailed information see the individual artists
entries.
See also
References
Further reading
- Adshead-Lansdale, J. (Ed) (1994) Dance History: An
Introduction. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-09030-X
- Anderson, J. (1992) Ballet & Modern Dance: A Concise
History. Independent Publishers Group. ISBN 0-87127-172-9
- Au, S. (2002) Ballet and Modern Dance (World of Art).
Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20352-0
- Brown, J. Woodford, C, H. and Mindlin, N. (Eds) (1998) (The
Vision of Modern Dance: In the Words of Its Creators).
Independent Publishers Group. ISBN 0-87127-205-9
- Cheney, G. (1989) Basic Concepts in Modern Dance: A
Creative Approach. Independent Publishers Group. ISBN
0-916622-76-2
- Daly, A. (2002) Done into Dance: Isadora Duncan in
America. Wesleyan Univ Press. ISBN 0-8195-6560-1
- de Mille, A. (1991) Martha : The Life and Work of Martha
Graham. Random House. ISBN 0-394-55643-7
- Duncan, I. (1937) The technique of Isadora Duncan.
Dance Horizons. ISBN 0-87127-028-5
- Foulkes, J, L. (2002) Modern Bodies: Dance and American
Modernism from Martha Graham to Alvin Ailey. The University of
North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-5367-4
- Graham, M. (1973) The Notebooks of Martha Graham.
Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-167265-2
- Graham, M. (1992) Martha Graham: Blood Memory: An
Autobiography. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-57441-9
- Hawkins, E. and Celichowska, R. (2000) The Erick Hawkins
Modern Dance Technique. Independent Publishers Group. ISBN
0-87127-213-X
- Hodgson, M. (1976) Quintet: Five American Dance
Companies. William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0688080952
- Horosko, M (Ed) (2002) Martha Graham: The Evolution of Her
Dance Theory and Training. University Press of Florida. ISBN
0-8130-2473-0
- Humphrey, D. and Pollack, B. (Ed) (1991) The Art of Making
Dances Princeton Book Co. ISBN 0-87127-158-3
- Hutchinson Guest, A. (1998) Shawn's Fundamentals of Dance
(Language of Dance). Routledge. ISBN 2-88124-219-7
- Kriegsman, S, A.(1981) Modern Dance in America: the
Bennington Years. G K Hall. ISBN 0-8161-8528-X
- Lewis, D, D. (1999) The Illustrated Dance Technique of Jose
Limon. Princeton Book Co. ISBN 0-87127-209-1
- Long, R. A. (1995) The Black Tradition in Modern
Dance. Smithmark Publishers. ISBN 0831707631
- Love, P. (1997) Modern Dance Terminology: The ABC's of
Modern Dance as Defined by its Originators. Independent
Publishers Group. ISBN 0-87127-206-7
- McDonagh, D. (1976) The Complete Guide to Modern Dance
Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385050555
- McDonagh, D. (1990) The Rise and Fall of Modern Dance.
Chicago Review Press. ISBN 1-55652-089-1
- Mazo, J, H. (2000) Prime Movers: The Makers of Modern Dance
in America. Independent Publishers Group. ISBN
0-87127-211-3
- Minton, S. (1984) Modern Dance: Body & Mind.
Morton Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0895821027
- Roseman, J, L. (2004) Dance Was Her Religion: The Spiritual
Choreography of Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis and Martha
Graham. Hohm Press. ISBN 1-890772-38-0
- Sherman, J. (1983) Denishawn: The Enduring Influence.
Twayne. ISBN 0-8057-9602-9
- Terry, W. (1976) Ted Shawn, father of American dance : a
biography. Dial Press. ISBN 0-8037-8557-7
- A great series of articles on Analyzing trends
in the modern dance movement can be found here.