DANC 101 1nd Edition Exam 3 Study Guide Lectures 8 13 Modern Dance o Evolved in the late 1800s and early 1900s as a revolt against perceived restrictions limitations of ballet o America still doesn t support a lot of modern dance o Themes inspirations involve real life situations and societal issues o Continued fascination with the Ancient World India China Egypt Greece o Genre differs widely in style approach and methodology o No more storylines in ballet and ballet was known as the noble and wealthy concert dance o Modern dance is about individualism o COMMUNICATION is still the reason for dance to run human emotion and thought process Isadora Duncan 1877 1927 o Free flowing fabrics unrestricted clothing and bare feet connection with nature and outdoors bohemian and hippie like wanted to stand out Her technique doesn t live on but it she made it acceptable not to be so proper like ballet Not a strict or structured technique it was all about freedom therefore no one studied or mastered her dance because it was all over the place o Known as the Mother of modern dance o Created her own choreography and performed wherever she could to get money fame o Started in California and left for Greece where her goal was to build a new temple to dance but she never followed through with this dream o Ended up homeless in England eventually beginning to dive dance lessons while traveling from place to place o Paris Singer a millionaire was her husband who let her use their house for recitals o She died in a car accident like her children both accidents were in the same river right outside of Paris Died in early middle age Her scarf strangled her getting caught in the wheel of the car o Air on the G String She loved the key of G music This was plaid at her funeral o Mother Dance she was best know for This dance was created to remember her children she danced out her grief o Isadorables These are young children that followed Isadora until they realized dance is an art and technique so they left her Loie Fuller 1862 1928 Rudolf Von Laban 1879 1958 o Labanotation A system of writing down dance they would record dance and wrote books about it o Laban Movement Analysis How to analyze dance a scientific method based on time space and shape This was used to analyze whether a dance was good in the right proportion whether the dance would get the message across and what it is trying to express o German dancer and choreographer Germany s equivalent to Isadora Duncan but almost the opposite in terms of technique He worked in Germany at the same time Isadora was in America He also revolted against ballet like Isadora o Much more organized and disciplined Mary Wigman 1886 1973 o Student of Rudolf Van Laban who started in Germany and moved to America Ruth St Denis 1878 1968 o Music Visualization This is Ruth s technique she would tie the dance to the music and would interpret the music by letting the music move her o Also known as Miss Ruthy o Did theatre and was a show girl in NYC when she toured Europe she discovered dance and brought it back to NYC where she made a company Her productions were extravagant she went all out and blew her budget until there was no money to pay the dancers Ted Shawn 1891 1972 o 1st male to go to Ruth for her dance classes at her company They fell in love and made a company school Denishawn and got married o NYC drove him crazy so he moved to Massachusetts to train his male dancers Jacob s Pillow o Denishawn The company and school of Ruth Denis and Ted Shawn Ruth Denis taught the female dancers her technique of music visualization Ted Shawn taught the male dancers his technique male dancers became extremely strong Ruth taught o Jacob s Pillow A barn farmhouse in rural Massachusetts where Ted Shawn trained his ALL male dancers and strengthened them they didn t only practice dance here they also did work hard around the barn to roughen them up o The male dancers also studied here and worked with artistic intent This is one the country s most prestigious dance schools and an international art festival is held here every year o Vaudeville This is Americas 1st variety entertainment not just dance ballet had comics dance commercial dance music exc o Similar to Broadway Denis and Shawn created some pieces that were a part of Vaudeville to make money Pioneers of Modern Dance Doris Humphrey Charles Weidman Martha Graham Hanya Holm Kurt Jooss Doris Humphrey 1895 1958 o Trained by Denis and Shawn and established a school company with Charles Weidman Charles Weidman 1901 1975 o Also trained by Denis and Shawn and established a school company with Doris Humphrey The Humphrey Weidman school company was based on a technique called fall and recovery o Kinetic Pantomime o The Shakers 1931 o Lynch Town 1935 o Water Study 1928 o Technique based on Fall and Recovery Technique taught at the Humphrey Weidman school Based on natural things that happen in the environment crawl fall roll recover Some dances were to make a comment on social issues specific to when they were living Martha Graham 1894 1990 o She has the most early influence on modern dance o Student of Ruth Denis and Ted Shawn o Created the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance o Very strict in personality some even called her a witch a serious person and serious about her work also egotistical o Technique based on Contraction and Release Based on weak tragedy psychological dramas issues in the world a technique that reflects her personality Lots of contractions of muscles in the body contraction making body smaller releasemaking body larger than normal Like pent up energy that is being let go and now free o Cave of the Heart 1946 Based on a Greek myth half man half beast Martha was the leading dancer in her own dance o Appalachian Spring 1944 About Pioneers in Appalachia a bride and groom minister pioneer woman and townspeople during a wedding day about a new watering and nourishing of America One of the 1st times a major composer was asked to write a piece specifically for a dance Martha and Eric Hawkins the first male dancer in her company danced in it They were married for a short time o Night Journey 1947 o Chronicle 1936 Martha Graham traveled to Germany with her company to tour she saw the beginning of the Nazi movement there and when she came back to the US she based this dance on what she saw and how it would affect the world o Acts of Light o Core of the Heart Hanya Holm 1898 1992 o German student of Rudolf Van Laban o