Isadora Duncan and Mary Wigman both started with the same idea of dancing, and how they should incorporate human movement instead of ballet that was more unnatural to the body. Even though they had a similar thought about modern dance, they had one thing that made them very different, which was their choreography. Duncan pieces were lively and upbeat, and Wigmans were dark and mysterious. They both approached modern dance through a different eye. Even if they lived in two different parts of the world, “The American, as represented by Isadora Duncan, and the German, as represented by Mary Wigman,” (Cass 247), the world would then get two different choreographers that were evolving at the same time in history, which impacted the dance history. …show more content…
One of the philosophies they both equally shared was “to rediscover the fundamental laws of human movement, so that once again dance might become the medium for fresh artistic impulses,” (Cass 247). Both wanted to step away from the unnatural type of dancing, for example ballet, they were a strong believers that whatever the body can’t naturally do is what shouldn’t be done, hyper extending someone’s feet or legs is not normal and could bring complications to a dancer. Like also mentioned in Ragonas journal, “Duncan and Wigman give us an important cross-cultural, intercontinental vision of an aesthetic theory which strove to transform popular knowledge of the body” (48). They were big on doing baby like movements, they stopped to look at every day things that people would already do and creating it into art, that not only showed expression but sent out a message that just because a dancer can pick up their leg to their face does not make it beautiful, they managed to create a simple step into something beautiful. Without going against ballet, ballet usually denied reality, and modern dancing affirmed it. Modern creates life, you feel like ballet is this imaginary story when modern shows the experiences of the realities of life in their direct and most intensive forms. It ended up as quite a shock at the beginning when modern started implanting its seed into the …show more content…
Duncan was more for students and anyone around her to make their own movements, she didn’t really want to make up her own technique but she wanted dancers to be creative and find what they found beautiful. So the way she would do her choreography would depend on how she was feeling which led her dancing more of an expressed dance form. I guess you can see Duncan’s approach in what she wanted, was to see the dancer of the future. Although, she didn’t have any recorded choreography it was said that after the loss of her children her dances became sad and not as impressive. But if I have to answer how Duncan approached her own choreography I would say, to be free and to dance what one feels. Like mentioned by Irma Duncan in the book by The Technique of Isadora Duncan, “Isadora Duncan has said, that her dance was not of the theater, but an expression of life, and that she did not train the pupils of her school for the stage,” (ix). Wigman, also believed that expression was the key to make a good choreography but Wigmans pieces where more stable and concrete. Interested in the relationship between human being and cosmic forces, she describes her creative experience as the transformation into movement of the invisible forces that give her life. The dancer is a medium for her; dance functions as a trance, accomplishing its cathartic function recognized by archaic
After giving a brief introduction to her subject, Desmond quickly begins her analysis on the piece Radha choreographed by Ruth St. Denis. She states that St. Denis was one of the mothers of modern dance in America despite how her works are not as well remembered as others including Martha Graham’s. She depicts Radha by describing the dancing quality, patterns in choreography, lighting, set, and costume in detail. Desmond also recounts the social issues that are reflected in the piece including gender roles and race. The author’s main point in writing “Dancing Out the Difference: Cultural Imperialism and Ruth St. Denis’s Radha of 1906” was to introduce St. Denis and share her detailed analysis of St. Denis’ Radha.
We all have been in a bad situation yet very few of us would go as far as to label themselves as suffering. To suffer is to experience or be subjected to something bad or unpleasant. In the cases of Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano they both had to endure watching those near them grasped by the cold hands of death. Unlike Equiano, Mary was subjected to a form of suffering that created conflicts within herself concerning her predicament and her god. Equiano on the other hand was placed in isolation with those around him choosing to commit suicide,thus leading him to the edge of depression.
Influenced primarily by cultural roots and incredibly opportunity, Dunham had the luxury of studying in the West Indies as well as anthropological study of other cultural style dances. The West Indian experience changed forever the focus of Dunham’s life and caused a profound shift in her career. This initial fieldwork began a lifelong involvement with the people and dance of Haiti. And, importantly for the development of modern dance, her fieldwork began her investigations into a vocabulary of movement that would form the core of the Katherine Dunham Technique. Though many of Dunham’s primary influences lies within her multicultural experiences, Mark Turbyfill also seemed to play a large role in her future dance career, giving her private lessons despite his doubt in the opening of her student company (Kaiso! 187). Katherine Dunham has been list as an influence to “everyone from George Balanchine to Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Bob Fosse and Twyla Tharp. American dance, including ballet, modern dance, Hollywood and Broadway, would not be the same without her” (Aschenbrenner 226).
Sally Banes is an American writer and dance historian and critic. She is also a professor of theater history and dance studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Banes has written multiple books and contributed to many documentaries and films. The book Moving History / Dancing Cultures, which Banes contributed to, includes the article “Choreographic Methods of the Judson Dance Theater”. This book was published in 2001.
Dance is one of the most beautiful, expressive forms of art known to mankind. It expresses joy, love, sorrow, anger, and the list truly goes on for all the possible emotions that it can convey. Dance not only can express how one feels, but it can tell a story or even be used to praise a higher power. Dance has intricately played an important role to every culture over the course of time. Two forms of dance that have not only stood against the test of time but have influenced the development of other various styles of dance is none other than Classical Ballet and Modern Dance.
Graham inspired Ailey to go off and open his own successful dance company where he could inspire others by his type of work he choreographed. They both moved to New York to sought new opportunities. Their work had a sentiment background as to why they choreographed the type of art they did in each and every performance. Graham and Ailey both thought it was important to add their feelings and thought of how they felt about the theme of their work. Graham wanted to use “release” and “contraction” in her works to express the body movements.
Martha Graham was one of the most influential figures in American modern dance, and her techniques and styles are still practiced today. She became widely known throughout all ages and decades. Her first debut was in the 1920's. As time went on, she became more experienced and wiser in the modern dance field. Martha Graham, whose style was considered controversial, became one of the finest choreographers and dancers in the dance world.
She studied different types of dance and incorporated them into her own technique. “Called the matriarch of black dance her groundbreaking repertoire combine innovative interpretation of caribbean dances,traditional ballet, African rituals and African American rhythms to create the Dunham technique” (“Katherine Dunham Biography” 2). Dunham technique is continued to be taught at schools and companies all over the world. Her travels to other countries always inspired her choreography. “She is credited for bringing caribbean and African influences to a European-dominated world” (“Katherine Dunham Biography” 2). Dunham’s use of different world influences innovated dance and created more significant choreography. Dunham not only changed how she danced; she created an entirely new
Dance is an ever evolving form of art; in much the same way that one can categorize and differentiate between eras and styles of architecture one can also do so with dance. These eras at times have sharp delineations separating them from their antecedents, other times the distinction is far more subtle. Traditional forms of dance were challenged by choreographers attempting to expand the breadth and increase the depth of performance; preeminent among such visionaries was Seattle born dancer and choreographer Mark Morris. Mark Morris' began as one of the millions of hopeful individuals attempting to simply make a career in dance; he not only succeeded but managed to have a lasting effect on the entire landscape of dance.
In the first section, Desmond focuses on “movement style and meaning” (pg. 31). She explains how movement is learned through our communities. In some locations, some dances may be seen as proper because that is what they learned in their community, but if performed in another community, those people may see their dance as “improper.” Desmond provides the example of how in the nineteenth century the waltz was seen as “too sexually dangerous” when introduced in North America and Europe. Their reasoning
Whether we look at a romantic ballet like La Sylphide or a classical ballet such as Sleeping Beauty, audiences are constantly mesmerized by the gracefulness and weightlessness of the ballet dancers. They seem to defy the laws of physics, which is greatly possible due to the use of the pointe shoe. However, many masterworks that were created in the Romantic era did not solely rely on the pointe shoe to help convey messages. Instead, the choreography, dancers, scenic elements, subject matter, and music all helped shaped masterworks such as La Sylphide, Napoli, and Giselle. Similarly, in the Classical era, these elements all played a role in shaping famous ballets like La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. But once we take a closer look at these ballets from the Classical era, we can see how much ballet evolved. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the Romantic era was the stepping stone for this pure art form that we have been able to preserve for more than 160 years.
Dance critic Théophile Gautier states, “Nothing resembles a dream more than a ballet...” (Anderson 77). The effortless technique of the ballerina paints most ballets as exactly this. Consequently, there is more to a ballet than technique and dancing. Different types of ballets and their structural components separate one ballet from the next. It is important to understand the difference between the two main types of ballets: Romantic Ballet and Classical Ballet. Romantic ballet in the 19th century differs from Classical ballet in the 20th century structurally, technically, and socially. The two dance forms also vary in costumes and narrative. However, with all of those differences, they both use ballet technique for a specific purpose.
Dance was not a new element in the theatre realm. It had been used for years as a way of interpretation of feelings of a character that the writer or director wanted the audience to feel visually. Through movement, expression of those feelings was portrayed and helped the audience to somewhat
The reason that the traditional dance has remained apart of the world is because of the teachers and students. But in order to dance the students required movements, steps, and music to put them to. The dance masters—teachers of the 18th and 19th centuries—all had the same original dance steps, while they invented their own steps on top the original ones. There are two different roots, which
Duncan adamantly rejected ballet; she saw it as a form of dance that was rigid and unexpressive. The foundation of ballet consists of five still poses, but Duncan believed that in dance, the dancers body should be a "luminous fluid…a luminous moving cloud" (Duncan 51). She did not think that dance should be comprised of a string of still positions. This was what ballet was to her: rigid, still, unnatural. There was too much focus on technique in ballet. Duncan felt that dance was more than technique; it was about emotions, discovering the soul, and using those powers to compel movement. She saw a strong connection between dance and spirit, and this connection had been lost in ballet (Terry 31).