Analytic Post-Modern Dance is a technique different from past styles. This new movement uses movement almost exclusively as the means of performance. While other styles use costume, lighting, set, etc. to express the meaning of the show, Analytic Post-Modern Dance kept anything besides the dancing simple. Dancers tended to wear ordinary clothes, and the stage is usually well-lit. The dancers did not need to be professionals; furthermore, they did not even need to dance, necessarily. Some Analytic Post-Modern Dance consisted of the performers eating, some the dancers were nude and expressing sexual imagery. The concept was that dance is only considered as such because it is put in the context of dance.

Trisha Brown was part of the Analytic Post-Modern Dance movement, but the pieces we watched were not Analytic Post-Modern Dance. The dancers were trained professionals in both “Glacial Decoy” and “Solo Olos.” They danced freely, with non-traditional motions, but this is not all that Analytic Post-Modern Dance includes. They were in costume, had a set, and had lighting.

Despite this, one might see this as Analytic Post-Modern Dance, as these factors were very limited. In ballet, for example, the costumes are specific and expressive. The lighting helps move along the narrative and the set gives a setting for the narrative in ballet. In Trisha Brown’s dance, the costume, set, and lighting merely create a stage for the dancers. The focus of the dance was entirely on the movement, which is the essential point of Analytic Post-Modern Dance. 

Meira