Tag: modern

Footloose: Dancing Barefoot

Lori Belilove & The Isadora Duncan Dance Company members sport bare feet in Duncan’s Bacchanal. (Vladimir Lupovsky) When you’re sporting a pair of jazz shoes or ballet slippers, you can throw off strings of chaînés and multiple turns without a problem. But when you shed your footwear for modern class, everything changes. Your feet get […]

Keigwin's Kingdom

Larry Keigwin looks on during a K + C rehearsal. Every time they walk into the rehearsal studio, KEIGWIN + COMPANY dancers must wonder what the heck they’re about to become. Runway models? Birds? Aliens? Some bizarrely awesome combination of all three? Helmed by fearless leader Larry Keigwin, K + C has produced a string […]

Modern Masters

Today the contemporary dance family tree has all kinds of offshoots, but its base includes four modern dance branches: the techniques created by Martha Graham, José Limón, Lester Horton and Merce Cunningham. Even if you don’t consider yourself a modern dancer, getting to know these foundational styles will make you a stronger, more versatile performer, […]

Much Ado About Music

Modern dance master Mark Morris has said of his choreography, “Every dance ever is because of the music.” Indeed, who can imagine Morris’ vivaciousL’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato set to anything but George Frideric Handel’s exultant score? Music is vital for choreographers in any genre. Here, DS talks to five emerging modern dancemakers about the importance of […]

How To Hinge

You see it everywhere in contemporary and modern choreography. It’s the “wow” step that takes you from standing to the floor with just a simple bend of the knees: the hinge. The hinge’s roots date back to the 1930s when Lester Horton began to establish his approach to modern dance. He created six exercises (Hinge […]