Historical Events that Impacted Contact Improvisation
Dance has evolved greatly throughout the centuries. It began with ballet and has led up to contact improvisation. This form of dance begun in the early 1970's and was started by a man named Steve Paxton and a group of postmodern dancers from New York City. Contact improvisation is a partnering form of dance and known as the art of moving spontaneously with a group or another person. This form of dance does not require the exact set of traditional skills of other dance form, it doesn’t have a technique that could be studied, and it is practiced in order to accomplish the highest potential. Contact improvisation came at a great time period, which of course was the 70's. The
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Although the Watergate Scandal was an important event during this time period I don’t think it greatly affected contact improvisation.
Another important historical event that occurred during this time period was the end of the Cold War. In 1975, under President Gerald Ford the US joined the USSR and thirty-three other countries to sign the Helsinki Accords that each member of nations vowed to respect human rights and boundaries. I think the whole end of the Cold War greatly affected this dance. I think by using contact improvisation it sort of represented people’s feelings better by being able to interact with each other. So by using contact improvisation I think the dancers were able to get their point across to the audience better. Therefore, the end of the Cold War was probably very important for contact improvisation and expressing yourself.
Finally, the Vietnam War was another important historical event going on in the 1970s. When Nixon was president he sent American troop strength in Vietnam. He also set up a program of Vietnamization, which was decreasing the number of U.S. troops, offering only advice and assistance. The U.S. troops eventually returned from Vietnam but the U.S. did not stop with its involvement in Vietnam. Nixon then extended the war into Laos and Cambodia, there is secretly authorized bombing in order to
always been known for the risky and powerful movements which are often why dancers retire from the company. The dancer’s movements were often very intense and emotive, such as the “throws” across the stage in which the dancers would, almost violently, launch themselves across the stage in different forms (leaps, falls and flips to name a few). Another section where the movements were emotive is where the dancers were thrusting their hips in different positions to perhaps show sexuality in “self”.
The world of contemporary dance is one that is constantly developing and pushing the boundaries of what makes dance more than just movement. However, it is questionable that it would be in this diverse state if it was not for a few revolutionary choreographers. Along with Martha Grahame is could be argued that Merce Cunningham was a pioneering, revolutionary choreographer who questioned given standards and procedures creating the diverse contemporary style that we know today. Revolutionary can be defined as something radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure and principles (Dictionary.com, 2017). In order for something to be revolutionary it has to be in relation to something else, this is certainly true for Cunningham’s
The Vietnam War of 1954 - 1975 was the longest and one of the most unsuccessful wars in U.S history. It took place in countries such as South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The war was a huge blow to the United States’ pride and military, so much that there were lotteries for soldiers. There were five presidents in office during the war, but the main presidents that had a big impact on being involved were Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon. Although the objectives of the U.S being involved were good intentioned, there are many reasons to support that it was an Unjustifiable war due to the casualties. While looking at present information about the war, it was not needed for America to step into the territorial
George Herring 's article " The legacy of Vietnam" talks about the military clash between the communist North Vietnam, backed by its allies and the government of South Vietnam, backed by the United States and other countries that are anti-communist that happened in Vietnam during Richard Nixon 's presidency. The Vietnam War was a terrible war, especially for Vietnamese because a millions of them died during the war. The author not just describes the war itself; he also analyzes the killing and the attack that occurred during the war. In general the Vietnam War was the most costly war contrast to other wars and it was the most shocking eras in American history. The Vietnam War had an impact in American history. It brought fear from the war
The 1960’s and 70’s were filled with turbulent changes. The US was still reeling from containment and its domino policy, leading it to believe that it had the right to exercise influence in foreign affair. One foreign affair was known as Vietnam. The Vietnam War was the longest war in the nation’s history. This war, from both abroad and at home, drastically changed the society of America, socially, economically, and politically. It caused for much anti-war sentiment and fueled the counter culture movement, it caused inflation and contributed to the stagflation, and brought down Johnson’s reputation and caused for several changes in legislation.
The Vietnam war brought many changes to the United States in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Some of the changes were for the better of the country, take the rediscovered Women’s Rights movements and the ever growing Free Speech movements inspired by New Left, while most of the other changes brought on tensions between government and their people. The Domino Theory pushed our leaders to the edge. In order to stop the Domino Theory in Vietnam, the U.S. invaded. The war was useless for the American government to get involved with. Even Robert Kennedy described our presence in Vietnam as ‘... sending a lion to halt an epidemic of jungle rot.’ (Doc E) From new groups forming to rebel, to inflation and loss of trust in the Government, from 1960’s to
The Vietnam War, lasting for approximately 20 years, was the longest and one of the most controversial wars in American history. Not only did the war take a heavy toll on the American troops fighting abroad, but it also led to riots and tension amongst Americans on the homefront. Two presidents devoted to winning the war against the spread of Communism in Vietnam as quickly and effectively as possible were Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Although Johnson was a Democrat and Nixon was a Republican, their foreign policies in Vietnam were similar because they both kept secrets about the war from Congress and because both of their foreign policies were disliked by the American public. However, they differed because Johnson escalated the United
In Nixon’s effort to end the war, his first policy was to send a message to Hanoi that he meant business. His policy consisted of escalated strategic bombings near the border of Cambodia in hopes to get the North Vietnamese to fear that the United States was capable of doing anything to achieve victory. Even Johnson was skeptical of expanding the war into Cambodia but Nixon’s first policy in full effect. Unfortunately, America was blinded by the corruptness of Nixon’s “peaceful presidency” since
In the 1960s and 1970s, the most controversial war the United States had ever been involved in during its rich two-hundred year history would engulf the country, ultimately leading to the collapse of a president, and the division of a nation. The Vietnam War was a military struggle fought in Vietnam and neighboring countries from 1959-1975 involving the North Vietnamese and NLF (National Liberation Front) versus the United States and the South Vietnamese ("The Vietnam..."). In 1969, newly elected President Richard M. Nixon, aiming to achieve "peace with honor" in Vietnam, began to put his "Vietnamization" policy into place -- removing the number of American military personnel in the country and transferring combat roles to the South
The Vietnam War loomed predominantly over three U.S. presidencies. When John F. Kennedy came to the presidency, he immediately inherited Dwight Eisenhower’s commitment to assist Saigon in its struggle
I used various sources in order to piece together my research for the paper. I had an interview with my mentor, David Mills who is the Artistic Director of Infinity Box in Seattle, Washington. The mission of Infinity Box is to, “use the power of theater to pose questions about the human consequence of science and technology. Combining quality storytelling with quality conversation is our way to provoke and foster a deeper and wider conversation about what it means to be human in our rapidly changing world.” Dr. Mills helped me to brainstorm how to translate my research into my actual project. He gave my ideas about how to incorporate the science aspects accurately and correctly into the dance.
Frontier (1976)- with Introduction by Martha Graham. Perf. Martha Graham. YouTube. YouTube, 24 June 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2012. .
March 8, 1965 is when the first American troops hit the ground. America got involved because we feared the spread of communism also known as the domino effect. After spilling a lot of blood President Nixon knew people of America were upset. On November 3, 1969 he announced that he was going to start bringing soldiers home. Vietnamization was the name of the plan. In my opinion I think the U.S shouldn’t have
The movements were very specific and showed the story of the dance. The partners used many movements that contained many body
A point I found particularly interesting was the observation that contact improvisation could alleviate political differences. This was found during the times of the Civil Rights movement, black liberation movements, antiwar movement, etc. During these times when political tension was high, dance seemed to be the bridge between differences.