Analytic Post-Modern dance contrasts from its predecessor, Modern dance, in that it emphasizes the pure movement of dance above all else. Unlike previous movements, the Post-Modern dance movement stressed that seemingly ordinary and everyday movements should be looked at as art. Analytic Post-Modern dancers did not believe that the dances they performed should be examined for underlying meanings, rather they maintained that the choreography should be acknowledged for the pure physical movement.

Steve Paxton’s style of contact improvisation is a true embodiment of the Analytic Post-Modern dance movement. In contact improvisation, multiple dancers interact with improvised movements without music or any other cues. Dancers experiment with different movements to interact with their partners and develop a keen understanding of how the dynamics of the human body. As with Post-Modern dance, contact improvisation does not try to tell a story or evoke a specific emotional response. Instead, Steve Paxton’s contact improvisation highlights the mechanics of bodily movement.

Analytic post-modern dance rejects the theatrical and meaning-based aspects of modern dance. While modern dance usually has a meaning or plot behind its movement, post-modern dance emphasized the importance of movement of the body in any way, without all the glitz and glam that generally came with a modern dance performance. Post modern dance allowed anyone to be a dancer, and any movement to be dance – even if it was not always aesthetically appealing to the viewer. Music was also not a focus for post-modern dancers and choreographers. They considered simply the motion of the body to be art. Post-modern dance was an oppurtunity for dancers to move without many limitations on what was considered the proper way to dance.

Steve Paxton really embodied the idea of post-modern dance with his use of contact improvisation. This style of dance consists of two or more dancers moving with each other, exploring their bodies and the laws of physics. Many lifts and falls were involved, so it was important for them to really feel how the weight of a body reacts to gravity in different ways. The beauty of the dance lies in the un-choreographed  movement, which has an incredible flow even though it is sometimes interrupted. Although contact improvisation does not adhere to the ideals of modern dance, the dancers are still skilled in other areas of dance. The way they lift and fall with each other so gracefully requires true athleticism. Steve Paxton developed this style without music, and without a meaning. He simply used the collaboration and movement of bodies to create art, which displays what the post-modern dance movement was all about.

-Olga

Analytic post-modern dance strayed from the modern movement of the mid-twentieth century and instead brought the audience a type of dance that was void of two major modern dance characteristics: musicality and rhythmic organization. Not only that, but analytic post-modern dance tended to leave out dramatic phrasing, contrast, and resolution. The new wave post-modern dancers/choreographers were more interested in minimalistic ideals and images that showed the actual movement of the dancers; they were interested in the sense that the dance “is what it is”. Dance, to them, didn’t have to be structured or flamboyant, instead, dance could have a cool, down-to-earth attitude that can still convey powerful messages.

Twyla Tharp transcended the image of post-modern dancers by returning to a more structured choreography, making way for the contemporary dance genre of today. She  stripped dance into the core value of dance instead: movement. Twyla Tharp did away with any sound accompaniment that might distract the viewer’s attention from the dance itself. She also took dance outside the theater, staging it in such spaces as the staircase of the Metropolitan Museum of New York City and New York’s Central Park (ask.com). In doing so, Twyla Tharp, along with other post-modern choreographers of her time, broke away from the modern dance movement and created something she believed was necessary for a broader dance appreciation.

Analytic post-modern dancers believe that dance can be done for the purpose of the dance itself and the movement itself.  Dances are made to create a structure within which movement can be seen for its own sake.  Post-modern dance often embodies different perspectives on space, time, or orientation.  It often includes the use of repetition, improvisation, chance, and actual time.  Analytic post-modern dance rejects musicality and meaning, and it uses costume, lighting, and objects for their functions.  In these dances, life is often the subject of the art.  Also, the dancers can be choreographers as well.  Post-modernists dance for the pleasure of the dancer.  Thus, it does not matter if the audience does not particularly like the piece.  Analytic post-modern dance can create a new way of looking at dance for the audience.

Steve Paxton used the ideas of analytic post-modern dance in his contact improvisation style.  This style of dance uses two bodies moving with each other and in physical contact with each other.  This form of dance also has to do with these dancers’ relationship to the physical laws that surround them, such as gravity.  Contact improvisation displays the importance of movement and chance just like analytic post-modern dance.  These dancers must work with their partner in order to continue the flow of the dance without stopping or losing contact.  Steve Paxton’s dance, like post-modern ideas, focuses on movement, spontaneity, and the exploration of the body.  Like other dancers in the analytic post-modern dance movement, Paxton provided the audience with a new idea of what dance can be defined as.

Post-modern dance came into existence as a counter-reaction to modern dance, which had emphasized expressionism and theatricality. The newer style rejects the story-telling and symbolic aspects of dance, instead focusing on the physical components and bare technique. Its purpose is solely to emphasize form and movement. It examines the relation of the body to space and time, in different orientations and perspectives. There is no hidden message to be found or analysis to be made; movement is appreciated for its own aesthetic. Each isolated characteristic of dance–each bend, gesture, shape, and shift–is meant to be viewed simply for what it is.

Steve Paxton’s approach to movement through contact improvisation helped to shape these principles of post-modern dance. He had the idea that dance should be viewed as a demonstration of the body as a machine, working in tandem with that of another. Through direct contact, bodies produce spontaneous movement, displaying physical versatility. His work cast out all the excesses of dance, leaving simply the movement to display the utility of the apparatus of the body. Without music, props, or symbolism—Paxton’s improvisational method experimented with the concept of dance, and what could be considered an art. For Paxton, any ordinary movement was dance, and the body was (is) a vessel in itself for expression.

-Sophie

Analytic post-modern dance uses a factual, objective, down-to-earth style that emphasizes choreographic structure and movement. The way the dancer’s body moves is more important than the meaning of the dance. Often, analytic post-modern dance calls attention to the workings of the body in a scientific way, focusing purely on the physicality of a dance. Dances are then defined as ordinary movements such as tasks and everyday work.

Steve Paxton’s contact improvisation focuses purely on the way the dancers’ bodies move against each other. The dancers use physical contact in order to explore the physical workings and movements of the body. Dances revolve around spontaneous and improvised moves that explore different and new ways to balance and move in concert with the other dancers. This follows directly with the definition of analytic post-modern dance to explore the body’s workings in a purely scientific way. Paxton displays the human body as an exhibit, a machine rather than a vehicle of meaning and metaphor in a spiritual or meaningful way as most dance seeks to. Paxton’s contact improvisation doesn’t seek to mean anything or symbolize anything. It makes no statements about politics, art, or religion. It seeks merely to display the versatility, flexibility, and improvisation of the human body in concert with other bodies.

This is a review of “Einstein on the Beach” scored by Philip Glass and directed by Robert Wilson.

“Einstein on the Beach” runs through Sunday at the Howard Gilman Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene; (718) 636-4100, bam.org.