1. Modern Dance

2. Video Preview
After watching this VIDEO, be prepared to discuss the following questions:
How did this era of dance reflect ideas from the Women’s Rights movement?
Why is modern dance considered a family tree?
Who are three important people in modern dance?

3. Founder: Isadora Duncan
*Definition: 20th century dance form that emerged as expression of rebellion against classical ballet.
Founder: Isadora Duncan
Characteristics: The torso began to be seen as the source of the dance movement instead of the feet as in ballet
free-flowing costumes
loose hair
bare feet

4. Fundamental Ideas:
Rejection of the societal restrictions placed on women
Free flowing, creative dance style
One artist is usually both dancer and choreographer
Modern dance was originally part of the woman’s movement

5. “…was to modern dance what Pablo Picasso was to modern art.”
Martha Graham
“…was to modern dance what Pablo Picasso was to modern art.”
Made America the center of Modern Dance
70 year career; 180 works
Themes:
Fusion of abstract gestures and psychological symbols
Classical tragedy

6. Martha Graham Techniques: Fierce pelvic contractions Flexed feet
Contorted cupped hands
Rugged “floor work”

7. Major Work: Appalachian Spring
Composition:
Music composed by Aaron Copland
Set designed by Isamu Noguchi
Plot:
Centers around the early 19th century wedding of a young couple embarking as homesteaders in the Pennsylvania frontier wilderness.

8. Major Work: Appalachian Spring
Characters:
the brides
the Husbandman
the Pioneer Woman
a Revivalist preacher
four girl followers (of the preacher)

9. Major Work: Appalachian Spring
Summary:
The participants enter slowly, one at a time- with considerable space between them- almost as if they are being formally introduced.
The young couple and guests, except for the Revivalist, dance in celebration.
The husbandman and Bride then each dance a soliloquy.

10. Dance Theatre of Harlem
Arthur Mitchell, the first black dancer to perform with the New York City Ballet, founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1971.
Began with 30 children in a church basement--two months later, children were attending classes

11. Dance Theatre of Harlem
The interracial company won a new audience for ballet and opened opportunities for young black dancers.
Repertory expanded to encompass classical, modern, and ethnically oriented works.

12. Alvin Ailey 1931-1989 Texas Dancer and Choreographer Trained with:
- Lester Horton
- Katherine Dunham
- Martha Graham

13. Alvin Ailey
1958 founded his own company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
- a dance company for African- American dancers to perform stories from African-American history
First American dance company invited to the Soviet Union.

14. Major Work: Revelations
a celebratory study of religious spirit
based on Ailey's experience of growing up in the rural South

15. Revelations Viewing Guide
Choreographer: Alvin Ailey
Music: Traditional Gospels and Hymns
Date: 1986
Performers: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (company)
Style/Context: Modern Dance/African American History (slavery to freedom)