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Contemporary Dance Style Analytical Essay

  • Updated December 21, 2022
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According to Britannica, dancing is a performance art with body movement vocabulary in a rhythmic technique to music and a given space for a purpose of expressing an idea or emotion, releasing energy or simply delighting in the movement itself. The central concepts of the art of dance—a powerful impulse and a skillfully choreographed art—are the most crucial connecting objectives running through any consideration of the subject, to the point where neither can exist without the other.

Hence, Aristotle’s statement about the basis of dancing is “to represent men’s characters as well as what they do and suffer”, referring to the central role that dance performed in classical Greek theatre, where the reinterpretation of chorus to the themes of the drama during the lyric interludes through its movements.

A 20th century dance critic, John Martin, emphasized the aspect of dance by highlighting its role as a physical expression of inner emotion, thus commented that the roots of manifestations of diverse dances lies on the common drive to resort to movements to externalise states which we cannot externalise by rational means. A universal definition of dance returns to the fundamental principle that dance is a form of art or activity that utilizes the body and the ranges of movement involving qualities such as self-expression, aesthetic pleasure and entertainment (Mackrell, 2019).

The word contemporary is defined as modern; marked by characteristics of the present period, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The world of contemporary dance referred to the movement that are against the strict classical rules of ballet and lyrical dance forms, does not use fixed moves and instead developing completely new forms and dynamics, such as quick oppositional moves, shifting alignments, raw expressive emotions, systematic breathing, movements performed in non-standing positions, and finding the absolute limits of human form and physique—exploring the area of unconventional revolutionary movements gathered from all dance styles in the world. The origins of contemporary dance can be traced to pioneers such as Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham because they want to prove to the world that contemporary dancers should embrace freedom, challenge old dance conventions and explore the boundaries of the human body and the visual expression of feelings. The techniques of Zen Buddhism and Indian Health Yoga can also be detected which incorporates various dancing philosophies that closely follow the principles of contemporary dance (Contemporary dance – Ballet and dance, n.d.).

Contemporary dance is best described as an expressive dance style combining elements of several dance genres including modern, jazz, lyrical and classical ballet—striving to connect the body and mind through the fluidity of dance movements (Bedinghaus, 2019) as well as using their natural energy to portray personal expressions in their dance techniques (What is contemporary dance, 2017).

Contemporary dance has their own uniqueness and is one of my preferred dance style because it follows the freedom of expressions and the dynamic movements to match the flow of body motions with minds rather than obeying the structured laws of certain dances such as ballet. What piques my interest in contemporary dance is the insertion of gymnastic skills such as splits, back somersault and walkovers, which challenges the flexibility of new contemporary dancers, adding the fluidity of body motions to express their dance more. Contemporary dance can be a platform for storytelling as there are dance performances around the globe hooking the audiences with various genres of stories through graceful movements.

This unique dance style is also an awareness method on pressing issues such as amber alerts, suicide, abductions, shootings and so on. Moreover, contemporary dance stresses versatility and improvisation, highlighting on gravity to pull dancers down to the floor. Besides, contemporary dance presses on mental training and postural strength required to deliver unrestricted lines across vast spaces. Plus, the creative freedom of expression establishes a democratic moral code between performers to drive them to keep an open mind, respect each other and accept each other’s natural forms.

The present day of contemporary dance is an eclectic style combination, with choreographers drawing from ballet, modern, and structure-less forms of dance, creating characters, theatrical events or stories, and performing entirely new creations through improvisations in their respective unique style (Bedinghaus, 2019). The practices of the art form is demystified as often been hailed as an art that is invisible, leaving no tangible trace. The vision of the art of contemporary dance went beyond defining what dance is to expanding the area of what dance can actually be. Isadola Duncan, one of the most popular contemporary dancer in the 19th century, visioned her dance as a drive for soul expression and contended with the fame of vaudeville performance, along with catalyzing discipline redefining. Duncan emphasizes on creating the visibility of the inner life to disrupt the prevailing ideas around dance, such as the performing art should be narrative based and entertainment driven. Another contemporary dancer, Martha Graham articulated the idea by prioritizing expressive movement over narrative elements. Contemporary dance is constituted as a form of art because it is a reflexive approach to the body as an art material and the way it endures and generates experiences of time and effect (Cenci, 2018).

The awakening of the unique dance art such as contemporary dance are not excluded from their own rising issues. Gender inequality in dance is a global challenge; on 17th May, 2Faced Dance Company ran a conference, The BENCH in direct response to serious concerns about the lack of equality endured by female choreographers within the contemporary dance sector. This is because female choreographers that are not provided with equal chances to perform their work not only negatively affect the contemporary dance sector, but the society as well which is already dominated by male hegemony, sexism and misogyny.

Dance performances are characterized by narrative plots, ornate costumery, theatrical set design, a classical score, and movement that was followed the ballet traditions. The core of performance art can be seen in close relation to dance’s questioning of movement, which often leads to an acceleration or deceleration of time. Contemporary dance combines the strict legwork of ballet with the torso and floorwork of modern dance in addition to impulsive changes in rhythm, speed and direction. It is a raw form of dance with no rules applied like there are for ballet and modern dance. This expressive dance is popular to audiences and dancers alike, portraying the world through the perspective of the dancers, their experiences, stories and emotions.

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Contemporary Dance Style Analytical Essay. (2020, Sep 24). Retrieved from https://samploon.com/contemporary-dance-style/

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