Historic Modern Dance

[Tutulicous]

What exactly is meant by the term Historic Modern Dance?

[Momof3darlings]

While I cannot be sure, it probably just applies to the beginnings of Modern Dance in it's purest form and by it's originators. What we see today as Modern Dance has evolved into sometimes different things. Much like there is classical ballet and contemporary ballet. All is ballet, but one based in it's origin and the other an evolution of sorts.

[caliope]

Yes, 'Historical Modern Dance' refers to early modern dance -- Ted Shawn, Doris Humphrey, Helen Tamiris, Jose Limón, Charles Weidman, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Erick Hawkins, etc.

[Momof3darlings]

Thanks caliope! While I studied and have a degree based in Modern dance, I guess that this officially makes me old now. It was just Modern Dance then and it's now become Historical. I will go crawl into my cave now.

[caliope]

. It was just Modern Dance then and it's now become Historical.

 

Funny how that happens!

 

I will go crawl into my cave now.

 

Yeah, well move over and make room for me.

 

 

 

I should point out that the term is, for the most part, academic. I don’t teach Graham as ‘history’. In the studio, many early forms of modern are still considered valid techniques/approaches with current applications.

[Hans]

Wow, Graham didn't die until 1991--is she really considered historic already? That's almost a full decade later than Balanchine.

[Clara 76]

[Mel Johnson]

As their schools and choreographic outputs still survive, I count the "historic" period of modern dance as ending at the beginnings of Graham and Laban. Isadora Duncan we have only a sketchy idea of, Loie Fuller has some of her cabaret work on film, Denishawn is really as sketchy as Duncan, as we only have Miss Ruth doing "Radha", so it's early, at least the way I would handle it as a professional historian.

[caliope]

Now I'm not a dance historian by any means, but my understanding of the concept of "Historic Modern Dance" is that it refers chronologically to the period between 1920 through the 1950's. In terms of philosophy it refers, in large part, to those early choreographers who rebelled against the romanticism of the Denishawn school. All this of course refers only to the American history of modern dance.

[Dance_Scholar_London]

I would call this era early modern dance rather than historic modern dance (which I believe is slightly misleading but sometimes used to refer to the early years of modern dance).

[tangerinetwist]

As their schools and choreographic outputs still survive, I count the "historic" period of modern dance as ending at the beginnings of Graham and Laban. Isadora Duncan we have only a sketchy idea of, Loie Fuller has some of her cabaret work on film, Denishawn is really as sketchy as Duncan, as we only have Miss Ruth doing "Radha", so it's early, at least the way I would handle it as a professional historian.

 

So happy to hear that someone still remembers that Loie Fuller had an impact on the foundations of "modern" dance. Her innovations could also be said to have pushed forward technical theatre in the areas of costuming and lighting design.

 

Oh, yeah, and make room in that cave for me too! And heck, I was born just after Woodstock!