Martha Graham

Two modern dance masters of the twentieth century, Merce Cunningham (1919 - 2009) and Alvin Ailey (1931 - 1989) both deceased and both from entirely different backgrounds, created genius compositions of movement and interpretation as exhibited on stage through their chosen art, modern dance. Suite for Five by Merce Cunningham (1956) and Revelations by Alvin Ailey (1960) were considered to be some of their greatest compositions and although the pieces were created and performed within four years…

Jose Limon was born on January 12, 1908 in Culiacan, Mexico. His family immigrated to America during the Mexican Revolution. After graduating from Lincoln High school, Limon attended UCLA as an art major. He moved to New York City in 1928 to study at the New York school of design. There he was inspired to begin training as a dancer after he attended a dance production by Yvonne Georgi and Harald Kreutzberg. He trained with Charles Weidman and Doris Humphrey at the Humphrey-Weidman Studio and…

- Time differences It is clear from the living times of the two great dancers that they lived in different times with Wigman having the peak of her career in the early 40s while Pina was active up to the close of the 20th century and even in the beginning of the 21sst century. The differences create Pina as an image of a modern dancer who found the stage well set without much hindrance. On the other hand, Wigman was among the pioneers who were responsible for setting the stage. It follows that…

“Romeo and Juliet” Reposition Dance Analysis The classic play of Romeo and Juliet inspired choreographers to remake its originality from social changes. Inspiration of dances develops to represent its personal narrative through ballet, jazz, and hip hop, have performed to retell this story in each background of generations and society perspective. The classic english play by Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet” is known for its romantic originality as it have been choreographs and reposition through…

In class we have been discussing tools for choreography such as juxtaposition, counter point, mirroring, cannon, and many others. A piece that I found called “Framed” by M&N Dance Company displays a lot of these different tools that we have learned about these past couple of weeks. This piece was beautifully crafted and since it was a duet I believe it was very difficult to provide as much variety as they did in this piece. One of the first tools they utilized was mirroring. This was easy to…

On February 26, 2016, I attended a performance by UA Dance entitled Color Wheel. It was held in the Stevie Eller Dance Theatre. Color Wheel was indeed a wheel: six different performances gave viewers a broad taste of what dance has to offer; from ballet to tap to jazz. The pieces performed were choreographed by a wide variety of choreographers, from Jerome Robbins, known for West Side Story, to James Clouser, professor at the University of Arizona. The performance provided a well-rounded view of…

I asked my dance teacher: "Can you teach me how to do a split?" She said: "How flexible are you?" I said: "I can make it Tuesday's and Thursday's" What exactly is flexibility? I can bend both meanings of the word into my life. I am both physically and mentally flexible. Ever since the age of 4, I have been wildly entangles with the beauty of dance. I don’t know whether the fascination came from the ballerina TV shows i used to watch, from the dancers I saw out in the streets, or whether I was…

Loie Fuller Marie Louise Fuller (1862-1928) was a significant dancer born in Fullersburg, Chicago, later to be known as Loie Fuller or “La Loie”. Fuller is known for her innovation and experimental cooperation with technology and multimedia techniques such as extravagant lighting and usage of mirrors during the twentieth-century in order to ‘hypnotize’ and capture her audience. Fuller’s innovations would inspire many various types of artists and intellectuals, including future modern dancers…

How has Ballet influenced culture? Background information Ballet is an artistic movement that is performed by ballerinas wearing specific costumes. It can be telling a story which express feelings and thoughts. It was originally started in the 15th century, ballet was performed in the Italian Renaissance court. Noblemen and women learnt the steps and movements from the dancing masters, then they participate in the performance with the music in celebration events in the court. A century later, an…

There are many styles of dance, and they all require different skill sets. The two styles of dance that I am discussing today are both styles that tell a story on stage over multiple hours, introducing many different characters and having a beginning, middle and end. However, going to see, and training to perform in ballet and musical theater are two very different experiences. Ballet is one of the oldest dance styles and, while it tells a story, there is no speaking, singing or any other words…