Contemporary dance

Contemporary dance is the name given to a group of 20th century concert dance forms. It is a collection of systems and methods developed from Modern and Postmodern dance. Thus contemporary dance is not a specific dance technique. European, Canadian and American contemporary dance differ from each other in a number of ways.

Technique;

Rather than emphasizing technique per se, which is seen more as a tool for the dancer and a means by which to strengthen the body, increase flexibility, and through a deliberate exposure of the contemporary dancer to a wide range of techniques to ensure versatility, contemporary dance as a field is more concerned with examining the choreographic and performing process: as a result there has been limited development of dance techniques by seminal dance artists. Instead, contemporary dance draws on modern dance techniques (developed in the first sixty years of the 20th century) and an array of still developing philosophies of movement based on study of the human body and body/mind inter-relationships, including:

Styles;

Alexander Technique

Bartenieff Fundamentals

Body-Mind Centering

Cunningham technique

Graham technique

Contact Improvisation

Dance Improvisation

Feldenkrais

Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis

Hawkins technique

Humphrey-Weidman technique, with the influence of José Limón

Kinesiology

Laban Movement Analysis

Lester Horton Technique

Movement ecology

Pilates

Release Technique

Skinner Releasing Technique

Somatic Movement Studies

Yoga

I went The Northern school of contemporary dance, which is bassed in chapeltown, Leeds, after seven years of professional level training. the building used to be a jewish church, and has a beautiful theatre space. contemporary dance for me is the most open of all dance it explores NEW ideas always trying to move forward, without doing things that have been done before. I guess it is just Dancers and Choreographers seeking to be original.

If somebody asked you; “what is Contemporary Dance?” could YOU tell them? if yes then tell the world, of not then you will have to digg deeper!