The Vision of Modern Dance - in the Words of Its Creators by Brown, Naomi, and Charles - Book Report/Review Example

Modern Dance Introduction Music and dance have both evolved to be what they are today. The evolution story has been an inheritance story from one generation to another where each of man’s generation to this day has come into being, embraced the art, added a little new technique, and passed down the development of the art to the next generation. The modern day dance is a split genre of different dance styles and techniques governed by the development in the music genre. Additionally, it is worth asserting that the modern society will also eventually pass down the art to the next, which will also add their bit before passing on to the next. In brief music and dance will never die, they will simply keep transforming from one unique genre to another as has been witnessed through time. Music and dance are arts, just like in any other, the two are developed through practice, it is in practice that dancers and choreographers develop newer techniques and style of dancing. In their book, The Vision of Modern Dance: In the Words of Its Creators, Brown, Naomi, and Charles tell of this development and dance history through evolution. They bring the book out in an articulate manner, one in which some of the most established choreographers of the world share their experiences of their interaction with the art. Ruth Denis became an inspiration to many upcoming dancers. Following on the teachings and principals of Francois, Ruth developed through the dance carrier to become an admiration of many. As she developed, she advanced both her principles and those of fostered by François, she could from time to time bring additions to Francois work but in most cases she worked with them as they were. In her performance, Ruth took onto teaching dance, this was the only way she felt the beautiful art could be passed on to the next generation thereby safeguarding its longevity. One much endeared student of Ruth was a man known as Ted Shawn. Ted had idolized Ruth and her friend Isadora, in 1914, Ted, as a bold but young dancer auditioned for Ruth and later became her partner in a number of dance concert across the United States of America. Their relationship changed in 1915 when Ted proposed and married Ruth. The duo were to later play an integral role in the growth of dance and the development of the modern day dance. The two started up a dance school, Dansishawn. The school admitted many American dancers to be and was dominated by theatrical American dancers (Brown, Naomi, and Charles 7). Among key classes taught at the school were ballet, oriental dance, and yoga. Today most people associate the spread of yoga dance to the Asians but the dance and practice has stayed in the United States of America for more than two hundred years with the help of Ruth Denis and her husband Ted Shawn. The types of dances taught by the couple at their school needed intense physical fitness, a feature that gave more relevance to the yoga dance. Yoga helped train the dancers breathing abilities. It helps one control his or her breathing depending on his or needs of either energy or oxygen. Additionally, yoga in itself is a dance enjoyed by various people across the globe. It blends well with slow rhythmic music that requires a lot of physical expression. Oriental dance and the ballet on the other hand needed physical exercise as well. It took a lot of practice and training for one to perfect a skill in dancing, the school lasted fort fifteen years in the country but its effect were far felt and the impact created by the two in the development of the modern day dance is evident to this day. The school aided the creation of many other new dancing style most of which led to the creation of the modern day dance (Brown, Naomi, and Charles 5). Mark Morris was another iconic dance figure in the United States of America. His contribution to the developments of modern dance is in deed speaks for itself. Born in 1956 in Seattle, Washington, Morris grew up to become a dance enthusiast and an accomplished dancer whose styles were acknowledged for their humor, craftsmanship, ingenuity and electric. In 1990, Morris and his friend Mikhail Baryshnikov in a partnership started a dance project, which they named Oak Wood Dance Project. In this company, the two trained upcoming dancers and developed new dance styles. The outfit became known for performances in ballet among other dance genres known to man today. Morris became a renowned ballet choreographer mostly associated with the creation of the San Francisco ballet. In his time, he received a number of endorsements from other established ballet institutions such as the Paris Opera ballet amidst many others. His inspiration to create dance style was in his lifestyle. From childhood Morris had always wanted to become a dancer, when this dream eventually materialized Morris began living his dream and did not tire in the process of blending different dance styles to always come up with newer better and more innovative dance styles. Another great contributor to the development of ballet and the modern dance in general was one Merce Cunningham. He had a passion for music and decided to join the industry as a dancer; he later became a choreographer and a producer of dances. His entry into the industry had profound effect, unlike very many dancers who enjoyed the stardom all by themselves, Cunningham joined the industry in collaborations and kept doing collaborations with other artists until he was certain of the hic ups of the industry. This way, the dancer impacted more people since the fans of his collaborators would always enjoy his performances in such music. To further touch the lives of many others and to keep the spirit of dance flowing, he started his own school of ballet among other famous dance styles. The Merce Cunningham Dance Company in Black Mountain College produced a number of dancers of its time, the school enrolled thousands of students off all whom strived to prove the limitlessness of human body movements. The achivemnets of such people and their role in the development of modern dance make most people rightly believe that modern day dance is entirely American affair. This could be true given the great role played by Americans in the growth of music. However, other regions of the world had their own cultures among which a key cultural practice was dancing. Most of the early times American choreographers simply travelled through the world, studies the dance patterns of other people, and trained it at home, they fused most of their foreign lessons to their indigenous dance styles, and music genres to develop the modern day dance. The salsa dancing style originated from Spain, early American dancers such as Mark Morris copied this, and Ruth Denis who fused it with the indigenous American dances to create ballet among other. Culture gives great freedom to humans. No one can claim ownership of culture. Furthermore, culture is never static. With the development of the modern day society, some of which have enabled the world to become a global village, culture integration became a lot easier. Such developments have aided the development of dance by making learning easier. In retrospect, the modern day dance has traveled through time to be what it is today. A number of dedicated choreographers and dance enthusiasts have always developed through time with the rise of every generation to ensure that they inherit knowledge from the previous generation and fused it wither their internal knowledge to develop a current dance. The future of music and dance is thus certain, however, the direction it is likely to take still remains a little blurred not because the dance may diffuse a way but because the society today has very many chirographers and dance enthusiast with each of them specializing in his own art. This leaves the scene marred with confusion. The great minds such as Ruth Denis and Marry Wignman had died and so did their schools. The existences of schools help create order in any discipline thus the great success registered in the art in the late 1880s and early 1990s. Work Cited Brown, Jean M, Naomi Mindlin, and Charles H. Woodford. The Vision of Modern Dance: In the Words of Its Creators. Pennington, N.J: Princeton Book Co, 1997. 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