Contemporary dance.html



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Contemporary dance is the name given to a group of 20th century concert dance forms. It is a collection of systems and methods developed from modern and postmodern dance, even though contemporary dance is not a specific dance technique. Australian, European, Canadian and American contemporary dance differ from each other in a number of ways.^{citation needed}

Contemporary dance principles include: centering, alignment, gravity, breath, contraction, release, fall and recovery, suspension, balance and off-balance, tension and relaxation, opposition and emotion.

Technique

Unlike classical ballet, contemporary dance often utilizes ground work and the dancers often perform in bare feet.

Dancer Anna Luise Recke performing a contemporary dance piece by Joerg Schiebe (Berlin 2007)

Rather than emphasizing technique per se, which is seen more as a tool for the dancer and a means by which to strengthen the body, increase flexibility, and through a deliberate exposure of the contemporary dancer to a wide range of techniques to ensure versatility, contemporary dance as a field is more concerned with examining the choreographic and performing process: as a result there has been limited development of dance techniques by seminal dance artists. Instead, contemporary dance draws on modern dance techniques (developed in the first sixty years of the 20th century) and an array of still developing philosophies of movement based on study of the human body and body/mind inter-relationships, including:

• Alexander Technique
• Bartenieff Fundamentals
• Cunningham technique
• Graham technique
• Contact Improvisation
• Dance Improvisation
• Feldenkrais method
• Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis
• Hawkins technique
• Humphrey-Weidman technique, with the influence of José Limón
• Kinesiology
• Laban Movement Analysis
• Lester Horton Technique
• Pilates
• Release Technique
• Skinner Releasing Technique
• Yoga

See also

• Contemporary ballet
• Tanztheater
• ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival

References

External links

• Renee Glass & Catherine Steven, (2005) Making Sense of Contemporary Dance: An Australian Investigation into Audience Interpretation and Enjoyment Levels (Short Report Prepared for fuel4arts), MARCS Auditory Laboratories & School of Psychology, University of Western Sydney