Modern Dance In America

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.

Compare and Contrast of Classical Ballet and Modern Dance 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.

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

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.

Essay 2: Analysis of a Discourse Community 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.

From the article "I Don't Want to do African … What About My Technique?:" Transforming Dancing Places into Spaces in the Academy by Raquel L. Monroe, the author discussed about problems that currently occur in dance space of a higher institution. The terms ‘technique’ has become problematic when the Monroe pointed the fear of the future dancer if they took dance class that is different from ballet or modern. The article further discusses by using excerpt and interviews from teachers and students on defining what ‘technique’ is. She also touches the topic on racial injustice in dance from the stereotypes of certain movement that denoted a group of people and classification of ‘high’ or ‘low’ art. This further support her argument when she critiques

1 Lesson 1 Study Guide 1.1 Dancing: Chapter 1: The Power of Dance: This chapter takes a broad look at the relationship between human movement, framed as dance, and important identities such as religion, ethnicity, gender, and social status. While not specifically focused on issues of identity in America, this chapter will provide an important foundation

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

Dance is an art form showcased in all types of media that changes at the culture and people change. Whether it be Singin’ in the Rain or Dirty Dancing, American Bandstand to Club MTV or even Walk this Way to Thriller the change of dance is heavily noticed. From dancing in longer skirts to miniskirts, the media and art of dancing has changed. Dance clearly shows the change in media history, as through every new form of media introduced some way to show dance is made clearly visible. Dance and the media are two things that will never leave culture, especially

This genre of dance created mixed feelings among conservative members of society and although MSNBC’s Mike Brzeznski calls it “disgusting” and “pathetic” (USA Today, 2013) there is a time and a place when the dance should not take place because of it provocative style. Women are using the dance to

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

1. In African cultures, they believe in creating a positive environment for the gods by singing and dancing, with the hope that the attention will cause the gods, to grant their request. The African also believe that without the body and spirit there will be no god. In the Indian culture, they believe that dance the body and spirit are one, and therefore it cannot be separated. The Indian’s also believe that the body and spirit work together in unity or as one. Lastly, both the Africans and Indians believe the body is the temple of the spirit.

The Summary: 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.

As dance being known as an art form that can portray symbolic meanings and influence society, not many dance companies are grasping at the opportunity to address many of these social issues that our culture is facing. “I feel as though [major dance companies] do the happy-go-lucky dances and never do the gritty, what’s really going on in dances, says high school junior Jenae Rogers from George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology. The modern world has been brought up against multiple issues, ones that relate close to home, and ones that might not particularly pertain to us. Despite not being able to primarily fix these issues, we can certainly draw attention to it. Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on issues in society. Betty Cooper, Chamber Dance Company’s Program Director, explains that “As an ephemeral art form, people tend to let dance wash over them like a sunset, and don’t necessarily expect more of it than to be poetic. But dance is a medium that is as potent for social commentary as the spoken and written word.” Many outsiders feel as though dance is just a hobby, but dancers and dance companies can do a lot to help spread awareness of certain issues. Police brutality, gender diversity, and eating disorders or weight shaming can all be addressed in major dance companies. Dance gives us the ability to share our thoughts on social issues that do not get the attention they need in order to be helped. Nonetheless,

Mackenzie kotos Modern Dance Professor Jessie Laurita Spanglet 4 December 2016 Alwin Nikolais 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