Contemporary &

Modern Dance
Bastinen, Dayola, Fuentes, Salazar, Villamor
History
Modern dance is referred to the dance style which broke free
from the restraints of classical ballet in the late 1800s up to around
1960s or so. Some of the early names are Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan
from the US, Rudolf Laban, Kurt Joos in Europe, often with political
references, bare feet and uncorseted bodies.
History
Later, Martha Graham, Alwin Nikolai, José Limon, Lester Horton,
Katherine Dunham, Alvin Ailey are names from the US who created
different styles of modern dance from the broad categories of dramatic,
theatrical, to references of African heritage. After that, modern dance
became post-modern dance and choreographers like Merce
Cunningham work against the emotional content of previous modern
choreographers. There were waves of more abstract works and
apparent disorder and randomness, or dance unrelated to the music
being played, which Cunningham experimented with.
History

• Contemporary dance started to develop around the 1960s and was more
based on ballet technique in the legs with more modern upper body and
torso work.
• Around 1980s, the world "contemporary dance"
referred to the movement of new dancers who did
not want to follow strict classical ballet and
lyrical dance forms, but instead wanted to explore
the area of revolutionary unconventional movements
that were gathered from all dance styles of the
world.
History
Many choreographers of the day consider
themselves as contemporary choreographers and
may be influenced not only by ballet, jazz and/
or modern dance techniques including
improvisation, but additionally by breaking and
other street dance styles, as well as other
cultures as in Butoh, African or Aboriginal
dances or ritual dances of Asia.
Advantages:
Self Expression- They can find ways to express themselves, even when words aren’t sufficient
Physical Benefits- Students build muscle strength, find their balance, improve agility, and
increase their flexibility.
Creative Thinking-Dancers visualize new concepts or stories and come up with their own moves
for performances.
Stress Reduction-expected to look perfect, be judged, and criticized
Disadvantages
• expected to look perfect, be judged, and criticized
• have to be prepared to give your full attention and energy to this
dance
• risk of injury is great due to the amount of time in practicing
• very difficult to master the perfect fluidity, grace, interpretive skills and
control over your body