-
10,000 BCE
Paleolthic Age
2.5 million years ago to 10,000 BCE -
3000 BCE
Neolithic Age
10,000 BCE to 3,000 BCE -
145 BCE
Ancient Greece and Rome
145 – 30 B.C.E
-period of about 900 years, when ancient Greece and then ancient Rome (first as a Republic and then as an Empire) dominated the Mediterranean area, from about 500 B.C.E. – 400 C.E.
- during this time dance took a turn to drama and acting, we saw dance being preformed in theaters.
- Greek myology played a role into dance, people would dance to praise the Greek gods for example; Zeus, Apollo, and Dionysus. -
1400
Medieval Era
500 to 1400–1500 ce
(Middle ages and dark ages)
- Folk dance (circle and line dances, clapping and spinning steps) -
1500
Early Ballet
Early Ballet was founded in the 15th century.
Noblemen and women were treated to lavish events, especially wedding celebrations, where dancing and music created an elaborate spectacle. Catherine de Medici- queen of France 1547-1559
King Louis XIV- King of france from 1643-1715
Jean-Babtiste de Lully- composer, instrumentalist and dancer
Pierre Beauchamp- French ballet dancer and teacher
Marie de Camargo- ballerina of the Paris Opera -
1500
Sub-Saharan Africa.
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. According to the United Nations, it consists of all African countries and territories that are fully or partially south of the Sahara. -
1500
African Diaspora
African Diaspora is the term commonly used to describe the mass dispersion of peoples from Africa during the Transatlantic Slave Trades, from the 1500s to the 1800s. This Diaspora took millions of people from Western and Central Africa to different regions throughout the Americas and the Caribbean. -
Baroque Era
1600 to 1750
-preceded by the Renaissance era and followed by the Classical era
- Discovery of music (instruments), baroque style spread throughout Europe over the course of the seventeenth century, with notable Baroque composers emerging in Germany, Italy, France, and England.
- Baroque dance, a precursor of classical ballet, was established and developed in France at the court of Louis XIV -
Minstrelsy
The Minstrelsy is defined as an American entertainment form consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing and music. It is the 1st distinctly American theatrical form. -
Romantic Ballet
1800-1850
Romantic Ballet Period was part of a larger movement entitled Romanticism. It was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the 2nd half of the 18th century (1700s) in Europe. Marie Taglioni’s- ballet dancer
August Bournonville- danish ballet master and choreographer
Filippo Taglioni - Italian dancer and choreographer
Carlotta Grisi- Italian ballet dancer -
Classical Ballet
Classical ballet (romantic ballet) system of dance based on formalized movements and positions of the arms, feet, and body designed to enable the dancer to move with the greatest possible agility, control, speed, lightness, and grace.
Important people:
Louis XIV
Pierre Beauchamps
Jean-Georges Noverre
Auguste Vestris
August Bournonville
Marie Taglioni
Marius Petipa
Michel Fokine
Works:
Swan Lake.
The Nutcracker
Giselle
Romeo and Juliet
Don Quixote
Cinderella
La Bayadère
Coppélia -
Thomas D. Rice (the father of blackface)
Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice was an American performer and playwright who performed blackface and used African American vernacular speech, song and dance to become one of the most popular minstrel show entertainers of his time. He is considered the "father of American minstrelsy". -
Tony Pastor
Antonio Pastor was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. He was sometimes referred to as the "Dean of Vaudeville." Wikipedia -
Christy’s Minstrels
The Christy’s Minstrels were an all black performance troupe formed in 1843. Aside from being an all black group, they were instrumental in solidifying the three-act form. They also popularized “the line”- the structured grouping that constituted the 1st act of the 3-act show. -
Ballet Russes
1850-1929
Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company based in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America
Important people:
Sergei Diaghilev
Vaslav Nijinsky
Anna Pavlova
Leon Bakst
Igor Stravinsky
George Balanchine
Works:
The Firebird
Petrushka
The Rite of Spring
Le Chant du rossignol (The Song of the Nightingale)
Jack in the box
Giselle
The dying swan -
Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States fought between the Union and the Confederacy. The central cause of the war was the status of slavery, especially the expansion of slavery into territories acquired as a result of the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican–American War. -
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American escape artist, illusionist, stunt performer and mysteriarch, noted for his escape acts. He first attracted notice in vaudeville in the United States and then as "Harry 'Handcuff' Houdini" on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up. -
Rudolf Laban
He established choreology, the discipline of dance analysis, and invented a system of dance notation, now known as Labanotation or Kinetography Laban. Laban was the first person to develop community dance and he has set out to reform the role of dance education, emphasising his belief that dance should be made available to everyone. -
Early Modern Dance
1880-present day
Important people:
Loie Fuller (1862-1928)
Isadora Duncan (1877-1927)
Ruth St. Denis (1879-1968)
Ted Shawn (1891-1972)
Mary Wigman(1886-1973) Works/school/:
Serpentine Dance (1891)
Fire Dance (1895)
Radha
Egypta (1910)
O-mika (1913)
Denishawn (1915-early 30’s)
Duncan’s philosophy
The Seven Dances of Life (1918)
Totenmal (1930)
Orpheus and Eurydice (1947) -
Vaudeville
Vaudeville is defined as a genre of variety
entertainment prevalent in the U.S. and Canada
from early 1880s-the early 1930s. -
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. KBE was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, The Tramp, and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. -
Classic/1st Generation Modern Dance
started as a rejection of classical ballet techniques, but it is now a recognizable art form that stands on its own.” Modern dance is expression, rather than following a rigid set of postures or technical positions that ballet dancers are trained in. Modern dance movements are considered freeform and fluid, and are often inspired by other dance styles—like African dance, ballet, and folk dance. -
Asadata Dafora
Austin Dafora Horton also known as Asadata Dafora was a Sierra Leonean multidisciplinary musician. He was one of the first Africans to introduce African drumming music to the United States, beginning in the early 1930s
Ostrich Dance (1932)
Kykunkor (The Witch Woman) (1934) -
Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years Heretic (1929)
Lamentation (1930)
Appalachian Spring (1944)
Maple Leaf Rag (1990) -
Doris Humphrey
Doris Batcheller Humphrey was an American dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century.
Humphrey Weidman Company
Day on Earth (1947)
New Dance (1935) -
george burns
George Burns was an American comedian, actor, singer, and writer. He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film, and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three-quarters of a century. -
Neoclassic Ballet (Modern Ballet)
Enrico Cecchetti (1850-1928), Agrippina Vaganova (1879-1951), Antony Tudor (1908-1987), Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996), George Balanchine (1904-1983), Arthur Mitchell (1934-2018), Alonzo King (1952), William Forsythe(1955), Jiri Kylian (1947), Christopher Wheeldon (1973)
Works:
Jardin Aux Lilas (1936), Dark Elegies (1937), The Leaves are Fading (1975), The Four Temperaments (1946), Stars and Stripes (1958)
Jewels (1967), -
Charles Weidman
Charles Weidman was a renowned choreographer, modern dancer and teacher. He is well known as one of the pioneers of modern dance in America. He wanted to break free from the traditional movements of dance forms popular at the time to create a uniquely American style of movement.
Flickers (1941)
Lynch Town (1936)
Opus 51 (1938) -
Kurt Jooss
Kurt Jooss was a famous German ballet dancer and choreographer mixing classical ballet with theatre; he is also widely regarded as the founder of Tanztheater. Jooss is noted for establishing several dance companies, including most notably, the Folkwang Tanztheater, in Essen. -
Cary Grant
Cary Grant was an English-American actor. Known for his transatlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he was one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men from the 1930s until the mid-1960s. Grant was born in Horfield, Bristol, England. -
Katherine Dunham
Katherine Mary Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, creator of the Dunham Technique, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years.
Stormy Weather (1943)
Barrelhouse Blues (1938)
L'ag'ya (1938) -
Alwin Nikolais
(1910-1993) -
Jack Cole
father of theatrical jazz dance -
Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins was an American choreographer, director, dancer, and theater producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. -
Pearl Primus
Pearl Eileen Primus was an American dancer, choreographer and anthropologist. Primus played an important role in the presentation of African dance to American audiences. Early in her career she saw the need to promote African dance as an art form worthy of study and performance
Strange Fruit (1945) -
Merce Cunningham
1919-2009 -
Merce Cunningham
1919-2009 -
Gus Giordano
Gus Giordano, born August Thomas Giordano III, was an American jazz dancer, teacher and choreographer. He performed on Broadway and in theater and television. He taught jazz dance to thousands in North America, Europe, Asia and South America. -
Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George Davis Jr. was an American singer, dancer, actor, vaudevillian, and comedian. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally, and his film career began in 1933. -
Luigi
Eugene Louis Faccuito, known professionally as Luigi, was an American jazz dancer, choreographer, teacher, and innovator who created the jazz exercise technique. The Luigi Warm Up Technique is a training program that promotes body alignment, balance, core strength, and "feeling from the inside." -
Bob Fosse
Robert Louis Fosse was an American dancer, musical-theatre choreographer, actor, theatre director, and filmmaker. -
Paul Taylor
1930-2018 -
Alvin Ailey
1931-1989 -
Yvonne Rainer
1934- -
Trisha Brown
1936-2017 -
Steve Paxton
1939- -
Pina Bausch
(1940-2009)
Philippine "Pina" Bausch was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as Tanztheater. -
Pina Bausch
Philippine "Pina" Bausch was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as Tanztheater. -
Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music -
Mats Ek
Mats Ek is a Swedish dance and ballet choreographer, dancer and stage director. He was the manager of the Cullberg Ballet from 1985 to 1993. -
Liz Lerman
Liz Lerman is an American choreographer and founder of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. Her style of dance-making is characterized by personal story, multi-generational casting, current events, scientific research, humor, public participation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. -
Jiri Killian
Jiří Kylián is a Czech former dancer and contemporary dance choreographer. -
Nikolais Dance Theater Company
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Transitional Moderns and the Post- Modern Period
1950-1970 -
Bill T. Jones
William Tass Jones, known as Bill T. Jones, is an American choreographer, director, author and dancer. He is the co-founder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company -
Ohad Naharin
Ohad Naharin is an Israeli choreographer and contemporary dancer. He served as artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company from 1990; he stepped down in 2018 -
Tensile Involvement
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Merce Cunningham Dance Company
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Mark Morris
Mark William Morris is an American dancer, choreographer and director whose work is acclaimed for its craftsmanship, ingenuity, humor, and at times eclectic musical accompaniments. Morris is popular among dance aficionados, the music world, as well as mainstream audiences -
Alvin Ailey Dance Theater
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Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. -
Butoh
Butoh is a form of Japanese dance theatre that encompasses a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement. Following World War II, butoh arose in 1959 through collaborations between its two key founders Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno -
Post Modern Dance
is a 20th century concert dance form that came into popularity in the early 1960s. While the term "postmodern" took on a different meaning when used to describe dance, the dance form did take inspiration from the ideologies of the wider Postmodern movement, which "sought to deflate what it saw as overly pretentious and ultimately self-serving modernist views of art and the artist -
Revelations
Revelations was one of Ailey’s first pieces and is considered his signature and most famous work. Since its inception it has been in the ACTIVE repertory (except for a short period of time when the company leadership tried to remove it from the repertory and the company lost money, so it came back in). Even now if you go to an Ailey concert, the show always closes with this piece. -
Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker
Anne Teresa, Baroness De Keersmaeker is a contemporary dance choreographer. The dance company constructed around her, Rosas, was in residence at La Monnaie in Brussels from 1992 to 2007 -
West Side Story
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Judson Dance Theater
1962-1964 -
“Click” from Imago
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Trio A
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Mia Michaels
Mia Michaels Melchiona is an American choreographer and judge on the television show So You Think You Can Dance. She has worked with Tom Cruise, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Madonna, Ricky Martin, Prince, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. -
Satisfyin’ Lover
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Cry
This piece was dedicated to Ailey’s mother and to “all the black mothers out there.” -
Pilobolus
Pilobolus is an American modern dance company that began performing in October 1971. Pilobolus has performed over 100 choreographic works in more than 64 countries around the world, and has been featured on the 79th Annual Academy Awards, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. -
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre
Cloud Gate Dance Theater is a modern dance group based in Taiwan, the first of its kind in Taiwan and Asia. It was founded by choreographer Lin Hwai-min in 1973, and later he shared its management with his late protégé, choreographer Lo Man-fei. The troupe was inactive from October 1988 to September 1990. -
The Rite of Spring
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Sankai Juku
Sankai Juku is an internationally known butoh dance troupe. Co-founded by Amagatsu Ushio in 1975, they are touring worldwide, performing and teaching. As of 2010, Sankai Juku had performed in 43 countries and visited more than 700 cities -
Accumulation with Talking plus Water Motor
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Kontakthof
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Glacial Decoy
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Contemporary Moderns
1980- present -
Channels/Inserts
This work was a dance for film piece divided around the building where the studio was located. It was divided into sixteen sections and put together using chance operations. -
Nelken
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Rosas danst Rosas
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“Shadow Dance” from Liturgies
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Crucible
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DV8 Physical Theater
DV8 is a company based in England and is led by Lloyd Newson, an Australian based dancer. The company originally formed in 1986 by an independent collective and dancers who were frustrated with the dance scene at the time. -
In the Middle Somewhat Elevated
In the middle, somewhat elevated, originally commissioned by Rudolf Nureyev in 1987 for the Paris Opera Ballet, is set to a pulsating, electronic soundscape by Thom Willems. ... Exploiting the vestiges of academic virtuosity that still signify "the Classical," it extends and accelerates these traditional figures of ballet. -
L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato
This piece originally premiered in Belgium and is considered to be Morris’s masterpiece. -
Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men
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Achterland (
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The Hard Nut
This piece is Morris’s restaging of The Nutcracker. He’s set it in the 60s/70s and used set design by a graphic novelist and costumes designed in the sensibility the graphic novelists world. -
Strange Fish
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Pond Way
This piece was an exploration of the effects of water and was inspired of Cunningham’s experiences of skipping stones over water as a kid. -
Moon Water
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Still/Here
This piece was created around the idea of dealing with life threatening illness and the possibility of death and the movement was inspired by workshops Jones had with people with terminal illnesses -
Dance for the camera/ Horses Never Lie
Dance for the camera is a genre of dance where emphasis is on the craft and composition of the movement for the camera. Consideration is given to depth of feel, camera angles, distance of camera to the dancers, transition between scenes, etc., as well as to the movement itself -
Cost of Living
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Full Moon
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Ferocious Beauty: Genome
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Sesame Street clip
This clips is a clip of young Morris dancing with some of the puppets from Sesame Street. -
Fondly Do We Hope...Fervently Do We Pray
Jones was commissioned to create the work as a sort of tribute to Lincoln. As Jones explored how to create the work, he chose to look at the humanity of Lincoln rather than the myth/legend and explored the human issues that are important to all of us. One of the clips shows him discussing the creation of the work and the other shows clips of the work. -
Sankai Juku
Sankai Juku is an internationally known butoh dance troupe. Co-founded by Amagatsu Ushio in 1975, they are touring worldwide, performing and teaching. As of 2010, Sankai Juku had performed in 43 countries and visited more than 700 cities -
"PINA"
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The Matter of Origins