Modern dance is a very unique form of dancing that puts itself in its own category. What makes modern dance so original? Modern dance takes in many different forms of dancing and mashes them all together to form a completely new form of dancing. It is very interesting that a good part of modern dance was born right in our backyard, Harlem.
Being taught to be a classical musician for the most part of my life, there was little room to actually deviate from the actual piece that was given in front of you. Later on, when I started experimenting a little bit with jazz music, I realized that jazz in sense took aspects of classical music while breaking every other rule that I was taught growing up. Phrasing, note values and style of playing jazz went completely against the conventions of “standard” music playing, but it did bring a completely different vibe to music that classical music could never do. Modern dance basically took various aspects of dancing and broke many rules that are associated with classical dancing. Modern dance can convey a message that classical dancing could never convey to the audience. There is a lot more emotion that goes in modern dance because there isn’t a definitive set of “rules” that constrict the emotions a dancer from expressing.
After watching the video, it seemed like everyone on stage had their own interpretation of the music, yet they were in sync with one another in an unconventional manner. At first I thought it was a complete free-for-all and each dancer could do whatever they wanted to dance to, however I was so wrong. The dances vary from very abrupt/dramatic to very gentle and expressive; the whole group of dancers were working well together to emphasize each person’s solo dance/idea. The message was quite clear that the dance had to do something that was extremely important to society. Only after reading the article I could see the connection with the dancing and the Civil Rights Movement; there was so much passion in the dancing that it showed the struggles of the past and how much will power was needed to give equality to African Americans. Kyle Abraham’s work has opened my eyes to different forms of communicating different ideas and social problems that exist or existed in our world.
When people aren’t bounded by a set of rules then people’s creative ideas can go into complete overdrive and express ideas that no one thought could be possible. Modern dance has broke the traditional sense (while taking a lot of aspects from other dancing styles) of dancing which has led many people to experiment with dancing to another level, bringing another level of emotions and ideas.
As I’ve became more and more familiar with history and the arts, I’ve observed that nothing in itself is entirely different from another thing. In a sense, everything is connected. We see parts of music A in music B. We see parts of painting A in painting B. Emotion is important in dance but I believe structure is also important. In the dance we saw, there was emotion expressed but there was also a fundamental structure that ties two dancers together. Indeed, that is how they were so “in sync” with each other. In my post, I take on a more historical side of the dance. (What did the dance represent? How did this idea come about historically?) The Harlem Renaissance is quite unique in its expression motivated by segregation.
It is so interesting to hear your opinion on modern dance, being that you were a musician for most of your life. I, too, was very much attracted to the fact that modern dance has so much freedom and expression. I always thought that dance was very strict and pointless; and I sense that you felt that strict characteristic when learning classical music. It seems as if modern dance has become a revolution to our perception of dance, music, and art as a whole. I also find it really compelling how you viewed modern dance as a way of breaking tradition. Whether this is an innate characteristic of ours, I feel that when people break tradition there are going to be those that are opposed, and there are going to be those that are captivated. Modern Dance has done both to me thus far.
You seem to like modern dance based on your description of Kyle Abraham’s work and in your post. Modern dance is filled with creativity and all these ideas, for me it’s just hard to understand them. However, after reading about what you understood from the performance, it makes more sense to me. And I do agree with you about your belief about modern dance that it definitely deviates from “traditional” dance.
Matt how rebellious of you to experiment with jazz and break up the known practices of classical music. Indeed, Kyle Abraham’s work encompasses the past struggles of African Americans, and tries to address them in the form of dance that further makes the audience think. I think that his work was very creative, just like your interpretation.
Indeed, Jazz is a departure from the conventions of classical music, and in doing has become an art-form in itself. What is liberating about jazz is that while there is often a basic melody used throughout a piece, it is up to each member of the ensemble to improvise upon that melody at various times during the performance. As such, a listener is able to hear the interpretations of several different musicians within the same piece. The point you brought up about the many performances of the dancers within a single piece mirrors this point. While one can view a dance holistically, it is important to keep in mind that making up that whole are a group of individual dancers doing their own things in a unified and coordinated manner.