CONTEMPORARY |
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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. Australian, European, Canadian
and American contemporary dance differ from each
other in a number of ways.
Contemporary dance principles
include: centering, alignment, gravity, breath,
contraction, release, fall and recovery, spension,
balance and off-balance, tension and relaxation,
opposition and emotion.
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Technique |
Unlike classical ballet, contemporary dance often utilizes ground work and the dancers often perform in bare feet.
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:
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Alexander Technique
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Bartenieff
Fundamentals
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Cunningham technique
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Graham technique
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Contact
Improvisation
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Dance Improvisation
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Feldenkrais method
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Gyrotonic and
Gyrokinesis
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Hawkins technique
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Humphrey-Weidman
technique,
with the
influence of José
Limón
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Kinesiology
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Laban Movement
Analysis
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Lester Horton
Technique
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Pilates
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Release Technique
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Skinner Releasing
Technique
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Yoga
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