Modern dance

Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to 20th Century Ballroom dance it usually refers to 20th century concert dance.

Context

In the early 1900s a few dancers in America and Europe started to rebel against the rigid constraints of Classical ballet. Shedding classical ballet technique, costume and shoes these early modern dance pioneers practiced free dance.

In America Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis develped thier own styles of free dance and laid the foundations of American modern dance with their choreography and teaching.

In Europe Rudolf Laban, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and Francois Delsarte developed theories of human movement and methods of instruction that lead to the development of European modern and Expressionist dance.

History

Free dance

main article: Free dance

1891 - Loie Fuller (a burlesque skirt dancer) began experimenting with the effect the gas lighting had on her silk costumes. Fuller developed a form of natural movement and improvisation techniques that were used in conjunction with her revoultionary lighting equipment and traslucent silk 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 futre. Ducan developed a philosophy of dance based on natural and spiritual concepts and advocated for that acceptance of pure dance as a high art.

1905 - Ruth St. Denis influenced by the british actress Sarah Bernhardt and Japanese dancer Sado Yacco, Denis developed her translations of Indian culture and mythology. Her performances quickly became popular and she toured extensivly whilst researching Oriental culture and arts. .

Fuller, Duncan and St. Denis all toured Europe (Fuller introduced Duncan to Parisian audiences) seeking a wider and more accepting audience for thier work. Only Ruth St. Denis retuned to the United States as Isadora Duncan died in Paris 1927 and Fuller's work recived little support outside Europe.

Early modern dance

In 1915 Ruth St. Denis founded the Denishawn school and dance company with her husband Ted Shawn. Whilst St. Dennis was responsible for most of the creative work, Shawn was resposible for teaching technique and composition. Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman where all pupils at the school and members of the dance company.

1923 Graham leaves Denishawn to work as a solo artist in the Greenwich Village Follies.
1928 Humphrey and Weidman leave Denishawn to found their own school and company (Humphrey-Weidman).
1933 Shawn founds his all male dance group Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers based in Jacob's Pillow farm in Lee, Massachusetts

The artists taking the first steps into modern dance at fisrt strugled to shed the techniques of thier free dance teachers. However in time each artist developed thier own dance technique and composational method.

In 1927 newspapers regularly began assigning dance critics, such as John Martin, Margaret Lloyd, 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.

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Development of Modern Dance

Of the generation of dancers that succeeded the founders, some innovated less than they adapted existing styles. Once modern dance was established, the hostility among different technical and modern dance styles began to soften and blend. Among the most successful of those who perpetuated existing trends was Jose Limon, who made dances about larger-than-life heroes and grand social schemes. Anna Sokolow concentrated on mood rather than plot in dances, focusing on the tension and alienation of the 1950s. Alvin Ailey combined ballet and modern dance, concentrating on African-American themes; other black choreographers adopted a bouncier, looser style influenced by the African and Caribbean native dances presented by Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus. In the hands of Jack Cole and other choreographers, the modern-dance impetus reached Broadway musicals and Hollywood films.

Some dancers of the second generation, however, continued in the rebellious spirit of their predecessors. Paul Taylor and Erick Hawkins made innovations in the technique and substance of their dances. Alwin Nikolais evolved a multimedia spectacle of sound, shape, movement, and light. Merce Cunningham abandoned plot, characterization, logical sequence, and preconceived emotional coloration, letting his dance movement speak for itself simply as movement occupying time and space.

Cunningham greatly influenced the dancers of the 1960s, many of whom followed his exploration of movement as movement and questioned even further what qualified as dance movement. Moving into the post-modern era towards what is now called contemporary dance, choreographers working with the Judson Dance Theater, including Yvonne Rainier, Trisha Brown and Steve Paxton, used everyday, unemotional movement that could be performed with minimal training. Choreographic minimalists like Rudy Perez experimented with how little could be done. Many choreographers set their dances to be performed in streets, museums, and other non-theatrical, public places.

Legacy of Modern dance

The generation of dancers that appeared after the 1960s has shown a strong interest in training, technique, theatricality, and integrated movement. Meredith Monk has created an imaginative theater form using poetic combinations of dance images, props, and music. Twyla Tharp has developed a casual-looking but rigorous and intricate technique that often serves as a commentary on social issues and on other dance styles. Having choreographed for the conventional ballet, for films, and for the commercial theater, she is one of the most pervasive dance influences at work today. The German dancer Pina Bausch, with her Tanztheater Wuppertal, choreographs strongly narrative dances that combine movement with words, song, chant, and mime. Her work is considered expressionist and has been influenced by her teacher, the early dance modernist Kurt Joss. Avant-garde choreographer Trisha Brown designs dances where movement, not story, is primary, and where multimedia effects create a king of performance art. Much interest has risen recently from intelligence grounded in the body, supporting individual, intuitive, and fundamental movement patterns. Modern dance today draws on theater tradition, dance ethnology, somatics, exercise physiology, and physical therapy for integrated, expressive movement. Beverly Blossom combined live dance with film in the l960's and developed a minimalist solo style.