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france 1811-1871. musician and theorist, he developed basic principles of movement and expression through use of the body, dividing the body into three basic areas the head, torso, and limbs, these three areas were divided again into three sections for the purpose of definiing expressive gesture. intellectual spiritual-head, neck, arms, feet. emotional-shoulders, chest, torso, lower arms, physical-strength or sexuality hips, pelvis, and thighs
influenced isadora duncan, ruth st. denis, ted shawn, rudolf von laban |
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| 1878-1927. born in san fransisco, ca she has been called the mother of modern dance. she can be credited for evolving dance from an entainment status to an art form. she was one of the first dancers to incorporate the philosophies of emile jacque dalcroze and francois delsarte into her dance movement. following delsarte's study of human gestures, she developed her own stylized form that became the basis of experimental or modern dance, defined as grounded and torso based. she identified the solar plexus as the primary source of movement |
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| swiss 1865-1950. musician and theorist, developed a system of expressing musical rhythm through bodily movements. this system was called eurhythmics which greatly influenced early modern dance |
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| 1862-1927. born in chicago, illinois, she performed in burlesque and vaudeville but had no formal dance training. loie believed dance to be a natural reflex of the body to outside ideas. her movements often imitated things in nature such as butterflies, flowers, or flames. she is most noted for her experimentation with costuming and lighting techniques |
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| 1879-1968. born in somerville, NJ and was first introduced to the delsarte system through her mother who was a doctor. what attracted her was the connection between the body and mind that delsart's study gestures emphasized. like fuller she was in search of a deeper meaning in dance, something more than what she was experiencing as a dancer on the vaudeville stage. her personalized dance form took on a spiritual essence. though she like duncan had studied ballet she found the dance form to lack any real substance. she turned to traditional movement in cultures as indian, egyptian, and native american. she used them as guides to develop her own dance vocabulary. her choreography was ritualistic and relied heavily on elaborate costumes and sinuous improvised movements that were to evoke a mystic feeling. with her husband ted shawn, she established the denishawn company and school in 1915. she went to open schools throughout the united states. they served as training grounds for a new generation of modern dancers including edna guy, martha graham, charles weidman, and doris humphrey |
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| 1891-1972. born in kansas city, missouri, attended the theology school at the university of denver until he was paralized from a severe case of diphtheria during his junior year. he turned to dance to restor control and strength over his weakened muscles. he first met ruth st. denis his future wife in 1911. they became partners in a ballroom team competition. with st. denis he developed a base curriculum for the denishawn school. where st. denis' emphasis was on spirituality, shawn's focus was on experimental theatre and staging. ted shawn can be credited as establishing the first male dance company in the united states in 1940 he founded jacob's pillow in MA that first served as a training ground for male concert dancers. the farm is now the established place for dance artists to come together and share their creative ideas. jacob's pillow holds an annual nine week dance festival each summer |
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| 1886-1973. along with rudolph laban, she led the modern dance canon in europe. in addition to the students they attracted in europe, many american dancers such as martha graham and doris humphrey traveled abroad to study with her. she developed german expressionist dance or modern dance in her country. she used the techniques of jacques dalcroz eurhythmics and rudolph von laban systems of swings and dance notation. when wigman opened her school in 1920 she became the most influential german exponent of expressive movement. in 1932 she and kurt jooss collaborated their artistic talents and choreographed the green table which became the greatest anti-war ballet of the century |
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| 1894-1991. graham was born in pittsburgh, PA but soon moved with her family to santa barbara, CA where she was raised. her father was a psychiatrist who taught her early on that the body never lies. she would adopt his beliefs as part of her own dance philosophy. at the age of 21 she began to seriously study dance at the denishawn school. after spending only three years studying the exotic styles of st. denis she decided to leave the school and establish her own company. she wanted to explore a deeper meaning to dance one that spoke to the american experience. she soon became the idon of modern dance in the 20th century. her movement style was developed from the natural act of breathing such as a sigh, a sob, gasp, or a laugh. her concept of contract and release was thus defined. she based all her movements on this theory of tension and relaxation, one of delsarte's laws of opposition like all modern dancers she considered the torso to be the source of all true movement her dancers learned how to contract and release their trunks as they spiraled and coiled to the floor or returned upward |
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| 1895-1958. born and raised in chicago illinois, was a student at the denishawn school with martha graham in 1918. became a member of the denishawn touring compnay while at denishawn she strongly embraced ruth st. denis' dance philosophy. however it was when she left the school in 1929 and teamed up with charles weidman that she was able to develop her own style. even though her movements still considered the torso as the origin of all movement her technique would have a different feel and look from horton, graham, dunham, her contemporaries. where the first two created angular stark lines with their movements dunham focused on the manipulation of the pelvic girdle and percussive isolation, her style was free flowing, creating curves and circular motion that existed between the 'arc between two deaths' better known as fall and recovery. her technique was derived from the natural dynamic relationship between graivty and the human being, as she or he gave into and then rebounded from gravity, relinquishing to gravity became the main force of her technique. |
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| 1895-1958. born in nebraska, was a student with humphrey and graham at the denishawn school in LA. when humphrey and he left the school they developed the movement term fall and recovery. the company 1928-1945 was their collaboration. during their tie together he meshed his wit and humor with humphrey's idealistic humanism in a repertory that challenged the limits of the physical body |
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| 1893-1993. was a student of mary wigman in germany, unlike her american contemporaries holm voiced social commentary through humorous dances. she further extended rudolph von laban's belief that there was such a thing as pure motion with or without the confines of a 'technique' or other formalized structure that predetermined the steps and gesture. holm was one of the first europeans to bring modern dance to the broadway stage |
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| 1905-1966. discovered dancing on the lower east side of new york. at the end of world war I she joined the ballet of the metropolitan opera house. dissatisfied with the type of dancing she performed on broadway and on the movie-vaudeville circuit she turned to solo dancing. through the language of her body she visualized the music of debussy, gershwin, and finally the negro spiritual for which she became most known. she was a champion of the underpriveledged. her choreography embodied the power of an expressive art as she concerned herself with the question of human dignity. along with ted shawn became famous through their performance or negro spirituals |
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| 1909-2006. born in joliet, illinois. has remained the icon of 20th century black dancers. her background as an anthropologist and talented dancer placed her in the forefront with other modern dance pioneers. along with her extensive background training in ballet she created her technique which is a fusion of haitian boudon sacred dancing, and classical ballet positions. the torso and specifically the pelvic are rely on the african aesthetic. drum percussion was the underlying force of her movement cue that articulated the body, causing each section of the body to move independently in isolations. it is through her development of the isolation that her technique emphasizes the african phenomenon of polyrhythmic motion. in 1942 she founded her company and international touring troupe. outside of her own school in east st. louis. her technique is taught at dance schools throughout the country, including the alvin ailey school of dance in NY |
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| 1906-1953. born in indianapolis, indiana. he was attracted to native american culture during his childhood. the rituals, clothing, and traditional practices of the american indian became the foundation for his staged performances and stylized technique. as he developed his technique he incorporated pelvic movements from african origins. his use of angular and asymmetric lines and the parallel stance became the signature form of his style. in 1946 he established his own school and company and founded the first american permanent repertory dance theatre on the west coast in LA. the school became a training ground where he taught costume and stage designing reading music as well as ballet and modern dance technique |
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| 1908-1972. studied art at UCLA for a year then moved to NY to further pursue his art studies. instead in 1928 he began studying dance at the humphrey-wiedman studio and became a serious student of doris humphrey. he was a dancer in the humphrey-wiedman company and when wiedman and humphrey separated he became humphrey's lead male dancer. what he defined as his technique was a clear modification of humphrey's style fall and recovery became fall and rebound. which described how the body recovered, the elasticity that existed between the two oppositions is emphasized in limon technique. even though the end result of the recovery and the rebound are the same, in fall and rebound the body naturally pulls back up or contracts like a spring that's energy is then thrust in a new direction |
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| 1931-1989. he was one of the most influential dancers and choreographers of all time. his eclectic approach to modern dance was deeply rooted in his birth place, rogers texas and the urban life of LA, where he grew up. the first dance concert he attended was a performance by katherine dunham's company in LA under the guidance and teaching of lestor horton he developed into a serious concert stage performer. he studied horton technique with lestor and bella lewitsky. beyond movement he taught his racially integrated company about the importance of lighting, set design, music and costuming. as a lead dancer with the company he was immersed in a total theatre life experience, learning how to manage a compnay as well as becoming a producer. when horton died in 1953 he was selected to run the company. in 1957 he launched his own company to be based in NYC. through such major works as blues suites, revelations and cry he shared with the entire world the african american experience |
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| 1919-2009. considered the father of avant-garde choreographers. he freed up dance by defying all definitions of what it should be. he was raised in centralia washington where he began his dance training as a young boy. after leaving cornish college in 1937 he met martha graham duing a summer program at mills college in san fran. between 1939 and 1945 he performed as a soloist for graham and became one of the most important dancers of the graham company. he wanted to focus more on dance movement, void and independent of any outside influences, be it music, scenery, props or background themes. he stripped dance of all meaning his dance by chance theory would have great influence on the next generation of modern dancers. today his company continues to be a leading modern dance company. his piece biped uses the latest in computer technology which will transcend how dance is viewed in the 21st century. his own student twyla tharp embellished his philosophy of dance through her own creative interpretation of eclectic dance |
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ruth st. denis
ted shawn
mary wigman |
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francoise delsarte
emile jaque-dalcroze
loie fuller
isadora duncan |
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martha graham
doris humphrey
charles wiedman
hanya holm
helen tamiris young
katherine dunham
lestor horton |
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jose limon
alvin ailey
merce cunningham
alwin nikolais |
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| third generation or post-modern era |
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mark morris
twyla tharp
paul taylor
bill t. jones and arnie zane
bebe miller
garth fagan
trisha brown
pilobolus |
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| he could also be considered part of today's contemporary group, the 3rd generation or post modern choreographers. his work is very visual using functional costumes and backdrops that echo the work of loie fuller. he has created dance works for television and broadway productions |
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| strong sense of musicality creates comical and parody situations to make social statements. his keen sense of musical visualization continues to be consistent in over 100 choreographic works |
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| began her career during the 1960 avant-garde era. she uses the fusion of ballet, tap, modern and street dance to create dances that are entertaining whil appearing to be without theme. her movements are intense animations which cause the stop and go action to be unpredicable. she has choreographed for broadway, films and several leading dance companies including the martha graham company and joffery ballet, the american ballet theatre, the new york city ballet and the paris opera ballet. her most recent work 'movin out' ran on broadway and is a collaboration with singer/musician billy joel |
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| mixes wit with reality as he explores the human experience through very athletic curved movements. his pieces are usually light hearted and humorous |
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| bill t. jones and arnie zane dance company |
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| these dancers represent all body types, moving very fluidly through space appearing to float he uses mixed media and the spoken word text to create an intense atmosphere. his themes are usually social statements as in 'still here' which deals with the issue of AIDS and the resulting loss. he was a recipient of the prestigious mcarthur grant in 1994 |
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| known for her agitprop choreography. her work deals with social, political, and emotional stresses. her movements are quick and mysterious |
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| hailed as the developer of a new dance language. his vocabulary stems from the use of polyrhythmic movements tied to jazz and afro caribbean music. his movements appear to spring from the dancers bones originating and emerging without any preparation. his dancers execute force and strength as they move through space and manipulate complex rhythms in a poetic and fre flowing fashion. his most noted choreography is the broadway production of the lion king |
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| a member of the judson church dance theatre and is known for it's minimalist approach to dance. they represented the essence of pure movmend devoid of costumes, sets, themes even music. some other well known members of the judson company were lucinda childs, meredith monk, robert dunn, steve paxton, and yvonne rainier. her signature was that she staged her dancers as pedestrians. the dancers sometimes walked on walls, up the sides of buildings suspended by harnesses. her choreography uses the non-narrative genre to create off balance shapes |
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| was founded by a group of three male college students in 1971. now a company of both genders. pilobolus is known for its formation of geometric shapes and intertwining bodies. the group performs athletic movments that are playful and always challenging to the human body's potential |
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