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9500 BCE
Paleolithic period
The earliest period of human development and the longest phase of mankind's history. It began about 2 million years ago and ended various places between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago. -
9500 BCE
Neolithic Age/Era/Period
A period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9,500 BC in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age. The Neolithic began with the rise of farming, which produced the "Neolithic Revolution" and ended when metal tools became widespread. There were many forms of dance that rose at this time in locations such as India, Greece, Rome, and China. -
2600 BCE
Ancient Greece and Rome
The Romans used Mimes as their biggest form of entertainment. The mimes were used at Banquets, dinner parties, theatre's and even at death. The Greeks used dancing as their biggest form of entertainment. They also loved competing, hints the Olympic Games. They also created the Pythian Games to show for their most accomplished poets and held annual events to see who could write and produce the finest plays. -
476 BCE
The Midieval Era
The Middle Ages was the period in European history from the collapse of the Roman civilization -
1500
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. -
1500
African Dance
Dances are done as
celebrations at festivals and
funerals, they are used to
compete within the
community, recite history,
proverbs and poetry; they are
also used to encounter gods. -
1500
African Diaspora
The African Diaspora refers to the movement of black Africans and their descendants throughout the world. While not all the African people spread throughout the world because of things they couldn’t control or through force, this leaving of the homelands by Africans traditionally refers to the spreading of the African people through the slave trade. At its height, the African people were being sold and traded in parts of Europe, and all three Americas (South, Central and North). -
1581
Early Ballet
Ballet Comique de la Reine was first performed in 1581 and is regarded as the 1st official ballet. It was directed by Balthazar de Beaujoyeulx. . This first ballet was commissioned by the queen as a part of the wedding celebration of a friend and lasted 5 1/2 hours. King Louis XIV served for 72 years and towards the end, he loved ballet. He practiced it for 18 years until he got old and fat. He opened the Paris Opera Ballet School in 1661. -
Baroque Era
This period is an artistic style that started in Rome. It followed the Renaissance music era -
Romantic Ballet
The 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. -
Filippo Taglioni
The Romantic Ballet Era... He choreographed ballets including the La Sylphide. -
Classical Ballet Period
The classical period was indicated as a response to the decline in popularity of ballet as audiences lost interest in the stories and the desire for escapism emphasized in romantic ballets. Almost everything about this era changed including the story lines and costumes. The rulers at the time were Peter I (Peter the Great) and Empress Anna Ianova -
Marie Taglioni
She is famous for her dancing, she danced in two operas and was the first ballerina on pointe. -
August Bournonville
The Romantic Ballet Era...He had a method named after him called the "Bournonville Method" which is a visible contrast between the quickness of the feet and the grace of the arms and stories are told through an extreme use of dramatic pantomime. -
Thomas D. Rice
Rice was a white comedian who is given the credit for popularizing blackface. Aside from popularizing blackface costume, he introduced the song “Jump Jim Crow” and accompanied the song with the dance. -
Jules Perrot
He was a choreographer and dancer. He created some of the most famous ballets of the 19th century. -
Carlotta Grisi
She was a famous ballerina and especially noted for her part in Giselle. -
Early Modern Dance
Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. -
Alwin Nikolais
In 1948, Nikolais was appointed the
director of the Henry Street director of the Henry Street
Playhouse in 1948 (which was a Playhouse in 1948 (which was a
struggling playhouse). Nikolais struggling playhouse). Nikolais
turned it into a dance company; the turned it into a dance company; the
original name was The Playhouse original name was The Playhouse
Dance Company and later became Dance Company and later became
Nikolais Dance Theatre. -
Merce Cunningham
Cunningham started with the company in 1939. Cunningham started with the company in 1939.
He danced with the company for 6 years and He danced with the company for 6 years and
spent much of that time as a soloist in her pieces.spent much of that time as a soloist in her pieces. -
Neoclassical Ballet
Neoclassical ballet is a style that is primarily credited with coming to fruition in America. It is a ballet style that uses traditional ballet vocabulary, but is less rigid than classical ballet. The style is a sophisticated, but sleekly modern style that retains the pointe shoe aesthetic, but leaves behind the drama and pantomime of the full length story ballets. -
Paul Taylor
Created movement from watching people
move through their daily lives.
Made clearly weighted bodies seem
ultimately graceful
His works were compared to classical Ballet -
Modern Dance
Modern dance is a way to express yourself. This type of dance has no rules, meaning that you can dance however you want to dance. It started in the 1900's and lasted into the 2000's -
Alvin Ailey
His company is unique because even though Ailey has been dead since
the 80s, the company is still going strong. In the modern dance world, it’s the 80s, the company is still going strong. In the modern dance world, it’s
common for a dance company to disband once the creator dies. But, common for a dance company to disband once the creator dies. -
Modern/Post Modern
We’ll start this lesson out with a couple of artists that we will refer to as the “2nd
generation moderns “ or “transitional moderns.” These are not formal names for these generation moderns “ or “transitional moderns.” These are not formal names for these
artists, nor is there really a formal period in the development of modern dance titled the artists, nor is there really a formal period in the development of modern dance titled the
“2nd generation” or “transitional period" the second gen -
Bill T. Jones
He explores issues that can relate to humanity at large, things like loss, hurt, anger, etc. These explorations happen through the lenses of racism, sexuality, gender roles and illness and his work can be somewhat controversial, but relatable to many.
His works are often infused with multimedia elements like video and text and often have a biographical or autobiographical flair. -
Mark Morris
owned The Mark Morris Dance Group - 1980 and White Oak Dance Project- 1990. He created works for The American Ballet Theater and The San Francisco Ballet -
Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker
Intensify the relation between dance and music, build a repertory, launch a dance school. -
The Contemporary Period
Toward the late 70s and early 80s, the pendulum started to swing away from the philosophies and explorations of the postmodern artists. But rather than swing all the way back to where it was during the 30s-40s, the genre found itself in a sort of hybrid between the two.