Dance: Modern Dance

Lorie Fuller

• Most of the movement was performed with the arms, as Fuller had minimal dance training.

• developed a form of natural movement and improvisation techniques that were used in conjunction with her revolutionary lighting equipment and translucent silk costumes

• Pioneer of Modern Dance

• She pushed the limits of the technology of her time, experimenting with the effects of light on her swirling movements

Isadora Duncan

• mother of modern dance

• She discarded the corset, slippers, and tutu of conventional ballet dress, adopting instead tunics that freed the body and revealed its movement - didn’t like restrictions

• She danced on concert stages and in opera houses. She spoke of her dancing not as entertainment but as art with a high moral purpose

• Was interested in movement that was more natural to the human body - thought the human body was beautiful

• Pioneer of Modern Dance

Ruth St. Denis

• called her dances translations (ethnically‐inspired movement that included contemporary dance steps that became famous for their theatricality)

• her distinctive dance style, which combined spiral form with equal parts voluptuousness, mysticism, and erotica

• Built her career as a soloist

• 1914, acquired a professional and personal partner in Ted Shawn

  • Ruth and Ted form the dance company DenisShawn

• Pioneer of Modern Dance

Martha Graham

• She often worked as Ted Shawn’s partner, and became the co‐star of Xochtil, his famous duet about an Indian girl and an Aztec emperor

• new system of movement she called contraction and release

• She developed her own style of movement from the natural rhythm of inhaling (expanding) and exhaling (contracting or tightening)

• demonstrated the thoughtful, personal, and emotional content this new form of dance could communicate in harmony with music, set, and costuming.

Doris Humphrey

• was a choreographic master, theoretician, and creator of the technique known as fall and recovery

• Gave her first independent concert with Charles Weidman, with whom she formed the Humphrey‐Weidman Studio and Company in New York

Merce Cunningham

• choreographic methods and technique, which emphasized balletic leg action and flexibility of the back and torso

• Cunningham wanted to create works that were not deeply personal or psychological — it was simply movement

• Cunningham’s dancers used a strong and supple spine, with arms and legs often extending outward

• movement, music, set, and costumes coexisted in the performance, but had nothing to do with one another,

José Limón

• His powerful dancing shifted perceptions of the male dancer, while his choreography continues to bring a dramatic vision of dance to audiences worldwide

Alvin Ailey

• In 1960 he choreographed Revelations, a beloved modern dance classic.

• best works drew on African‐American traditions and subject matter

Twyla Tharp’s

• . Her signature technique is similarly eclectic, integrating classical discipline and vocabulary with the avantgarde

Mark Morris

• most influenced by George Balanchine and Merce Cunningham.

• use of live musicians in every performance.

• a dancer of extraordinary power, and an unpredictably imaginative theater artist. One of his most popular works is The Hard Nut