1. HISTORY OF
MODERN DANCE

2. CHARACTERISTICS OF
MODERN DANCE
 Movement driven by emotion
 Low center of gravity
 Dancers embrace the ground

3. LINEAGE

4. EXPRESSIONIST DANCE
 “Ausdrucktanz”
 Europe, late 1800’s - early 1900’s
 Movement as expression

5. FRANÇOIS DELSARTE
 Musician and teacher
 Developed “Delsarte” acting style
• Focus on human interaction,
gesture as expression
• Known worldwide by 1890’s
 Inspired dancers:
• Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis,
Ted Shawn

6. EMILE JAQUES -DALCROZE
 Musician, composer
 Developed eurythmics
 Founded school in 1910
• Taught the Dalcroze Method

7. RUDOLF VAN LABAN
 Dance artist, theorist
 Created Labanotation
 Established schools throughout Europe

8. MARY WIGMAN
 Student of Dalcroze and Laban
 Challenged tradition
 Dark pieces
 Expansion and contraction
 The Witch:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/
Mary_Wigman_Witch_Dance.ogv

9. FREE DANCE
 America, late 1890’s – early 1900’s
 Spread to Hungary, Russia, Eastern Europe
 Rebellion against ballet

10. LOIE FULLER
 Child actress, burlesque dancer
 Developed her own natural
movement and improvisation
 The first modern dancer
 Innovative lighting
and costume design

11. ISADORA DUNCAN
 Created her own philosophy of dance
• Natural movement as connection
between emotion and movement
 Greek and Freedom influences
 Performed to mix reviews

12. RUTH ST. DENIS
& TED SHAWN
 Ruth- studied Delsarte’s method
 Eastern influences
 Opened Denishawn School
• Taught Martha Grhama,
Doris Humphrey, Charles
Wiedman
 Established Jacob’s Pillow

13. MODERN DANCE
 1923: Graham leaves Denishawn to work as a solo artist
 1928: Humphrey and Weidman set up their own school
 1933: Shawn founds all male dance group

14. MARTHA GRAHAM
 “Picasso” of dance
 Student of Denishawn
 The Martha Graham Center of
Contemporary Dance
 Contraction and release
 Long career

15. DORIS HUMPHREY
& CHARLES WIEDMAN
 Students of Denishawn
 Humphrey-Weidman Company
 “Fall and recovery”
 Unique American style

16. MERCE CUNNINGHAM
 Student of Martha Graham
 Merce Cunningham Dance Company
• Used Yì Jīng to choreograph
• Non-representative dance
Legacy Plan

17. ALVIN AILEY
 African American Modern Dance
 Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
 “A ballet bottom,” and a “modern top”

18. REACTION
 1927: Newspapers begin regularly assigning dance critics
 Universities and colleges accepted modern dance
 Audiences often felt confused, but mesmerized

19. INFLUENCE
 Post-modern dance
 Contemporary
 Improvisation, Contact
Improvisation