Kurt Jooss

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Kurt Jooss (12 January 1901, Wasseralfingen, Germany – 22 May 1979, Heilbronn, West Germany) was a famous ballet dancer and choreographer mixing classical ballet with theatre; he is also widely regarded as the founder of dance theatre or tanztheater. Jooss is noted for establishing several dance companies, including most notably, the Folkwang Tanztheater, in Essen.

From a young age Jooss was interested in singing, drama and visual arts, he also played the piano and was a keen photographer. He began his career in the 1920s and from 1920 to 1924 studied under and danced lead roles in the choreography of Rudolf von Laban (who was a trained visual artist and developer of dance theory). Jooss used narratives and modern theatre styles to make performable works of Dance Theatre, further developing the work of Laban. Within a year of leaving Laban, Jooss took the opportunity to establish his own dance company called, Die Neue Tanzbühne. It was here Jooss met Fritz A. Cohen, the Jewish composer who worked with Jooss on many of his famous pieces.

Jooss and Fritz (or Frederick) Cohen shared the belief that choreography and musical composition should evolve together to give expression of the dramatic idea in unified style and form. In 1925 Jooss and Sigurd Leeder joined a group of artists and opened a new dance school called "Westfälische Akademie für Bewegung, Sprache und Musik". Jooss and Leeder went to Paris in 1926 to study Classical Ballet with Russian ballerina Lubov Egorova.

In 1927 Jooss and Leeder’s work Dance of Death was criticised for being too avant-garde; this resulted in the theatre of Münster changing personnel and programs. Because of this, many of Jooss’s colleagues left. The same year Jooss moved the "Westfälische Akademie" to Essen, and it became the Folkwang Schule.

Jooss disliked plotless dances and preferred themes that addressed moral issues. Naturalistic movement, large-scale unison and characterisation were used by Jooss to address political concerns of the time. His most important choreographic work, The Green Table (1932), had won first prize at an international competition for new choreography in Paris in 1932. It was a strong anti-war statement, and was made a year before Adolf Hitler became the chancellor of Germany.

In 1933 Jooss was forced to flee Germany when the Nazis asked him to dismiss the Jews from his company and he refused. Jooss and Leeder (and doubtless Fritz Cohen and other members of his original company) took refuge in Holland before resettling in England. After touring in Europe and America, Jooss and Leeder opened a school at Dartington Hall in Devon.

In 1934, whilst in England Jooss added new works to his repertoire, including Pandora (1944), contained disturbing images of human disaster and tragedy, which was later interpreted by some as foretelling the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan a year later.

Jooss left England in 1949 to return to Essen, Germany. Jooss continued to teach and choreograph for 19 years. One of his students from this period was the choreographer Pina Bausch.

He retired in 1968 and died 11 years later in 1979 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

Kurt Jooss works are still performed today especially The Green Table. Anna Markard, (Jooss' daughter) supervises companies that perform his works, conserving authenticity of the author of Dance Theatre.

Timeline of Modern Dance

Loie Fuller (1862 - 1928)

Isadora Duncal (1878 - 1927)

Ruth St Denis (1880 - 1968)

Ted Shawn (1891 - 1972)

Martha Graham (1894 - 1991)

Merce Cunningham (b. 1919)

Yvonne Rainer (b.1934)

Steve Paxton (b.1939)

Trisha Brown (b.1936)

Pioneers of modern dance

The pioneers of modern dance are Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, Ruth St Denis, Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey.

Loie Fuller - She rebelled against taking shoes off, allignment earth/bare sole
Isadora Duncan - Bare foot, egyption and Greek art style of dance
Ruth St Denis - Exotic dancing, cultury and greeky
Martha Graham - Solo dancer, her dancers looked identical to her
Doris Humphrey - her technique from 'fall and recovery' became foundation of her teaching.

My views on the Contrast between ballet and Modern dance

Modern dance is more abstract than ballet, ballet is very techniqual and detailed whereas Modern dance is more relaxed. Ballet is a lot more stricter than modern dance, whereas modern dance is very much of your own interpretation - there isn't set moves that you have to learn the names of, they are just natural angles of the body.
The reason that modern dance and ballet are very different is because modern dance is a rebellion of ballet. Martha Graham, Loie Fuller, Ruth St Denis ect wanted modern dance to be a rebellious style from ballet.

Ted Shawn

Ted Shawn dancing with his wife Ruth St Denis.

Ted Shawn (21 October 1891 — 9 January 1972), originally Edwin Myers Shawn, was one of the first notable male pioneers of American modern dance. Along with creating Denishawn with former wife Ruth St. Denis he is also responsible for the creation of the well known all-male company Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers. With his innovative ideas of masculine movement he is one of the most influential choreographer and dancer of his day. He is also the founder and creator of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts.
Ted Shawn was born in Kansas City, Missouri on October 21, 1891.^[1] Originally intending to become a minister of religion, he attended the University of Denver. There he caught diphtheria, which led him to take up dance in 1910 to regain his muscle strength. Shawn's dancing was discouraged by the University, which still had a Methodist affiliation, and was the cause of his expulsion the following year.
Shawn did not realize his true potential as an artist until marrying Ruth St. Denis in 1914.^[2] St. Denis served not only as partner but an extremely valuable creative outlet to Shawn. Soon after their marriage the couple opened the first Denishawn School in Los Angeles, California, where they were able to choreograph and stage many of their famous vaudeville pieces.^[3] A very famous piece of advice that Shawn used to give to his dancers was "When in doubt, twirl."^[4][5]
The following year Shawn launched a cross-country tour with his dance partner, Norma Gould, and their Interpretive Dancers. Notable performances choreographed by him during Denishawn’s 17-year run include Julnar of the Sea, Xochitl and Les Mysteres Dionysiaques.^[6] The school and company went on to produce such influential dancers as Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman.^[7]

Together, Shawn and Ruth St. Denis established the principle of Music Visualization in modern dance —- a concept that called for movement equivalents to the timbres, dynamics, and structural shapes of music in addition to its rhythmic base.
Although Denishawn came to an end in 1929 due to tough circumstances both in Shawn’s and St. Denis’ marriage as well as the economy, Shawn’s second dance group Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers were soon to follow in his dancing career.^[6] The new all male company was based out of Massachusetts near his then home of Lee. In creating this company Shawn was hoping to make America become more aware, and accept the importance and dedication of the male dancer along with his role in the arts. It was with this new company that Shawn produced some of his most controversial and highly skilled choreography to date. With works such as Ponca Indian Dance, Sinhalse Devil Dance, Maori War Haka, Hopi Indian Eagle Dance, and Dyak Spear Dances he was able to showcase performances that all stressed the male body movement.^[6] His love for the relationships created by the men in his dances soon translated into love between himself and one of his company members Barton Mumaw which lasted from 1931- 1948. He also had another partner following Mumaw, John Christian whom he was with from 1949 until his death in 1972.

Ruth St Denis

Ruth St. Denis
Born	January 20, 1879(1879-01-20) Newark, New Jersey
Died	July 21, 1968(1968-07-21) (aged 89)
Nationality	American
Field	modern dance

 

 

Ruth St. Denis (January 20, 1879 – July 21, 1968) was an early modern dance pioneer.
Ruth St. Denis founded Adelphi University's dance program in 1938 which was one of the first dance departments in an American university. It has since become a cornerstone of Adelphi's Department of Performing Arts.
Career began after seeing an image of an Egyptian goddess with a cigarette, she became obsessed with the East and the Orient. This obsession led to her career producing cultural pieces, although these pieces were lacking in authenticity, were extremely entertaining for the audience.
Her early works are indicative of her interests in exotic mysticism and spirituality. She believed dance to be a spiritual expression. Many companies currently include a collection of her signature solos in their repertoires, including the programme, “The Art of the Solo,” a showcase of famous solos of modern dance pioneers. Several early St. Denis solos (including “Incense” and ”The Legend of the Peacock”) were presented on September 29, 2006, at the Baltimore Museum of Art. A centennial salute was scheduled with the revival premiere of St. Denis' "Radha," commissioned by Countess Anastasia Thamakis of Greece. The program's director, Mino Nicolas, has been instrumental in the revival of these key solos. Radha was originally performed in 1909 to music from Delibes opera, Lakme. This piece was a celebration of the five senses and adored by upper class women who at the time were fascinated with anything of the orient.

One of her more famous pupils was Martha Graham, who attended Ms. St. Denis' school of dance, Denishawn, that she had started with her husband, Ted Shawn. Doris Humphrey, Evan Burrows Fontaine and Charles Weidman also studied at Denis Shawn, and Graham, Humphrey, Weidman and the future silent film star Louise Brooks all performed as dancers with the Denishawn company. Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn were also instrumental in creating the legendary dance festival, Jacob's Pillow.
For many years, Denis taught dance at a studio in Hollywood, California just north of the Hollywood Bowl. In 1963 she teamed with Raymond D. Bowman to bring the first full-length Balinese Shadow Puppet play to the United States. The performance was held at her studio and lasted more than 8 hours.
Denis was inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame in 1987.
Denis wanted to try something new besides ballet, so that is why she took on modern dance. Her earlier dance career began with acrobatic, high kicking, ballet as well as acting.

 

Isadora Duncan

Duncan restored dance to a high place among the arts. Breaking with convention, she traced the art of dance back to its roots as a sacred art.^[12] She developed within this idea, free and natural movements inspired by the classical Greek arts, folk dances, social dances, nature and natural forces as well as an approach to the new American athleticism which included skipping, running, jumping, leaping and tossing. With free-flowing costumes, bare feet and loose hair, Duncan restored dancing to a new vitality using the solar plexus and the torso as the generating force for all movements to follow. Her celebrated simplicity was oceanic in depth and Duncan is credited with inventing what later came to be known as modern dance.
Duncan's work has been moved forward through Anna Duncan and Irma Duncan, two of her six adopted daughters. This coaching and repertory has been passed to third generation Duncan dancer Lori Belilove whose lineage and performing career have earned her an international reputation as the premier interpreter and ambassador of the dance of Isadora Duncan.^[15] She founded The Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation in 1979 and The Isadora Duncan Dance Company in 1989. The Company is the premier Duncan Company performing in the world today and has performed to national and international acclaim in dance festivals around the world and in such prestigious New York venues as the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, Whitney Museum of American Art's Equitable Series, 92nd Street Y, Carnegie Hall, Duke Theater on 42nd Street, Judson Dance Theater and Symphony Space.^[16] Photographs and articles of the Isadora Duncan Dance Company have appeared in numerous international dance publications and periodicals including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Dance Magazine, Time Out, Backstage, Ballet Internationale, Korean Times, Dancar Magazine (Brazil), Dance Magazine Australia, The Greek-American, and the book, Dance Photos, published by Dance Ink, as well as a photo layout in Fitness Magazine. The Foundation and Company's performances, master classes, workshops, and teacher training certifications enable children, college students and professional dancers to truly experience the purity, timelessness, authentic phrasing, and musicality that has been passed down to Lori Belilove and so to her dancers through the direct line of Isadora Duncan's legacy.
Duncan's insistence on more natural movement than that performed in ballet, along with the use of unrestricted costumes and utilization of emotional expression, were highly influential on other dancers. While her schools in Europe did not survive for long, her work had impact in the art and her style is still danced by a new generation of loyal followers based on the instruction of Maria-Theresa Duncan, the last of the Isadorables. Maria-Theresa co-founded the Isadora Duncan International Institute (IDII) in New York in 1977. She personally passed on the original choreography to one of her pupils, Jeanne Bresciani, who is now the artistic director and director of education of the Institute. Although Maria-Theresa died in 1987, IDII continues to educate and instruct in the original choreography, style and techniques of Isadora Duncan through the tutelage of Bresciani. Graduates of the IDII certification programs also perform Duncan's choreography and hold classes in the Duncan technique.^{[citation needed]}
The famous poet and writer Carl Sandburg in his poem Isadora Duncan wrote: "The wind? I am the wind. The sea and the moon? I am the sea and the moon. Tears, pain, love, bird-flights? I am all of them. I dance what I am. Sin, prayer, flight, the light that never was on land or sea? I dance what I am."^{[citation needed]}
Duncan was inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame in 1987.
Isadora Duncan's life has been portrayed most notably in the 1968 film, Isadora, starring Vanessa Redgrave. Vivian Pickles played her in Ken Russell's 1966 biopic for the BBC, which was subtitled 'The Biggest Dancer in the World' and introduced by Duncan's biographer, Sewell Stokes.
Most notably, Duncan was the subject of a ballet, Isadora, written and choreographed in 1981 by the Royal Ballet's Kenneth MacMillan, and performed at Covent Garden.^[17] When She Danced, a stage play about Duncan's later years by Martin Sherman, won the 1991 Evening Standard Award (best actress) for Vanessa Redgrave. A Hungarian musical based on this play was produced in Budapest in 2008.
Robert Calvert recorded a song about Duncan on his Revenge LP. The song is called "Isadora". Salsa diva Celia Cruz sang a song titled "Isadora" in Duncan's honor. Finnish musician Juice Leskinen recorded a song called "Isadora Duncan". Russian singer Alexander Malinin recorded a song about the death of Isadora Duncan. Russian band Leningrad have a song about her on their Pulya (Bullet) album. American post-hardcore group Burden of a Day has a song titled, "Isadora Duncan" on their 2009 album OneOneThousand.