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Contemporary Dance Description

Contemporary dance refers to an expressive style of dance which allows freedom of

expression both mentally and physically to relay specific information to an audience. This

combines emotions that links the spirit with the mind and the body to pass information at deeper

levels. Elements from different styles of dance like jazz, lyrical, classical ballet and modern are

incorporated to form contemporary dance. The dance emphasizes versatility and trial of new

ideas, unlike other dance actions that are rigid on instruction. The freedom of movement allows

the participants to express inner feeling during the dance (Van Dyck et al., 183). Therefore, in

addition to the above, this paper will define contemporary dance and describe its history.

The contemporary dance began in 20th century with early development in North America

and Europe. The strict rules in other dance; lyrical and classical ballet had become too much for

the dancers to bear hence the need to eliminate the rules. This led to exploration from all dance

moves across the world that gave rise to contemporary dance (Hesmondhalgh, David, and L.

Meier, 98). The dance does not have restrictions and guarantees for entirely different

movements including dancing on the floor as much as the physical fitness of an individual may

allow. When performed on the floor, the dance depends on the physics principle of gravity that

enables the dancer to make amazing moves and flow.

The roots of this popular dance are linked to most aspiring individuals in history. Among

them are Isadora Duncan, Merce Cunningham and Martha Graham who needed to prove to the
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universe contemporary dance is possible. Indeed the dance instilled a sense in contemporary

dancers to embrace the freedom, and step up from older dancing styles. Also, the earlier skills of

Indian health yoga entail certain dancing philosophies that are similar to principles of

contemporary dance.

Martha Graham introduced contemporary dance, making sure it gained enough fame and

popularity in the world. During her dancing career, her modern dance and choreographies

became known and had remained competent with the work of other legends in entertainment. As

a result, she was privileged to be the first dancer to entertain at the White House earning her a

medal of freedom. Her dancing moves do not only relate to the art geniuses but also influential

dancing masters. All these individuals worked in popularizing contemporary dance.

Merce Cunningham improved the work of Martha Graham and came up with more

developments. An intense research on expanded knowledge on contemporary dance after they

worked together. Merce began his company which besides the initiation of new ideas, the

company continued to inspire more dancing skills on people. The sequence and steps in dancing

became more appealing with more unique techniques during a development of software called

Danceform which created dances on the computer. The styles introduced by the dancing master

have remained beneficial, still used in studios to date.

Lastly, Lester Horton joins in history for being an inspiring contemporary dance

visionary too. The individual trained many famous dancers who did modern dance. This

incorporated many styles from other dances in Native American dance and modern jazz

introducing dancing techniques of his own. Of course, combining different dancing styles

formed the main philosophies of contemporary dance. Similar to other dancing masters, his

contribution still impacts in the current world of entertainment.

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Work cited

Hesmondhalgh, David, and L. Meier. "Popular Music, Independence and the Concept of the

Alternative in Contemporary Capitalism." Media Independence: Working with Freedom

or Working for Free (2015): 94-116.

Van Dyck, Edith, et al. "Expressing Induced Emotions through Free Dance Movement." Journal

of Nonverbal Behavior 37.3 (2013): 175-190.