D.A.N.C.E.

This week's theme was modern dancers.

Martha Graham began dancing when she was 16 after seeing a Ruth St. Denis dance performance. At the time, American dance was similar to traditional ballet, but also influenced by “lesser” forms of dance and considered more entertainment than art. She was influenced by Denis and Isadora Duncan. She choreographed her first major piece, “Heretic,” in 1929. In 1936, she choreographed her famous “Chronicle” dance, which was inspired by the stock market crash, Great Depression, and the Spanish Civil War and accordingly was very dark. She kept dancing into her 70’s despite criticism of her age. She kept choreographing, but resented younger dancers performing dances she had choreographed for herself and her husband. As a result she became very depressed and abused alcohol. She insisted on referring to her work as “contemporary” rather than modern. From the few clips I can find of her or her company, some are more interesting than others, but it clearly is a big departure from the traditional dancing of her day. Also I don’t know much about dancing so I guess I shouldn’t judge. This image is from a piece that she collaborated with sculptor Isamu Noguchi, who designed the set for the dance.


Twyla Tharp formed her dance company in 1965, and has also choreographed for countless other prestigious companies. She won an Oscar for Movin’ Out and has also won many other awards. Some of her work seems pretty straightforward, but I like how in one of her dances, the choreography is pretty classic ballet except the dancers flex their feet instead of pointing them. I also saw a clip from her dance “The Upper Room,” which I liked because it interpreted the music well and again I liked the fact that it was mostly traditional dancing with subtle quirks. Here she is doing that foot thing.



Mark Morris founded his dance company at the ripe age of 24, and in less than thirty years has created more works than Tharp has in her whole career. He has choreographed modern dance, ballets and operas for major theaters worldwide. He is noted for his musicality and music choices. He and Mikhail Baryshnikov formed the White Oak Dance Project in which Twyla Tharp also participated. Morris is my favorite of these dancers. The movements look the most creative to me. While the videos I saw don't really exemplify this, the pictures of the dance group have interesting costumes and sets as well.