Modern Dance & Contemporary Dance
Contemporary dance for children is a great way for them to learn a more expressive genre of dance. Our contemporary classes in Camberley enable children to explore a fabulous emotional dance form.
Our younger dancer’s learn Modern and once they get a little older we start to introduce contemporary.
Below is the history of modern and contemporary dance which we hope will enable a better understanding as to what these two genres are about. Free dance class trials are available to book! Contact us today.
For centuries Ballet was the only dance form used to entertain audiences. Whilst Ballet in itself evolved and developed, it was seen by some as elitist.
The innovation of modern dance can be (loosely) divided into three eras. The early modern period, the central period and the late modern period.
During the late 1800’s Isadora Duncan (to name one) born 1877 argued that Ballet could not be the only dance form promoting expressive and free movement. She (amongst a few others) basically rebelled against Ballet. Duncan danced bare footed, hair loose, and wore free flowing costumes. Her choreography was inspired by classical Greek arts, folk dance and nature. This era was later named ‘Free Dance’. During this period (c. 1880-1923) the dancer’s changed dance practice radically but clear modern dance techniques had not yet emerged.
The central era (c. 1923-1946) Choreographer’s such as Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, sought to develop distinct American styles and vocabulary with clearly defined and recognizable modern dance training systems. They felt dance should not just entertain (as Ballet did) but should provoke, stimulate and inform.
During this era of modern dance moves like contractions and release, falls and recovery, stability, high kicks, jumps and floor work really evolved. Like Ballet, there was still belief in the link between movement and emotional expression.
The Graham technique along with others is still taught today.
The period of c. 1946-1957 saw dancers such as Merce Cunningham introduce clear abstract moves and paved the way to postmodern dance or ‘new dance’. Marie Rambert is a well known choreographer of this era, using moves which require the strong legwork of Ballet with modern dance moves listed above. It is also unpredictable in its speed and direction. This particular dance style is not necessarily narrative- in other words it does not necessarily tell a story. Whilst it can be seen as disordered it relies on a strong dance technique. There was also an independence between movement and music with differs from the pervious two eras. And so c. 1950 contemporary dance was born.
It could be argued that contemporary in itself is a rebellion to modern dance just as modern dance was to Ballet. Contemporary rejects the formalization of modern dance with elements such as improvisation and performance art, as well as the idea of performing without music. It also focuses on a flat foot as opposed to a pointed foot.
Contemporary dance can be seen as a more emotional dance form. The dancer will decide which emotion they want to covey to the audience before choreographing- such as lost love.
If there is a desire to take GCSE Dance contemporary dance is the main focus and set work is contemporary with some modern too.
Whilst modern dance and contemporary dance are both a part of the theatre branch (designed for an audience rather that a social event such as The Tango) they have both similarities and contrasts to each other.
The one certain thing, which has enabled modern dance to persist, is its association to the idea of innovation to keep changing with the times.
In a nutshell, modern dance is holds a loose link to ballet and can be graceful but has a far more modern twist and contemporary is a more emotional and expressive form of dance which does not require the use of music, it is also more fluid of movement where as modern can use body isolations. Modern dance is more reliant on music.
