13-24 Flashcards
14) This American dancer and choreographer was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other disciplines, and the works that he produced with these artists had a profound impact on avant-garde art beyond the world of dance. Throughout his career, he choreographed more than 200 dances and over 800 Events, or site-specific choreographic works.
Merce Cunningham
13) This beloved modern dance choreographer formed his own dance company in 1958 (and an affiliated school in New York City) as havens for nurturing Black artists and expressing the universality of the African-American experience through dance.
Alvin Ailey
15) This dancer and choreographer had an unusually late start, coming to dance after being a competitive swimmer. Even so, he danced in Martha Graham’s company as a soloist for seven seasons before opening his own company in 1954 (which is still going strong today). It is believed that his early dedication to swimming contributed to the development of his unique and diverse dance aesthetic – a technique of free-flowing, loping movements, with dances that span a wide range: from abstract movement with complex patterning or musical lyricism to narratives filled with wit, satire, or serious social and psychological commentary.
Paul Taylor
16) This American dancer, choreographer and anthropologist played an important role in the presentation of African dance to American audiences. She saw the widespread need to promote African dance as an art form worthy of study and performance, and her work was a reaction to myths of savagery and the general lack of knowledge about African people. One of her most famous pieces was Strange Fruit (1945), about a lynching, which was embellished with athletic jumps that defied gravity and amazed audiences.
Pearl Primus
17) The 1960s brought social rebellion to the US, and modern dance both mirrored and influenced this (True of False)
True
18) Judson Church in New York City was a popular setting for experimental performances and a hive for which social and artistic movement?
Postmodernism
19) Contact Improvisation was developed in the 1960’s by Steve Paxton and others. It is best known for:
weight sharing, touch, and innovative approaches to lifting.
20) By the 1970’s, modern dance had split into which two camps, which could be described as:
Technical and Anti-Technical
21) This choreographer was one of the first to combine ballet, modern dance, and popular music to create “crossover ballets”:
Twyla Tharp
22) This type of dance is created to exist in a certain place, other than a traditional theater. Typically, the choreographer takes the location into account while planning and creating the piece. Performances, often called installations, can be in urban areas, remote natural settings, or even underwater:
Site-specific
23) AXIS Dance is a dance company for dancers with and without:
Disabilities
24) Has modern dance grown increasingly rebellious or increasingly collaborative with ballet over the past several decades?
Collaborative
