Modern Dance
Main article: Modern dance in the United StatesAmerican modern dance developed in the early 20th century alongside American music. . Among the pioneers of modern dance were Isadora Duncan, the dance company of Ruth St. Denis and her husband-partner, Ted Shawn, and their pupils Doris Humphrey and Martha Graham. The early modern dance makers broke with European classical forms by giving into the weight of gravity, initiating movement from the center rather than the limbs, and emphasizing an emotional directness in their choreography. Many of Graham's most popular works were produced in collaboration with leading American composers -- "Appalachian Spring" with Aaron Copland, for example.
Later choreographers, Merce Cunningham introduced chance procedures and composition by field, and Alvin Ailey incorporated African dance elements and black music into his works. Recently, Mark Morris and Liz Lerman have shown that graceful, exciting movement is not restricted by age or body type.
Read more about this topic: Dance In The United States
Famous quotes containing the words modern and/or dance:
“By his very success in inventing labor-saving devices, modern man has manufactured an abyss of boredom that only the privileged classes in earlier civilizations have ever fathomed.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
“Yes, dance. Dance and dream. Dream that you’re Mrs. Henry Jekyll of Harley Street, dancing with your own butler and six footmen. Dream that they’ve all turned into white mice and crawled into an eternal pumpkin.”
—John Lee Mahin (1902–1984)