Modern Dance In America

From kindergarten until high school, I was a member of the Jean Wolfmeyer School of Dance. Up to 5 days per week, I would be at the dance studio taking classes, rehearsing for shows, and helping out in the less advanced classes. Regardless of skill level, Jean never hesitated to speak the brutally honest truth about students’ performances and she never settled for anything less than perfection. Jean would often preach that she is only the instruction manual and she cannot make us good dancers, we had to do that for ourselves. However, it was not her critique or teaching alone that motivated dancers to perform well, it was her relentless work ethic and commitment to her studio. As a 70 year-old women, Jean held classes as much as 7 days per

Dance is one of the most beautiful, expressive forms of art known to mankind. It expresses joy, love, sorrow, anger, and the list truly goes on for all the possible emotions that it can convey. Dance not only can express how one feels, but it can tell a story or even be used to praise a higher power. Dance has intricately played an important role to every culture over the course of time. Two forms of dance that have not only stood against the test of time but have influenced the development of other various styles of dance is none other than Classical Ballet and Modern Dance.

“Go within everyday and find the inner strength so that the world will not blow your candle out” (A Quote by Katherine Dunham 1). Once one of the most successful dancers in both American and European theater, Katherine Dunham, a dancer, anthropologist,social activist,and educator, continues to inspire people throughout the world. Named America’s irreplaceable Dance Treasure in 2000. Dunham remains a name heard regularly in dance schools across the world (“Katherine Dunham Biography” 4). She is known for always trying to make a difference and in the process she has become of the world’s greatest humanitarians (Osumare 5). Katherine Dunham’s work in African American rights in the dance world and her creation of new styles of dance makes her an important figure in American dance History.

Have you ever heard of the Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Jitterbug, or Charleston? If so, you already know a little about dance in the “Roaring Twenties,” and how big of an impact it made on American culture then and forevermore. At a time of prosperity and flamboyant wealth, dance made citizens enjoy life again, engage in one-another, develop an eccentric new style that would carry into the rest of the twentieth-century.

Jane Desmond introduces her article, “Embodying Difference: Issues in Dance and Cultural Studies,” by describing a dance that readers can picture as the dance of tango in their minds. This helps lead to her connecting dance, or body movement, with cultural studies and social identities. In her article, Desmond focuses on connecting how dance and body movement can be portrayed differently in social identities, such as race, class, gender, nationality, and sexuality.

One of the activities that demonstrate the qualities of African-American dance is Basketball. The movements of getting the ball into the basket were created on the street and in the African-American Community. Some of the qualities of the street basketball were even incorporated into professional basketball.

The topic that our group will discuss the origin of “Black Dance”, and how it transitions to modern dance. Covering the many definitions of Black Dance, while uniquely showing each characteristic. For these reasons, our group will use vast research methods in order to show the nature of our research. Such as, Journal Articles, Newspaper, along with interviews from present African American dancers. Each interview will consist of a conversation asking the dancer how she or he feels about “Black Dance”, and how it is signifance to his or her.

Maya holds her permission slip to the school Spring dance. Hoping her parents would say yes, but probably no. Moving from Kazakhstan and America was difficult, especially because they had different cultures. They had to move, because her Aunt was moving to America to marry someone she met from a dating magazine. Things were going well for Maya, but her younger brother Nurzhan, got into a big fight with another boy in his class. Things got worse from there, boys from Maya’s school were lifting her and her friend into the air, pretending that they were weights, when Maya’s dad saw and was furious, as well as her mother causing them to fight! But that’s not the worst thing! Maya’s mother fell and broke her ankle. So her mother could not work or

The dance forms, music and music instruments that make music has a great influences on country’s culture. Bulbul has remained a favorite musical instrument. It is a kind of horizontal according usually accompanying devotional or religious songs such as maulud and maadhaha. ("Maldives Music : The

Dance began as a form of communication and storytelling. Thousands of years ago dancing served as a way for people to tell a story and helped distract themselves of the hardships they faced. Furthermore, dance was a form of storytelling through communication, which then turned into using storytelling through dance as entertainment. According to the History World, many dancers during the BC time danced in front of only a few people to get a story across. That later turned into hundreds of thousands of people as dance was used by many. Today, dance is also a form of entertainment and storytelling, but in a modern sense. However, today perfection and technique are stressed more than they were in the past. Yet, the passion for dance has not changed. Many dancers who share this passion also have many of the same qualities. Among a discourse community of trained dancers, one expects to find individuals who are healthy and active athletes, expect perfection from themselves through competition, and religiously attend dance performances.

Since the beginning of time African people have valued and honored dance and music in the most secret way. They knew that dance and music was a gift from the Gods that they worshiped and that it should be respected as a valued custom in everyday life. Although, dance on the African continent differed from region to region dance and music had always been a part of tradition across the continent and throughout the African Diaspora. Nadine George-Graves explains that, “Spirituality means different things to different people, and in many respects, it defies definition, which is, of course, part of its power. Too, spirituality has long been considered a path to healing and liberation” (George-Graves 136). Dance and music was a way in which people

Props and costumes were also used to tell the story of the dancers. The red and blue may have incorporated gang affiliation. During one of the last scenes, there’s a male dancer wearing a blue shirt and red bandana tied around his leg, zoned out and eating chips. This dancer is eating chips while leaning against a dancer who is face down on the ground with his arms behind his back, presumed dead. This produces a very strong silhouette because it shows what is happening in urban America, that being innocent people losing their lives to gang affiliation, police corruption, and correctional institutions. The hands behind the back of the dancer display the victims’ innocence. This illustrates that the violence is occurring all around them but this dancer seemed to just focus

What exactly is modern dance and who says what is dance? Throughout the decades dancers and artists have used this question to push the boundaries and limitations on what is considered dance. Some did this by changing the setting of a dance while others did this by making changes to what can be incorporated into a dance. A great example of a famous choreographer who changed the way others viewed dance was Alwin Nikolais. Alwin Nikolais was born in Connecticut in 1910 and as a young artist studied acting, music, and puppetry. Interestingly enough Alwin explained that he originally began as a pianist out of economic necessity. It was not until age 22 when he attended a performance by Mary Wigman that he became interested in studying dance specifically the percussion instruments Mary used. Mary Wigman was somewhat of a role model to Alwin Nikolais. It was her percussion sounds off stage which truly intrigued Alwin. It was these sounds Alwin was interested in learning but he was told he must learn dance first. Within a year of dancing Alwin became a professional dancer, but his interest in creating rather than performing was stronger. He was interested in the body, how it moved, and what it was made of. He focused on the observation of dance rather than doing it himself. He gained his training at the Bennington College studying with the renowned figures such as Hanya Holm, Martha

To explore her main point in more depth, Susan Au looks at three centuries in three chapters. The court ballet was established in the 16th century. During this time, dance was not for the highly skilled, but performances were usually led by the King and Queen with nobles of the elite class taking part as well. As time went on, dance progressed from a social, more leisure activity to a technical skill that required trained professionals for performances. At the start of the 18th century, ballet d’action was developed. This new way of dancing emphasized the use of human expressions and emotions to connect with the audience. In this

Contemporary is one of the genre in dance. It first developed in the twentieth century, since many of its pioneers were born in the late nineteenth century and is continuously being changed. It originally evolved from many other styles of dancing such as ballet, modern and jazz. The technique used in contemporary is similar to ballet with controlled legwork but uses contracts and relax. Contemporary is considered as a breakaway from ballet by people who did not want to stick to the strictness of ballet. Contemporary uses floor work, fall and recovery as well as many other techniques.