Interpretation Of The Brief. Graded Unit Requires Two Solos

Influenced primarily by cultural roots and incredibly opportunity, Dunham had the luxury of studying in the West Indies as well as anthropological study of other cultural style dances. The West Indian experience changed forever the focus of Dunham’s life and caused a profound shift in her career. This initial fieldwork began a lifelong involvement with the people and dance of Haiti. And, importantly for the development of modern dance, her fieldwork began her investigations into a vocabulary of movement that would form the core of the Katherine Dunham Technique. Though many of Dunham’s primary influences lies within her multicultural experiences, Mark Turbyfill also seemed to play a large role in her future dance career, giving her private lessons despite his doubt in the opening of her student company (Kaiso! 187). Katherine Dunham has been list as an influence to “everyone from George Balanchine to Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Bob Fosse and Twyla Tharp. American dance, including ballet, modern dance, Hollywood and Broadway, would not be the same without her” (Aschenbrenner 226).

Dance has come a long way since it first began, and that road has been paved by different styles and choreographers. Modern dance is one of the biggest contributions to dance today. It all began with the rebellion against classical ballet. If it wasn’t for Modern, many aspects and styles of dance would not exist today. Also, without choreographers we would have no dance. One of the most influential Modern choreographers is Twyla Tharp.

At the end of the 19th century, ballet was the most prominent form of dance. However, to Isadora Duncan, "ballet was the old order that needed to be overthrown, an embodied symbol of all that was wrong with oversymbolized 19th century living" (Daly 26). Duncan believed that the over-technical, over-standardization of ballet was not what dance should be about. Her vision of dance was one of emotions, ideas, social betterment, and the complete involvement of the body, mind, and soul (26). With these ideas in mind, she began to create a new form of dance; what she referred to as the "new dance" (23), and what is now known as modern dance. In creating this new dance, she was inspired by composers such as

Martha Graham was one of the most influential figures in American modern dance, and her techniques and styles are still practiced today. She became widely known throughout all ages and decades. Her first debut was in the 1920's. As time went on, she became more experienced and wiser in the modern dance field. Martha Graham, whose style was considered controversial, became one of the finest choreographers and dancers in the dance world.

On April 24, 1903, one of the founders of American modern dance was born to parents who emigrated from Russia. Helen Tamiris, originally Helen Becker, grew up in New York, New York on the Lower East Side. In her lifetime, she danced, choreographed, and helped initiate modern dance. Later in her life, she moved to the “Great White Way,” otherwise known as Broadway, to choreograph many shows.

Beginning with her best students from the Eastman school of Music, Graham started her own (now famous) school for contemporary dance; The Martha Graham School for Contemporary Dance in New York, where she continued to teach and express her own unique style. Graham mainly believed in expression through dance so she tried very hard to create movement that focused on the realness of life; her dance movements flowed with beauty and emotion. Modern dance is freeness and the ability to express joy, sadness, and determinedness and without Martha Graham’s influence on the art of dance, modern dance simply wouldn’t be the same as it is today. Graham also introduced the use of moving scenery, the use of props as symbols and dance that was combined with speech. These were all large changes and opened more possibilities and experiences to the world of dance. Graham also got rid of the classic ballet folk dress and instead often chose a classy straight black dress for her movement pieces.

It is difficult to define what it means to be an American considering the constant reformation of American society due to the wide range of values amongst each other. Many artists, choreographers and musicians contributed to the evolution and dance and musical theater in America. American modern dance was created to produce unique expression to the society of America during the 19th century. A famous figure comes to mind when thinking of the evolution of American dance. Martha Graham was known as the "Mother of Modern Dance" because of her affiliations with the choreography of dance. It is said that she created a dance with a "new level of popularity…she created a new language of movement that expressed powerful emotions"(Ember). Many artists'

One of the greatest dancer/choreographers was Katherine Dunham. Katherine Dunham created many ballet companies schools, used Thinking Flexibly to innovate ways to make sure everyone would be able to learn dance, and illuminated the world by rejecting social injustice.

Martha Graham (1894-1991) was a professional dancer and choreographer. It is said that Graham invented Modern Dance. She was very talented and even won awards for her hard work including the Medal of Freedom. After viewing short clips of Graham’s style of dance, I am able to see that Graham was not afraid to dance and nor was she afraid of the music. Watching her dance in these clips, I did see freedom and elegance. I was able to see her true personality through her body movements. In comparison to traditional ballet, I would definitely say that Graham’s style is extremely more unconventional as opposed to traditional, “by the book,” conventional ballet. In traditional ballet, everything is planned out to a “t.” Ballet dancers can’t miss a

Over the past five centuries, dance has undergone tremendous change and evolved in to various different forms. Throughout the history of dance, styles including ballet or modern have changed in both technique and expression, and their popularity has constantly fluctuated. From the 16th century until present day, ballet specifically has fallen in and out of favor and gone through multiple periods of artistic scarcity to prosperity. One peak of its popularity was during the Romantic era when creativity and innovation were thriving among choreographers and dancers. Modern dance, which emerged from ballet as a way of rejecting classical aesthetics, also experienced times of dormancy and activeness since its origin at the turn of the 20th

Modern dance was created as a rebellion against the prevalent dance forms of the time, ballet and Vaudeville. It is a form of theatrical dance, known for its continual fusion of non-western style and ideas, which allows for a fresh source of movement inspiration. Choreographers rejected what they classified as the inflexible and imperialistic nature of ballet, and in order to be taken seriously as artists rather than simple entertainers they created a new art form. Artists Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, and Ruth St. Denis are considered to be the pioneers of modern dance in America. Dance is a social institution, recognized as being an important function in civilized life. The following essay will focus on the theory and work of artist Isadora Duncan, while incorporating lecture notes and articles of both authors Sally Bane and Ann Daly to explain the historical situations that culminated in the development of early modern dance. Arising from the 20th century modern dance was a form of cultural collaboration and exploration, as well as a resistance to colonial repression. Modern dance allowed for the experimentation of the new as well as a freer form of dance movement. Choreographers drew on exotic sources, and example of this illustrated in the work of Isadora Duncan with her use of Greek culture as a movement inspiration. Artists act as both the choreographer and performer creating their own conventions, or dance language.

Dance has changed from hundreds of years of tradition, to something modern, forever changing, modern dance. With television shows such as “Dance Moms”, and “So You Think You Can Dance”, modern dance has embodied a new form, transformed into a different style, representing its new name entirely. Contemporary, developed from modern dance, is something modern, it is forever changing, and it is contemporary.

Isadora Duncan and Mary Wigman both started with the same idea of dancing, and how they should incorporate human movement instead of ballet that was more unnatural to the body. Even though they had a similar thought about modern dance, they had one thing that made them very different, which was their choreography. Duncan pieces were lively and upbeat, and Wigmans were dark and mysterious. They both approached modern dance through a different eye. Even if they lived in two different parts of the world, “The American, as represented by Isadora Duncan, and the German, as represented by Mary Wigman,” (Cass 247), the world would then get two different choreographers that were evolving at the same time in history, which impacted the dance history.

This book is about how one dance comes together, from beginning to end, from choreography to opening night. The author offers paintings and thoughtful placement of words regarding his observations of dancers as they perfect their moves. The book ends with the curtain going up during a performance. This book is ideal for anyone who wants a preview of what goes on behind the scenes of dancing.

Martha Graham is one of the most important and well-known dancers/ choreographers of the 20th century. Graham is considered the mother of modern dance because of how much she studied and experimented with modern dance then passed on her information to future generations. She used modern dance to break away from the traditional movements and constraints of dance and created movements that would truly displayed the human soul through movement.