Modern dance

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Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theater dance, especially those that emerged from Germany and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Modern dances are often thought to have emerged as rejection, or rebellion against, classical ballet. Socio-economic and cultural factors also contribute to its development. At the end of the 19th century, dance artists such as Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan, and Loie Fuller pioneered new forms and practices in what is now called aesthetic or free dance for the show. These dancers ignore the tight ballet-motion vocabulary, in particular, limited movements that are considered appropriate for ballet, and stop wearing corsets and spikes for greater freedom of movement.

Throughout the 20th century, social-political concerns, major historical events, and the development of other art forms contributed to the continued development of modernist dances in the United States and Germany. Moving into the 1960s, new ideas about dance began to emerge, in response to previous forms of dance and social change. Finally, postmodern dance artists will reject the formalism of modern dance, and incorporate elements such as performing arts, contact improvisation, release techniques, and improvisation.

Modern American dances can be divided (roughly) into three periods or eras. In the Early Modern period ( c. 1880-1923), characterized by the work of Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, and Eleanor King, artistic practice changed radically, but a distinctly different technique of modern dance has not yet emerged. In the Modern Central period, choreographers Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Katherine Dunham, Charles Weidman, and Lester Horton tried to develop distinctive American style and vocabulary. , and develop a clear and recognizable dance training system. In the Final Modern period ( c. 1946-1957), JosÃÆ'Â © LimÃÆ'³n, Pearl Primus, Merce Cunningham, Talley Beatty, Erick Hawkins, Anna Sokolow, Anna Halprin, Paul Taylor introduced clear abstractionism and avant-garde movement, and paved the way for a postmodern dance.

Modern dance has evolved with every next generation of artists participating. Artistic content has metamorphosed and shifted from one choreographer to another, such as style and technique. Artists like Graham and Horton develop techniques in the Middle Modern Period that are still taught around the world, and many other modern dance types exist today.

Video Modern dance

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Modern dance is often thought to have emerged as a rejection, or rebellion against, classical ballet, though historians have suggested that socioeconomic changes in the United States and Europe helped to initiate a shift in the world of dance. In America, the rise of industrialization, the rise of the middle class (which has more income and free time), and the decline of social strictures in Victoria led to, among other changes, new interest in health and physical fitness. "It is in this atmosphere that a 'new dance' arises from the rejection of such social structures from dissatisfaction with ballet." During the same period, "physical education champions helped prepare the way for modern dance, and gymnastics serves as a technical starting point for young women who want to dance." Women's colleges began offering "aesthetic dance" courses in the late 1880s. Emil Rath, who wrote extensively about this emerging art at the time,

"Music and rhythmic body movements are twin sisters of art, as they appear simultaneously... today we see in the artistic work of Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan, and others the use of a dance form that seeks to portray in motion what the music master discloses in its composition - an interpretative dance. "

Free dance

• 1877: Isadora Duncan is the predecessor of modern dance with its emphasis on the center or body, bare feet, loose hair, free flowing costume, and the incorporation of humor into the expression of emotion. He was inspired by classical Greek art, folk dance, social dance, nature, natural forces, and new American athletics such as jumping, running, jumping, jumping, and sudden movement. He thinks ballet is ugly and meaningless gymnastics. Although he returned to the United States at various points in his life, his work was not well received there. He returned to Europe and died in Nice in 1927.
• 1891: Loie Fuller (a burlesque skirt dancer) begins experimenting with the effects of gas lighting on his silk costume. Fuller developed a form of natural movement and improvisation techniques used in conjunction with revolutionary lighting equipment and transparent silk costumes. He patented his stage lighting tools and methods including the use of colored gels and burned chemicals for luminescence, and also patented his vast silk stage costumes.
• 1905: Ruth St. Denis, influenced by actress Sarah Bernhardt and Japanese dancer Sada Yacco, developed the translation of Indian culture and mythology. Her performance quickly became popular and she toured extensively while researching Oriental culture and art.

Maps Modern dance

Modern dance expressionist and early in Europe

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

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Radical dance

Disturbed by the Great Depression and the increasing threat of fascism in Europe, radical dancers seek to raise awareness by dramatizing the economic, social, ethnic and political crisis of their day. Just Holm, a disciple of Mary Wigman and instructor at the Wigman School in Dresden, founded the Newman Wigman Dance School in 1931 (which became the Only Holm Studio in 1936) that introduced the Wigman technique, Laban's theories about the dynamics of space, and then his own dance technique to modern American dance. As a great choreographer, he was the founding artist of the first American Dance Festival in Bennington (1934). Holm's Metropolitan Daily is the earliest modern dance composition broadcast on NBC and its labanotical score for Kiss Me, Kate (1948) is the first copyright-protected choreography in the United States. Holm choreographed extensively in the field of concert dance and musical theater.

Anna Sokolow - A student of Martha Graham and Louis Horst, Sokolow created his own dance company (circa 1930). Presenting dramatic contemporary images, Sokolow compositions are generally abstract, often revealing a full spectrum of human experience that reflects the tension and alienation of time and the truth of the human movement.

In 1946, after studying and performing with Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, LimÃÆ'³n founded his own company with Humphrey as artistic director. It was under his guidance that LimÃÆ'³n created his distinctive dance The Moor's Pavane (1949). LimÃÆ'³n's choreographic works and techniques still have a strong influence on contemporary dance practice.

Merce Cunningham - A former student and ballet player with Martha Graham, he presented his first solo concert in New York with John Cage in 1944. Influenced by Cage and embracing the modernist ideology using the postmodern process, Cunningham introduced the and pure movement for choreography and Cunningham techniques to the 20th century dance technique cannon. Cunningham set the seeds for postmodern dance with abstract non-linear, non-climactic, non-psychological work. In these works each element is itself expressive, and the observer (in large part) determines what it communicates.

Erick Hawkins - A student of George Balanchine, Hawkins became the soloist and first male dancer at the Martha Graham dance company. In 1951, Hawkins, interested in a new field of kinesiology, opened his own school and developed his own technique (Hawkins technique) as a pioneer of somatic dance techniques.

Paul Taylor - Student of Juilliard School of Music and Connecticut Dance School. In 1952, his performance at the American Dance Festival attracted the attention of several major choreographers. Appearing in Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, and George Balanchine (in that order), he founded Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1954. The use of everyday movements and modernist ideologies is characteristic of his choreography. Former members of the Paul Taylor Dance Company include Twyla Tharp, Laura Dean, Dan Wagoner, and Senta Driver.

Alwin Nikolais - A Holm Only student. The use of multimedia by Nikolais in works such as Masks, Tools, and Mobiles (1953), Totem (1960), and Count Down (1979) unmatched by other choreographers. Often presenting his dancers in narrow spaces and costumes with complex sounds and sets, he focuses their attention on physical tasks to overcome the obstacles he places in their path. Nikolais sees dancers not as artists of self-expression, but as a talent that can investigate the nature of space and physical movement.

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In the United States

Early modern dance in America

In 1915, Ruth St. Denis founded Denishawn school and dance company with her husband Ted Shawn. St. Denis is responsible for most creative works, and Shawn is responsible for teaching engineering and composition. Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman are all students 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 in Europe. Fuller's work also gained little support outside Europe. St. Denis returns to the United States to continue her work.

Martha Graham is often considered the founding mother of modern 20th century concert dance. Graham looked at ballet as one side: European, imperialistic, and not American. He became a student at Denishawn school in 1916 and then moved to New York City in 1923, where he performed in musical comedy, music room, and worked on his own choreography. Graham developed his own dance technique, the Graham technique, which relies on the concept of contraction and release. In Graham's teaching, he wants his students to "Feel". To "Feel", means having a high awareness of going to the floor while, at the same time, feeling the energy throughout your body, extending it to the audience. The main contribution to dance is the focus of the body's 'center' (in contrast to ballet presses on the limbs), coordination between breathing and movement, and the relationship of a dancer to the floor.

• 1923: Graham leaves Denishawn to work as a solo artist at Greenwich Village Follies.
• 1928: Humphrey and Weidman leave Denishawn to set up their own school and company (Humphrey-Weidman).
• 1933: Shawn sets up his dance group all the men of Ted Shawn and the Male Dancer based in Jacob's Pillow at his farm in Becket, Massachusetts.

After unleashing the techniques and methods of their teacher's composition, early modern dancers developed their own methods and ideology and dance techniques that became the basis of modern dance practice:

• Martha Graham and Louis Horst
• Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman
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 movements. Tamiris believed that every dance should create its own expressive means and thus not develop individual styles or techniques. As a choreographer, Tamiris makes works based on American themes that work in dance concerts and musical theater.
• Lester Horton - choosing to work in California (3,000 miles away from New York, the center of modern dance), Horton developed his own approach incorporating a variety of elements including Native American dance and modern jazz. The Horton dance technique (Lester Horton Technique) emphasizes the whole body approach including flexibility, strength, coordination, and body awareness to allow freedom of expression.

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In 1927, newspapers regularly began assigning dance critics, such as Walter Terry, and Edwin Denby, who approached the show from the point of view of a movement specialist rather than as a music or drama reviewer. Educators receive modern dance into the college and university curriculum, first as part of physical education, then as performing arts. Many college teachers are trained at Bennington Summer School of the Dance, founded at Bennington College in 1934.

From the Bennington program, Agnes de Mille writes, "... there is good mixing of all kinds of artists, musicians, and designers, and secondly, as all those responsible for ordering concert series of colleges across the continent are gathered there. free from the strict restrictions of the three major monopoly management, which suppresses for their European client preferences. As a consequence, for the first time American dancers are employed for nationwide American tours, and this marks the beginning of their solvency. "(de Mille, 1991, p. 20 30

Modern African American dance

The development of modern dance embraces the contributions of African American dance artists irrespective of whether they make pure modern dance work or a blend of modern dance with African and Caribbean influences.

• Katherine Dunham - African American Dancer, and anthropologist. Originally a ballet dancer, he founded his first company Ballet Negre in 1936 and then Katherine Dunham's Dance Company based in Chicago, Illinois. In 1945, Dunham opened a school in New York where he taught Katherine Dunham Technique, a blend of African and Caribbean movements (flexible body and spine, articulated pelvic bone, limb isolation, and polyrhythmic movement) which is integrated with modern ballet and dance techniques.
• Pearl Primus - A dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist, Primus drew African and Caribbean dances to create powerful dramatic works marked by great jumps in the air. Primus often based his dance on the work of black authors and on racial and African-American issues. Primus created works based on Langston Hughes The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1944), and Lewis Allan Strange Fruit (1945). Her dance company developed into Pearl Primus Dance Language Institute that teaches how to combine African-American, Caribbean and African influences with modern dance and ballet techniques.
• Alvin Ailey - A student of Lester Horton, Bella Lewitzky, and then Martha Graham, Ailey spent several years working in concert and theater concerts. In 1958, Ailey and a group of young African-American dancers appeared as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. Ailey used her "blood memories" about Texas, blues, spiritual, and gospel as inspiration. His most popular and critically acclaimed work was Revelations (1960).

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The legacy of modern dance

The heritage of modern dance can be seen in the form of 20th century concert dance. Although it often produces different forms of dance, many of the seminal dance artists share a common heritage that can be traced back to free dance.

Postmodern dance

Postmodern dance flourished in the 1960s in the United States when societies questioned truth and ideology in politics and art. This period is characterized by social and cultural experiments in art. Choreographers no longer create specific 'schools' or 'styles'. The influence of different dance periods becomes more vague and fragmented. It is common for postmodern dance to perform with little or no music at all.

Contemporary dance

Contemporary dance emerged in the 1950s as a dance form that combines elements of modern dance and elements of classical ballet. It can use elements from non-Western dance cultures, such as African dance with bent knees as a hallmark, and Butoh, a Japanese contemporary dance developed in the 1950s. It also comes from modern European themes such as poetic and daily elements, dashed lines, nonlinear movements, and repetitions. Many contemporary dancers are trained everyday in classical ballet to follow the technical choreography given. These dancers tend to follow efficient body movement ideas, take up space, and pay attention to detail. Contemporary dance today includes concerts and commercial dances because the lines are obscured by pop culture and television shows. According to Treva Bedinghaus, "Modern dancers use dance to express their deepest emotions, often to get closer to themselves.Before trying to do choreography routine, modern dancers decide which emotions to convey to the audience.Many modern dancers choose a subject that is close and love for their hearts, such as lost love or personal failure Dancers will choose music that relates to the story they want to tell, or choose not to use music at all, and then choose a costume to reflect their emotions of choice. "

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The teacher and his student

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