The Dance Electic:

The Emergence of British

Dance
TAY11188205

New Dance is an

Post-modern

umbrella term
dance has
applicable to
become an
experimental
umbrella term,
work which
the boundaries of
began in England
which are still
in the 1970's and
being defined
continues into
Post-modern
dance originated in America in the under the influence of
the 1990's.
Merce Cunningham and Martha Graham. Also, the Judson Church Movement
emerged in the late 60s with a radical new form of dance.

Introduction

Both of these peaked the interest of Robin Howard who, despite not having
a much of a background in dance became inspired after watching Martha
Grahams company perform in 1954. So much so that he provided the funds
for Graham to come to the UK and tour.
Before post-modern dance reached the UK, it seems that ballet was the only
style of dance around meaning that it was all technique based. Post-modern
or New Dance changed all this as it can mean a variety of things and does
not focus solely on technique and ability.

Practitioners

Rosemary Butcher
Christopher Bruce

Robert Cohen

Richard Alston

Wayne McGregor

Practitioners

Robin Howard
Siobhan Davies

Robert North

Ian Spink

X6 Collective

X6 played a critical role in the birth of British

experimental New Dance. It was the first
independent group to have its own space where it
produced performances, classes, discussions and a
new publication in which they found new ways of
New Dance in England
developed
from the early
talking about
dance.
classes, performances and writing of the X6
Collective and those who worked with them or at
the same time. They were concerned to form new
ideas,
theories
and practices
for dance. on
There
was
an emphasis
in the performances
new work, both by individuals and groups who
wanted to share work with an audience for the first
time, and by artists who were more established but
who wanted to break away from old patterns and
Some of thefind
aspects
of new dance were:
new ways.
consciously working to make a dance which
challenged the dance stereotypes; use of mixed
media; use of different performance spaces and
encouraging audience participation.

Strider

the country's first alternative contemporary dance group,

Strider. A loose collective influenced by America's Judson Dance
Theatre, Strider experimented with everyday movement,
multimedia, task- or process-based compositional methods, and
performed in non-theatre spaces such as galleries, halls and the
outdoors
n combines the innovative and temporal
expectations we have of a contempor
ographer. His career epitomizes the changing aesthetics and politics that have
British dance since the 1960s

Basic Information
Classed as the 'First
Wave'
The beginning of nontechnical movement

Seen as dancing 'from

the inside out'

Mid
1970's
The start of Avant
Garde, meaning
practitioners were
more open to
experimenting with
their works

Key pioneers include

Rosemary Butcher,
Richard Alston,
Christopher Bruce,
Janet Smith, Norman
Morrice and Limited
Dance Company

Changes to
choreography/technique
Gender roles reversed
Improvisation/contact
improvisation

The X6 Collective wanted to counter oppressive

attitudes and change roles for both men and women
in dance society.

Mid
1970's
Pedestrian movement and
release work was now
accepted as a form of
'dancing'
The idea of a 'traditional'
dancer image was
challenged

New dance vocabulary

...everyday movements including walking, running,

falling and gestures such as running fingers
through the hair
One of the performances that challenged this was
'Making a Baby' (1979). This was performed whilst
Claid was 7 months pregnant.

Basic Information
Film, song, text and
speech were
incorporated into
various works

Image was more

important. The focus
was not only on the
movement but on the
costume, lighting,
props and staging

Late
1970's/Ea
rly 1980's

Almost anything can

count as a 'dance'

Key pioneers include

Lloyd Newson, Yolande
Snaith, Lea Anderson
and group DV8

Changes to
choreography/technique
Freedom of technique
One very crucial inheritance which has survived
has been a continuing freedom in technique a
sense that anything the choreographer chooses can
count as dance.

Late
Old, more disciplined
...sleekness,
was not
1970's/Ea technique
suppleness
and
completely
extinct
brilliance of
coordination are now
rly 1980's fully
back in demand.

'Connections to the
world' were key
concerns especially
for Newson, Lansley
and Claid

Contact improvisation
Inspired by Cunningham
T'ai Chi
became even more
technique
popular Dancers have had to become articulate in styles
ranging from Contact Improvisation to ballet,
Cunningham to T'ai Chi.

Changes
to
One of the major changes to choreography and technique is the idea that
you don't have to have any technique or experience to be a dancer, anyone
choreography/technique
can dance!
The X6 Collective were especially focused on getting the non-experienced
to participate in workshops and this has been described as 'inspiring' by
many. Audience participation was also a popular theme in their works.
One of the most
inspiring aspects of
Examples
the workshops held
both at X6 and at the

A Dance Score (1978)

Dartington Festival

Our Caca Phoney H, Our Caca

was the mixture of

Phoney H (1975)
very experienced

Planetary Dance (1987)

performers and

artists with very

Continuous Project Altered Daily

little experience, or
(1969)
people who had just
discovered the
exhilaration of
improvisation.

Post-modern dance and society

The X6 Collective aimed to recognise and challenge oppressive
behaviour, action and patterns in themselves and others. Their
aims were radical and indicate some of the changes evident in
society and in certain art practices during the 1970s and early
1980s.

Womens Liberation Movement

Examples of work

eeding Faries (1977) Claid, Lansley and Prestige based this piece around menstruatio
It began with the dancers positioned in typical ballet pose
the movement gradually becoming more aggressive.
nce Object (1977) performed by Lansley as a solo. Created to display her own exper
as a woman and dancer.
aking a Baby (1979) Emilyn Claid was determined to challenge the idea that there is s
a thing as an idealised dancer/body type. She did so whilst
performing this piece whilst 9 months pregnant.

Post-modern dance and society

Their challenge was to some of the widely accepted values and
attitudes in dance. As we have seen, the structure of most dance
companies
is a hierarchical
one.on the male
In the ballet companies
there
has been a focus
dancer as superstar challenging the ballerina's central role.
Women developed strength in their arms,
learnt how to use their weight so that small
women could lift large men, creating reversed
roles that questioned the norm.

Examples of work

ou right there Michael, are you right? (1983) one of Fergus Earlys works that aim
expose the vulnerability of men
were expected to keep their em
private rather than express
nd Rolling (1978) one of Mary Prestige's works that explored how it's not just men tha
are strong when it comes to dancing by using gymnastics.
nt Contact (1960) despite being a creation of American choreographer Trisha Brown,
this piece demonstrates and possibly inspired British choreograph
to present women as strong and not fragile. Brown did so by havin
her dancers collide with surfaces/other dancers.

Post-modern dance and society

There were a number of themes evident in post-modern dance of
new uses of the body, time and space and redefinitions of dance.

Oppression of women

Alienation of gay men

Loneliness

Aggression

Struggle

Examples of work

e Infernal Galop (1990) a Matthew Bourne piece that presents and encounter betwe
2 gay Frenchmen. Described as 'witty' and 'sly' and a parod
between life and dance.
esh and Blood (1990) a work by Lea Anderson featuring the Cholmondeley Sisters tha
aimed to avoid 'heterosexual clichs' by using an all female ca
intimate movement.
ge City (1979) created by Helen Jives who delivered workshops to the X6 Collective. S
asked the dancers to use their own pasts as inspiration.

Post-modern dance and society

...for the first time since the Industrial Revolution, it is now
possible for artists to define themselves against the values of
capitalist society and yet attract an audience.

Examples of work

Fast Supper (1979) this piece of work created by Jacky Lansley focused on the under/
consumption of food. It also had elements of religion, paternalism
exploring the body.
re Escape in Hell (1980) a work that included Nazi imagery, black-uniformed power
fascist salutes. However, these were warped in order to loo
'glamorous' and 'chic'.
mage Sale on the Floor of the Forest (1971) a piece based around consumerism in
society. Throughout the dance there
overemphasis on product.
ry (1979) the events of the Second World War were explored through this piece along
with elements of fascism.
el (1971) had an element of religion (told the story of Joan of Arc) but in a contempora
way exploring issues of the time.

Bibliography

DIAR, C. (1992) Women and Dance: Sylphs and Sirens. London: MacMillan

ACKRELL, J. (1991) Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance
esearch. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

ANES, S. (1977) Terpsichore in Sneakers: Post-Modern Dance. Boston

ORDAN, S. (1992) Striding Out: Aspects of Contemporary and New Dance

n Britain. London: Dance Books

ACPHERSON, H (2011) Liberation The History of the X6 New Dance

ollective [Online] Available from:
ttp://hamishmacpherson.co.uk/Liberation-The-History-of-the-X6-Newance-Collective
Accessed: 12th March 2015]