The dance is a poem freed from all the apparatus of the scribe.
- Stephane Mallarme
History
Contemporary dance stems from a global trend at the start of the 20th century. She is part of the breakfrom the tradition of classical ballet with the advent of the dancer and choreographer Vaslav NIJINSKI for the Russian ballets, from the free dance of Isadora DUNCUN then from the current of German expressionist dance with Mary WIGMAN, from modern American dance with Martha GRAHAM and Merce CUNNINGHAM.
In Japan, it is the current of butoh dance which will see its appearance with Hijika TATSUMI and Kazuo OHNO.
Contemporary dance takes shape in France after the modern dance movement introduced by the teaching of the American Alvin NIKOLAIS and introduced by one of his students Carolyn CARLSON in the 1970s.
Pedagogy
The pedagogy of contemporary dance is based on therespect for the anatomy of the student and soundsensory exploration to increase the technicality and bodily expressiveness of the dancer.
Attention is then drawn to:
the pleasure and fluidity of the danced movement
support, balance and weight transfer,
placement and dynamic posture work,
mobility of the spine,
the coordination,
muscle strengthening and relaxation
Procedure
Generally, classes and workshops begin with a warm-up time, sensory and choreographic exploration around a technical theme and end with a time of stretching and self-massage.