Month: November 2015 (Page 5 of 6)

Black Modern Dance

November 10, 2015 / sabrina / 4 Comments

Black American dance starting from the Harlem Renaissance has come a long way and has been the start of many popular dances in America and other parts of the world. Some popular and iconic dances are; the jitterbug, Charleston, Lindyhop, and many others. The article, History of Black Dance: 20th-Century Black American Dance , gives a lot of information about the history of Black American dance and lists many men and women who were pioneers and leaders for the creation of new dances and who were responsible for spreading it throughout the country. Many of them took from and researched other countries and ethnicities and brought it back to America by integrating it with dances thus creating something new, fun, and expressive. These people were able to take from their cultures and introduce it to the rest of the world through art and expression that everyone can be a part of.

Going through the times, Black American dance has evolved and became part of others kind of dances such as modern dance. Like the rest, Black Modern dance does not disappoint either.

I personally am not a fan of modern dance. It is too abstract and from the dance performances I’ve seen, they are always slow, haunting, and the dancers are too expressive and loose with their bodies and limbs. I will also admit that some modern dance performances can be called weird to me because I simply can’t understand or comprehend it. However, when I watched Kyle Abraham’s “The Watershed” and “When the Wolves Came In”, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. The music accompanied the dancers was a jazz song with a woman singing live in the back of the stage. The dancers were actually wearing clothing that matched the theme or message trying to be conveyed which makes it a lot easier to interpret instead of if the dancers wore tight leotards. It was more lively and it wasn’t as abstract and open as others are because of the use of music, imagery (projected on the screen), and the dancers themselves.

However, although I do know what the theme or general idea of the piece is about, it is still difficult for me to interpret or analyze the little things or details of the dance. Modern dance is very open to interpretation for many specific dance moves or the positioning of the dancers or just the interaction of certain specific dances can mean different things. It is a lot to think about. Even after I read the interview with Kyle Abraham and he explained somewhat about the two performances, I understood only a little more than I did before but not everything.

I will, though, enjoy watching the dance performance very much when I see the actually thing. Maybe, when I watch the whole and full performance, I can interpret or analyze some more.

Modern Dance is not so Modern

November 10, 2015 / matthewlam / 5 Comments

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.

Black Dance Origins and Modern Evolution

November 10, 2015 / anthonychen715 / 5 Comments

Kyle Abraham

The Harlem Renaissance was the birthplace of black dance and music in that it became a place where both black and white New Yorkers brought together dance and music that was enthralling and lively. Not only did dances such as the Charleston, Lindyhop, and the Jitterbug come from these areas, but also Jazz music. Because of the Harlem Renaissance, its influence in music and dance in the 1920s spread later on to Europe.

It was disheartening to see sometimes black dancers such as Josephine Baker as not popular in America during her time period because of racial tension that continued to marginalize the form of art. However, through time, black dancers continued to progress their artistic movement, and eventually Buddy Bradley became the first African-American to run a British white company.

It is interesting to see that Kyle’s Abraham’s approach to black dance is one that is influenced by hip-hop culture of the late ’70s, and its goal is to delve into identity in relation to a personal history. His works are inspired by historical events such as the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation in “The Watershed” and the 20th anniversary of the abolishment of apartheid in South Africa in “When the Wolves Came In. ” Abraham currently wants “The Watershed” to give the audience thoughts about what the gains and losses that we’ve had. “When the Wolves Came In” has a ceremonial vibe, but is really about perception, race, and identity.

Abraham admits to the interviewer that being a choreographer, it’s hard for him to tell stories that aren’t too abstract to the audience. When the audience sees a black man and a black woman, or a black man with a white man there is immediately politics involved in the situation. Abraham brings into question the racial tension that exists in modern day society that not only permeated from historically influenced plays. According to him during the Watershed scene, the audience feels tension as two black men dance intimately while a white man cuts a watermelon in half. His artwork brings light to our current expectations of certain scenarios, and hopes that we can make sense of them. He tries to incorporate many different sources into his works of dance. Indeed according to him, he is “drawing a line between history and a contemporary aesthetic as well.”

Story Behind the Dance

November 10, 2015 / Tan Yee Yeung / 5 Comments

So it all began in Harlem.

When I think of Harlem, I automatically thought of the popular meme, Harlem Shake. After doing some research on the dance, it turns out the popular Harlem Shake is actually not the original one. The original Harlem shake, also known as Albee, originated from Harlem in the 1980s and it was based on Eskista, a traditional Ethiopian dance. The dance involves shaking, shimmying and popping your torso, shoulders and arms. This is one example that shows how black culture (Ethiopian) had an influence in dance in the 20th century.

Katherine Dunham

I really enjoy learning that the black modern dance is influenced by many different cultures and the experiences that they have been through. For example the L’ag’ya introduced by Katherine Dunham that was “based on the rhythms and martial arts dances of the slaves who used to dance to develop their stamina in preparation for uprisings against their white masters” (History of Black Dance: 20th-Century Black American Dance). Many black dancers use dance as a way to share the social and political pressure they are under in America. As we have seen, art is a very powerful tool that can be used to start a change. Sometimes words are not enough to convey the emotions they felt. I feel that with the influence of their culture and environment, black modern dances are unique and well-worth enjoying and analyzing.

I accidentally watched the video with Kyle Abraham’s choreography of “When the Wolves Came in” and “The Watershed” before reading the article. When I watched it, I didn’t understand what was going on and I was quickly bored. However, after reading the article, it gave me more insight on the meaning of the dances. “The Watershed” is a response to the 100th year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. The dance conveys the struggle and achievements during that time period from the perspective of the viewers. “When The Wolves Came In” is derived from the story that a kid fell into the African dog pit in the zoo and was killed, in turn the dogs were also killed although they could have simply built a taller fence so no other people will fall into it. This piece has to do with “perception, race and identity”. After reading the stories Kyle Abraham is trying to tell through his dances, I find it much easier to interpret the dance and understand what each of the movements meant.