Post Modern Dance 3 April 2014 Search for an organizing principle of movement Let s Review Modern Dance Individual movement vocabulary Rejection of ballet aesthetic Barefoot Groundedness Showing effort Emotional and psychological states Use of abstraction Comment on society Wanted to legitimize Create own artistic voice Merce Cunningham 1919 2009 Studied with Horton Graham Graham soloist for 5 years Cunningham s Contributions Beliefs o Rejected the use of stage space o Rejected that dancers and movement always had to be done toward the audience o Rejected that important things don t have to happen in the center of the stage o Created his own movement vocabulary The Cunningham Technique Quick angular movements Philosophy Choreographic Method o Everything could coexist in a performance movement set and music o Indeterminacy different elements in a work can change from performance to o Chance things arbitrarily and randomly changed or were arranged ex by rolling performance a dice or flipping a coin A condition of life Launched post modernism in dance New technique positional exactness mobile spine Technology dance DanceForms began as Life Forms Merce Cunningham Dance Company John Cage Began composing music in the 1930s 3 April 2014 Created music from sounds not just instruments used ordinary objects Interested in removing creative choice Music without a beginning middle and end More interested in the process of creating music than the product 4 33 Points in Space Choreography Merce Cunningham 1985 Music John Cage Dancers Members of the MCDC What techniques or styles does Cunningham use in his work Focus not only in the center What is the relationship between the performers Individual partnership What is the relationship between the music and the dance No relationship completely different What is happening in American culture in the 1960s and 70s Postmodernism o Vietnam o Civil Rights Movement o Feminism o Visual Arts o Andy Warhol Postmodern Dance in America Judson Dance Theater Trained dancers untrained visual artists poets musicians and even filmmakers Community of artists all with equal say about what was going to be done As a group explored the different methods of choreography Characteristics of Postmodern Dance Found movement pedestrian movement walking jumping skipping galloping etc Rejected notion of art as different from everyday life Anyone can dance Dance can happen anywhere Costumes could be everyday clothing a lot of times in sneakers not just bare feet Improvisation Steve Paxton Began Contact improvisation Based on o 6 principles 3 April 2014 o How gravity and balance can be used o The floor is your friend o Surviving in a dance moment o Openness to anything at any moment o Breaking boundaries Former lead dancer for the Cunningham Dance Company Simplified movement to basic actions Nudity as a choreographic element Yvonne Rainer Trisha Brown A member of the Judson Dance Theater Trio A o Based off of ordinary movements and actions Early work focused on improvisation Use of human figures within large environments of structures Set and Reset Trisha Brown Group Standing on the roofs of buildings relaying movement to each other Walking on the walls of the Whitney Museum of Art Theatrical works using all the resources of the theater
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