Post-Modern Dance Artists

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By the early 1960s, however, a new generation of dancers began to view modern dance as a genre beset with the same problems of exclusive virtuosity, a formulaic standardization of vocabulary and the limited expressive freedom that had plagued the classical ballet and against which it had been offered, in part, as an alternative. In response, dancers and choreographers began to turn away from the standards of modern dance. These post-modern artists began to experiment with every aspect of dance in order to discover and develop new forms of expressive movement.

Terpsichore In Sneakers by Sally Banes explores the post-modern dance movement, its most prominent artists and their work. The introduction includes a brief history the modern dance from which post-modern dance arose. It begins in the late 1800s with the work of Loie Fuller who presented, in the context of serious art, dances borrowed from the styles of popular entertainment. The development of non-classical dance continued through the more personalized, natural rhythms of Isadora Duncan. Ruth St. DenisÆ exotic dances, inspired and influenced by the spiritual dances and traditions of Asia. And finally the modern dance of Martha Graham, whose movement and gestures evoked universal psychological states ranging from pain to ecstasy.

The break from modern to post-modern dance begins in the late 1940s with the work of Merce Cunningham, who had gotten his start as a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company. His d

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loops hung closely together from the ceiling. Four people walk in and out of the cluster, brushing against and bumping into the suspended dancers. The passive hangers have no control over the motion of their bodies as they twist, swing and bump into one another. FortiÆs works wonderfully illustrate the operating principles of the post-modern movement. While a dance may require a considerable amount of physical strength and skill, virtuosity as a prerequisite for artistic merit is de-emphasized, as is the identity of dancer and audience member as performer and spectator. The authority of classical forms of composition and execution is virtually ignored. And ordinary gestures and movements of the body are viewed and presented as inherently significant. Another important artist is Yvonne Rainer. Her most celebrated composition is a 4+ minute dance titled Trio A. Three dancers stand facing the audience. Each simultaneously performs a solo. The arms, torso and feet of each dancer perform movements which are not necessarily related to one another. These movements include the twisting of the torso back and forth, a series of leg kicks, four swings of the arms in front and in back of the body and so on. Each movement or s
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Approximate Word count = 1617
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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