This document provides an overview of the history and development of modern dance. It discusses early pioneers like Isadora Duncan who incorporated natural and improvised movements in the late 19th/early 20th century. Figures like Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn then established the first modern dance school, Denishawn, in the US in the early 1900s. The document also outlines the contributions of Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and others who further developed techniques like contraction and release in the 1920s-30s and helped establish modern dance as a serious art form focused on emotion and personal expression over entertainment.

2.  Rigid vs. Fluid
 Structured vs. Free/Laid back
 Emotionless vs. Expressive
 Technical vs. Freedom of
Motion
 Small vs. Grand Gestures
 Specific vs. Blurred Boundaries

3.  Shoulders back
 Feet turned out
 Chin up
 Straight legs
 “Dancing In
a box.”
 Tuck in butt
 Tall back

6.  Born in theatre dressing room
 Dancing family
 Trained at Giovanni Lepri
 Instant success by 20

8.  Imperial School
 Warsaw State School
 Cecchetti‟s St.Petersburg
School
 Ballet Russes
 Miming?
 Cecchetti‟s London School
 Teacher at La Scala

11.  Uniform dancers
 Solid Technique
 Independent Dancing
 Basic knowledge of terminology/
 “Dancing inside of the box”
 Exams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1ABwt-KN6w

13. “Founding
mother of
American
modern
dance.”

14.  Self taught
 „Will work for money‟
 Fantasy and improvisation
 Done with Ann Daly
 Off to London: Drawing rooms and
Greek vases
 Off to Paris
 Loie Fuller

15.  Grunewald, Germany

16.  Natural movements
 Art NOT entertainment
 Emotions through movement
 Greek culture
 American love of freedom

17. Before After

19.  1915
 Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn
 Los Angeles, CA.
 Ballet
 1st to experiment with Modern

20.  Inspired by father‟s work
 Studied at Denishawn
 Student-> Teacher-> Performer
 One of the best-known performers
 Worked with Mary Wigman
 Contraction and release

21.  Contraction and release
 Emotional
 Hard, angular movements
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOdOGFtTa7A

22.  Tense all muscles-> Relax body
 Changed „look‟ of performers
 Derived from Breathing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eRfq
eTywjQ
YOUR TURN!

23.  Started young
 Cornish School
 Martha Graham
 Choreographer
 “Choreography by
chance”
 Abstract
performances
 200+ dances

24.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra2T
_iMXQVM

25.  Doris Humphrey
 More relaxed movements; focused the
on the suspension of tension

26. •Unaccepted initially
•More revealing costumes
• Suggestive movements
•Culture shock
•Everybody loves Martha

27. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8TIZh
vAvWo

28. •Costumes more
“flowing”
•Dance is more
“outside the box” as
far as movement
goes.
•Focus‟s more on the
emotional aspect of
dancing and not just
going through a
series of movement.
•ART NOT
ENTERTAINMENT!
Overview