Post-modern dance was an American dance movement during the 1960s and 1970s. Like other cultural phenomenon of the time, it was a rebellion against traditional ideas and assumptions. Postmodernists questioned the established parameters of dance and pushed dance and art to new levels. The movement was short-lived, but it planted the seeds for new genres in dance and performance art.
The Judson Dance Theatre;
Several dancers who studied under these three choreographers revolutionized dance by creating their own movement, post-modern dance. In 1962, these dancers formed a collective to perform dance experiments that rebelled against modern dance traditions. They practised and performed at New York's Old Judson Church, and took the name Judson Dance Theatre. This group became the founders of the post-modern dance movement, which adopted the ideas that dance can be anything, even everyday movement, can be performed anywhere, not just a stage, and that anyone can be a dancer, no formal training required, only the desire to dance. Post modernists believed that all the body's movements could constitute a dance if placed in the right context. More thinkers than dancers, these choreographers focused more on the intellectual process of creating the dance than the end result. The Judson dancers also favoured combining dance with other artistic mediums, including film, photography, painting, speaking and, of course, music.
The Judson Dancers;
The principal Judson Dance Theatre choreographers were truly pioneers, not just in dance, but in art itself. Trisha Brown was the first to defy gravity with her choreography by using harnesses to make dancers "fly" and walk down walls (see references below). She also favoured using alternative spaces for performances, including rooftops. Her choreography featured unusual and startling contexts for the human body and fluid, unpredictable movements.
- Yvonne Rainer favored including artists of other disciplines in her choreography, and went on to become a successful film-maker. She favored using the "everyday body" as opposed to the performing body, meaning that her dancers performed choreographed movements with a mundane attitude, thereby challenging traditional ideas of performance by minimizing the dramatic side of dance.
Simone Forti experimented with animal movements in her choreography and collaborated with musicians and filmmakers in her work. She also featured dancers who spoke aloud while performing.
Steve Paxton created the Contact Improvisation method, where two or more people move together in almost constant spontaneous contact. He often used everyday movements, such as walking or running, because be believed that dance should be possible for all able-bodied people, not just a select few who participated in years of technical study, such as ballet.
Author -Amanda HermesLast Updated - 2012
Post Modern dance began in 1960's. A group of artists (Judson Dance Theatre)who followed Cunningham worked in a church in New York discussing politics and revolutions. They were very rebellious. Their performance happened anywhere; meeting rooms, church choir loft, gymnasium etc. They didn't think that dance HAD to happen on the stage. They had no traditional audiences; this means that the people that watched their dance, weren't necessarily interested in dance, they just were random people who were there at the time.
ReplyDeleteThey used pedestrian movement in their dances. This means everyday movements such as reaching an arm or walking etc.
Some of the dancers in the Judson Theatre were classically trained but some were not trained in dance at all.