Timeline

By marthacress
  • Period: 100,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE

    Paleolithic Period

    *100,000 = 2 million years ago (will not let me put in millions)
  • 9500 BCE

    Neolithic Period

  • Period: 3600 BCE to 500

    Ancient Period

  • Period: 1100 BCE to 256 BCE

    Zhou Dynasty

    Dances became more formalized and purposeful
  • Period: 206 BCE to 220

    Han Dynasty

    A formal agency was created that was in charge of the empire’s music and dance. The agency actively gathered, recorded, researched, refined, and further developed as many dances from around the empire as they could. *220 AD
  • Period: 400 to 1500

    Medieval Period

    *Started with the fall of the Roman Empire and ended with the start of the Renaissance Dark & Middle Ages: Black Plague
  • Period: 618 to 907

    Tang Dynasty

    Dancers trained heavily in developed academies and court performances were extravagant and over the top.
  • Period: 1300 to

    Dance Mania

    Involved groups of people dancing erratically, sometimes thousands at a time. The mania affected men, women, and children, who danced until they collapsed from exhaustion.
  • 1374

    First Outbreak of Dance Mania

    In July of 1374, in Aix-la-Chapelle, a group of people were seen to dance uncontrollably in the streets, foaming at the mouth and screaming of wild visions. They kept on dancing until they collapsed from exhaustion, but even then they flailed about in agony until forcefully restrained.
  • Period: 1400 to

    Renaissance Period

    Started in Florence, Italy
  • 1500

    African Dance

    Refers to the dances of Sub-Saharan Africa. Used to teach social patterns and values (the dances help people work, mature, praise or criticize members of the community). Utilizes polyrhythm: The shoulders, chest, pelvis, arms, legs, etc. move with different rhythms at the same time.
  • Period: 1500 to

    African Diaspora

    The movement of black Africans and their descendants throughout the world. This resulted in the spreading of African culture throughout the world, as well as a blending of African cultures with the culture of the countries the people were moved to. This cultural dispersion and mixing included the dances. The dances of the African people were instrumental in creating a number of dances/movement styles. These styles range from tap and jazz to the rumba and samba to capoeira.
  • 1518

    Dance Mania Peak

    In Straussburg; Dancers filled the streets around the clock, accompanied by musicians.
  • Period: Apr 13, 1519 to

    Catherine de Medici

    One of the daughters of the Medici family and was wealthy.
    Married to be Queen and brought the arts with her.
    Gained more power through this role by acting as regent for her son who was crowned at ten years old.
  • Period: 1535 to

    Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx

    Directed/choreographed three dance entries in Ballet La Comique de La Reine
  • Period: 1580 to

    Baroque Era

  • Oct 15, 1581

    Ballet La Comique de La Reine

    Often referred to as the first ballet de cour.
    Balthazar de Beaujoyeulx directed/choreographed three dance entries in Ballet La Comique de La Reine.
    The storyline was based on the Circe fable from Homer’s Odyssey.
  • Period: to

    Minstrelsy

    An American entertainment form consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing and music. It is the 1st distinctly American theatrical form. 3-act structure. Characters: Slave (Jim Crow), the dandy (Zip Coon), the mammy, the “old darky”, the mulatto wench, the black soldier.
  • Period: to

    Pierre Beauchamp

    King Louis XIV’s dance teacher, composer, and servant.
    He developed the five-foot positions, and that ballet takes place in a turned-out position.
    Primary pupil was King Louis XIV and he taught him for over 22 years.
  • Period: to

    Jean-Baptiste de Lully

    Music instructor/director for King Louis XIV.
    The Royal Academy of Music.
    Died by stabbing his foot accidentally while getting frustrated during a dance rehearsal. The wound got infected which led to his death.
  • Period: to

    King Louis XIV

    Ruled for 72 years
    "Louis the Great" & "The Sun King"

  • Ballet de la Nuit

    Role when 14-year-old King Louis XIV got his nickname at "The Sun King" as he represented the rising sun.
    Lasted 12-13 hours.
  • Period: to

    Mlle de La Fontaine

    French Ballerina.
    Regarded as the first female professional ballet dancer.

  • 1st Professional Theaters

    Pantomimes: one-act works that replaced spoken dialogue with wordless clowning and interpolated songs. Ballad Operas: comic plays peppered with popular ballads (songs) that had been given new satirical lyrics.

  • Academie Royale de Musique (Paris Opera Ballet)

    Founded by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra, and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the Académie Royale de Musique

  • Tap Dance

  • Period: to

    Marie de Camargo

    Student of Francoise Prevost was known for her technical technique and shortening the skirts to be able to see the legs (costume reforms).
    First-person to execute the entrechat quatre.
  • Period: to

    Jean George Noverre

    French dancer, ballet master, and one of the leading advocates of Ballet d’Action.
    Created 150 ballets and none of his ballets are being performed today.
    “Lettre sur la danse et sur les ballets” was the name of the treatise he wrote, and it was published in 1760.
  • Period: to

    Filippo Taglioni

    Choreographer.
    La Sylphide.

  • Native born/American born "musicals"

    Not borrowed from Britain.

  • Pointe Shoe

    To make the dancers appear weightless.
    First was the "flying machine".
  • Period: to

    Marie Taglioni

    Technique was not up to the standards that would impress the Viennese audiences so her father created a 6-month training regimen where she would hold positions for 100 counts
  • Period: to

    August Bournonville

    Danish ballet master & choreographer. Started his training at 8.
    Created more than 50 ballets.
    La Slyphide, Napoli, Le Conservatoire, The Kermesse in Bruges, and A Folk Tale.
  • Period: to

    Thomas D. Rice

    Father of Blackface. 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
  • Period: to

    Fanny Elssler

    Pagan Dancer
  • Period: to

    Jules Perrot

    Choreographer.
    Pas de Quatre, La Esmeralda, Ondine, and Giselle.
  • Period: to

    Fanny Cerrito

    Trained in the ballet school of the San Carlo opera house, under the supervision of Salvatore Taglioni.
    Made her first stage appearance in 1832 and quickly established a reputation in Italy as a future star of the ballet.
  • Period: to

    Marius Petipa

    Almost single-handedly revamped and reinvigorated the ballet, he restaged many of the ballets created during the Romantic Era and created many more. He is important to Classical Ballet History because many of his works are still being performed today.
  • Period: to

    Lucile Grahn

    At age 10 became the protegee of August Bournonville
  • Period: to

    Carlotta Grisi

    Giselle.
    Trained at the ballet school of Teatro alla Scale in Milan.
    Was Prima Ballerina of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theaters in St. Petersburg from 1850 to 1853.
  • Period: to

    Master Juba

    William Henry Lane. African-American dancer active in the 1840s. He was one of the first black performers in the United States to play onstage for white audiences and the only one of the era to tour with a white minstrel group. Diss. ?s 17.

  • La Sylphid

    Storyline: An impossible love between a human and a spirit.
    Choreographer: Filippo Taglioni.
    Principle Ballerina: Marie Taglioni and Joseph Mazilier

  • Cult of the Ballerina

    Phrase that characterizes what is kin to the hero-worship of athletes of women in ballet during this time period

  • Giselle

    Storyline: Romantic tale of innocent love and betrayal.
    Choreographers: Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot.
    Principle Ballerina: Carlotta Grisi

  • Christy's Minstrels

    All black performance troupe. Instrumental in solidifying the 3-act form.
  • Period: to

    Enrico Cecchetti

    Italian ballet dancer, mime, and founder of the Cecchetti method
  • Period: to

    Loie Fuller

    American actress and dancer who was a pioneer in modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques. Though technically she did not have a dance background and her way into dance was an accident. She is important to modern dance history because her dances were improvised and experimented with costumes and lighting.

  • The Black Crook

    Credited as the first modern musical.

  • Coppelia

    Originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon.
    A young boy becomes infatuated with a life-size doll.
  • Period: to

    Sergei Diaghilev

    Ballets Russes founder
  • Period: to

    Isadora Duncan

    American Dancer. Rebelled against the movement of ballet and that it was harmful to the body. She thought the steps were set to the music they were stale and lackluster. We know she was rebelling against ballet because she thought ballet was harmful to the body. She thought the body was beautiful and wanted to show the natural beauty to others.
  • Period: to

    Bill "Bojangles" Robinson

    Best known and the most highly paid African-American entertainer in the United States during the first half of the 20th century. His long career mirrored changes in American entertainment tastes and technology. Broke 2 act Vaudeville rule. Performed with Shirley Temple and held her hand (unheard of). Credited with bringing tap movement to the balls of feet, making it lighter and cleaner and allowed for more improvisation. Invented the stair dance. Harlem school closed for his funeral.
  • Period: to

    Ruth St. Denis

    American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art. She was the co-founder of the American Denishawn School of Dancing.
  • Period: to

    Agrippina Vaganova

    Russian ballet teacher who developed the Vaganova method – the technique which derived from the teaching methods of the old Imperial Ballet School under the Premier Maître de Ballet Marius Petipa throughout the mid to late 19th century
  • Period: to

    Rudolf von Laban

    Austro-Hungarian dance artist and theorist. He is considered as one of the pioneers of modern dance in Europe as the "Founding Father of the Expressionist Dance" in Germany. "Dance farms". Labanotation a system of notation used to record movement.

  • Buck and Wing

    Combination of the brushing and shuffling of the levee dancers and the clogs, jigs, reels, and hornpipes (an English pantomime mimicking sailors’ duties while patting feet to a tune).
  • Period: to

    Vaudeville

    A genre of variety entertainment prevalent in the U.S. and Canada. Inspired by concert saloons, the minstrelsy, freak shows, dime museums, and burlesque shows. Tony Pastor is responsible for creating "family-friendly" shows. 12-20 unrelated acts. Declined due to other forms of entertainment, mainly talking film.
  • Period: to

    Michel Fokine

    Created Acis et Galatee and The Dying Swan. Joined Ballets Russes in 1909, but left in 1912 because of Nijinsky.
  • Period: to

    Anna Pavlova

    Performed in The Dying Swan, La Camargo, Le Roi Candaule, Marcobomba, and The Sleeping Beauty. Russian prima ballerina and principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballet Russe.
  • Period: to

    Mary Wigman

    German dancer and was muscular. When dancing she wore masks to let the forces take course. She was important because she rejected formalized technique and focused more on expression of emotion. She also used improvisation as a tool. Also, a pioneer of expressionist dance, dance therapy, and movement training without pointe shoes.
  • Period: to

    Vaslav Nijinsky

    Choreographed Lapres-midi d’un faune, Le Sacre du Printemps, Till Eulenspiegel. Joined in 1909. Sergei Diaghilev’s lover.

  • Sleeping Beauty

  • Period: to

    Asadata Dafora

    Sierra Leonean multidisciplinary musician. Knew 17 dialects. Accident into dance world (night club). Created Shogolo Oloba (Federal Theatre African Dance Troupe and Asadata Dafora Horton and his African Dancers) in NYC to portray African culture in a complex and sophisticated light. Productions called "dance-dramas" bc included narrative & song with the dance.

  • Serpentine Dance

    Loie Fuller. Rotating gel lights for changing dress colors.
  • Period: to

    Bronislava Nijinska

    Created a solo role of Papillon for herself in Carnaval and helped brother Vaslov with The Rite of Spring
  • Period: to

    Ted Shawn

    One of the first notable male pioneers of American modern dance. Along with creating the Denishawn School with former wife Ruth St. Denis he was also responsible for the creation of the well-known all-male company Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers.

  • The Nutcracker

  • Period: to

    Hanya Holm

    Known as one of the “Big Four” founders of American modern dance. She was a dancer, choreographer, and dance educator.
  • Period: to

    Martha Graham

    American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide.
  • Period: to

    Martha Graham

    American modern dancer and choreographer. Graham's technique had contractions as the foundation, release and the spiral (twisting of the torso around the spine) were the other two elements.

  • Swan Lake

  • Fire Dance

    Loie Fuller. Originally performed at the Follies. Floor lights under her to make it seem she was on fire.
  • Period: to

    Oscar Hammerstein II

    Worked with Richard Rogers.
  • Period: to

    Doris Humphrey

    American dancer and choreographer. Company with Charles Weidman. "Fall and recovery"
  • Period: to

    Fred Astaire

    Partnered with sister Adele early on and created Funny Face. Later partnered with Ginger Rogers. Credited with creating the stationary camera and single shot.

  • Two-colored Rule

    Forbade black performers from performing solos, so most acts were duets. Broken by Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
  • Period: to

    Kurt Jooss

    Ballet dancer and choreographer mixing classical ballet with theatre
  • Period: to

    Charles Weidman

    Renowned choreographer, modern dancer, and teacher. Company with Doris Humphrey.
  • Period: to

    Bubbles

    Duo of Buck and Bubbles. Played character Sportin'Life in "Porgy and Bess". Father of rhythm tap.
  • Period: to

    Richard Rogers

    Worked with Oscar Hammerstein II.

  • Babes in Toyland

  • The Wizard of Oz

  • Period: to

    Buck

    Duo of Buck and Bubbles.
  • Period: to

    George Balanchine

    Studied at Imperial School when he was 9. Choreographer for Ballet Russes. Met Lincoln Kirsten and that was when he came to America. Choreography was not tied to the ballerina or decor but tied to the movement. Movement related to the music. Rejected the romantic and theatrical ballet. Movement and music important things when creating. Deep plie. Works: Apollo, Prodigal Son (1934), Stars and Stripes (1958), Jewels (1967)
  • Period: to

    Anges de Mille

    Wanted to be an actor but was told she wasn't pretty enough, switched to dance then told she didn't have a dancer body. Taught herself choreography by watching film stars on the set of her father’s movies. Her work often reflected the angst and turmoil of the characters, not just the technique.

  • Ziegfeld Follies

    Vaudeville
  • Period: to

    Lincoln Kirsten

    Never a dancer. Important to American Ballet History because he saw Ballet Russes and became determined to bring ballet to the U.S. and open a school.
  • Period: to

    Ballets Russes

  • The Dying Swan

    Solo for Ana Pavlova
  • Period: to

    Anthony Tudor

    Was not a ballet dancer, but a clerk. Ballets are thoughtful and psychological. Fusion of movements and not a series of separate dances that could be performed independently. Works: Lilac Garden (1936), Dark Elegies (1937), The Leaves are Fading (1975)

  • Isadorables

    Group of six young girls, Anna Denzler, Maria-Theresa Kruger, Irma Erich-Grimme, Elizabeth Milker, Margot Jehl, and Erica Lohmann, who danced under the instruction of Isadora Duncan. Their nickname was given to them by the French poet Fernand Divoire.
  • Period: to

    Katherine Dunham

    African-American dancer and choreographer. Dunham’s technique is a blend of ballet, modern and Caribbean movement. The Caribbean movements included movement in the spine and torso and polyrhythmic body movement. Negro Dance Group, then changed to the Katherine Dunham Dance Company.
  • Period: to

    Alwin Nikolais

    American choreographer. Performing career being as an organist accompanying silent films and his dance training began at Bennington College after seeing Mary Wigman perform.
  • Period: to

    Ginger Rogers

    Partnered with Fred Astaire and did not become famous until then.

  • Afternoon of the Faun

  • Period: to

    Gene Kelly

    Cover Girl shot him into stardom. (Discussion ?s 16)

  • The Rite of Spring

  • Hexentanz (Witch Dance)

    Mary Wigman
  • Period: to

    Fayard Antonio Nicholas

    Nicholas Brothers.
  • Period: to

    Denishawn

    Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn's school they created together

  • Buck and Bubbles

    First black group to perform at Radio City Music Hall.
  • Period: to

    Merce Cunningham

    American dancer and choreographer. Technique Modern up & Ballet down: Tends to utilize elements that he borrowed from Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman like contraction and release and unaligned torse, but the feet are quick and precise with ballet lines with exact execution. Believed "classic" modern dancers were overly dramatic and that dance should be about the movement and the movement alone.
  • Period: to

    Margot Fonteyn

  • Period: to

    Pearl Primus

    American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. She realized her dream of becoming a medical researcher would be unfulfilled due to racial discrimination. Primus got help from the National Youth Administration and they gave her a job working backstage in the wardrobe department for American Dances. A spot for a dancer became available and they hired her as an understudy. In that role, she discovered dance and her abilities.
  • Period: to

    Neoclassical Ballet

  • Period: to

    Harold Llyod Nicholas

    Nicholas Brothers.

  • The Charleston

  • Period: to

    Vitaphone

    Made it possible for films to transition from silent to talking.

  • The Jazz Singer

    1st full-length feature to use recorded song and dialogue.

  • Showboat

    Considered to be the earliest musical with the modern recipe. It is considered this because it had an integrated book and score and had dramatic themes told through music, dialogue, setting, and movement. The first stage musical to be fully integrated.
  • Period: to

    Bob Fosse

    American dancer, musical-theatre choreographer, actor, theatre director, and filmmaker.

  • Apollo

  • Period: to

    Humphrey Weidman Company

  • Heretic

    Martha Graham. Made for 12 women and represents ideas of acceptance.

  • Lamentation

    Martha Graham. One of her most famous pieces.
  • Period: to

    Nicholas Brothers

    Performers at Cotton Club in 1932. George Balanchine invited them to perform in "Babes in Arms" in 1937. Epitomized flash tap.
  • Period: to

    Classic Modern

  • Period: to

    Paul Taylor

    American dancer and choreographer. Created movement from watching people move through their daily lives.
  • Period: to

    Jacob's Pillow

    *Still used today || Founded by Ted Shawn. Considered one of the most prestigious summer training grounds for dancers.
  • Period: to

    Alvin Ailey

    African-American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Employed artists on artistic talent and integrity.

  • Ostrich Dance

    Asadata Dafora
  • Period: to

    Astaire and Rogers

    Did 10 movies together.

  • Kykunkor (The Witch Woman)

    Asadata Dafora. Story of a bridegroom who was cursed by a witch doctor and the bridegroom attempts to remove the curse. The piece is considered "the first opera presented in the U.S. with authentic African dances and music, performed in an African tongue by a mainly African-born cast."
  • Period: to

    Arther Mitchell

    Leading dancer of NYC Ballet. Wanted to demonstrate that blacks are capable of excelling in classical ballet. Important to American Ballet History b/c he did Creole Giselle which demonstrated a shifted in ballet that was accessed by nonwhite and middle-class dancers and patrons. First African American dancer to be granted any right to join any ballet company and first African American dancer to be promoted to principal dancer (opened the door for other African Americans to dance).

  • New Dance

    Doris Humphrey. Part of a dance trilogy that explored human relationships. One section was choreographed by Charles Weidman.

  • Porgy and Bess

    The cast was 100% classically trained black singers and as such, was not widely accepted in the U.S. at first; it was not considered a legitimate work until 1976. Currently, though it is in many opera house repertoires and is performed internationally.
  • Period: to

    Yvonne Rainer

    *Still alive today || "No manifesto"

  • Lynch Town

    Charles Weidman. Part of a large suite of dances. Focused on a group of people responding with savagery to a lynching.
  • Period: to

    Trisha Brown

    American choreographer and dancer, and one of the founders of the Judson Dance Theater. Also created Grand Union (1970) and Trisha Brown Dance Company (1970).

  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

  • Opus 51

    Charles Weidman. No story but based on the principle of finding joy and elation in movement.

  • Barrelhouse Blues

    Katherine Dunham. Considered one of her first American works. About a "beat old woman who goes to a dance to recapture her youth".

  • L'ag'ya

    Katherine Dunham. Her first full evening-length piece. The movement was a blend of ballet, modern dance, and traditional folk and social dance forms such as the habanera (Cuba), the majumba (Brazil), and the mazouk, the béguine, and the ag’ya (Martinique).
  • Period: to

    Rudolf Nureyev

  • Period: to

    Steve Paxton

    *Still alive today || Experimental dancer and choreographer. His early background was in gymnastics. Created Contact Improvisation.

  • Broadway Tap

    Classified by tuxedos, top hats, and canes, great use of the upper body as well as the lower body, and a great deal of traveling great distances around the stage. As well as “Class” and “flash” acts.
  • Period: to

    Rodgers and Hammerstein

    Oklahoma, The King and I, South Pacific, The Sound of Music.
  • Period: to

    The Golden Age of Musicals

  • Period: to

    Pina Bausch

    Theories: Works were a mixture of dance and theater and often included extravagant sets, props, and text/dialogue to fully set the mood and create the whole; Felt that the audience should be challenged mentally and emotionally through the work they view; Felt that art is a vehicle for social criticism. Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. “Tanztheater” refers to emancipation from mere balletic routines and the complete freedom to choose one's means of expression.
  • Period: to

    Natalia Makarova

    *Still alive today

  • Flickers

    Charles Weidman. A comedy dance that was a parody of silent films.
  • Period: to

    Twyla Tharp

    *Still alive || 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.

  • Rodeo

    Choreo by de Mille. Chosen due to her choreo in Oklahoma. Originally created for Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo. The story was about a tomboy who wanted to find love but was an outcast in the community because she didn’t dress like a girl or hang out with the girls.

  • Stormy Weather

    Katherine Dunham. Based on the life of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Stair performance from Nicholas Brothers.

  • Oklahoma

    Considered to be the first musical of the Golden Age. Finished integrating all the aspects of musical theatre- cohesive plot, songs that furthered the action of the story, and dances that advanced the plot and development of the characters.

  • Dream Ballet

    First created in Oklahoma by Agnes de Mille.

  • On the Town

    Displayed Americana. Was based on a ballet called Fancy Free and is about 3 sailors on leave for the day and their adventures exploring New York City.

  • Cover Girl

    Gene Kelly

  • Appalachian Spring

    Martha Graham and was made in collaboration with American composer Aaron Copland.

  • Strange Fruit

    Pearl Primus. About lynching. Sound score was originally a poem by Abel Meeropol.

  • Carousel

    Choreo by de Mille

  • Anchors Aweigh

    Story of 2 sailors, on leave in Hollywood, who gets recruited by the police to convince a little boy who keeps running away to go home back to his aunt. When they meet the little boy's aunt, they lie to her and tell her they know the director she wants to get an audition with because they are trying to impress her. Tom and Jerry clip.

  • Cave of the Heart

    Martha Graham
  • Period: to

    Gregory Hines

    In The Hines Kids, The Hines Brothers, and Hines, Hines and Dad. Most well-known role of "Jelly Roll' in "Jelly's Last Jam". Starred in "Tap". Co-star with Mikhail Baryshnikov in "White Nights". "The Gregory Hines Show". Reoccuring role in "Will & Grace". Taught Savion Glover.

  • Brigadoon

    Choreo by de Mille

  • Day on Earth

    Doris Humphrey. Explored humanity- the cycles of birth, love, work, loss, companionship, death, etc.
  • Period: to

    Jiří Kylián

    *Still alive today || Czech former dancer and contemporary dance choreographer
  • Period: to

    Liz Lerman

    *Still alive || Community Dance. The Dance Exchange. Liz Lerman Toolbox. The core element in choreo is the community. Now at ASU.
  • Period: to

    Mikhail Baryshnikov

    *Still alive today

  • South Pacific

    Explored racial issues through the stories of two couples: an American nurse stationed at a U.S. Naval base during WWII and an expatriate French plantation owner (she struggles to accept his biracial children) and a U.S. Lieutenant and an Asian woman.

  • Gentleman Prefer Blondes

    Choreo by de Mille
  • Period: to

    William Forsythe

    *Still alive today || American dancer and choreographer

  • Guys and Dolls

  • Cinderella

  • Period: to

    Post-Modern Period

  • Paint Your Wagon

    Choreo by de Mille

  • An American in Paris

    Story of an American painter living in a starving artists community in Paris and his adventures trying to get his work sold and pursue love. Dream ballet.

  • Alice in Wonderland

  • The King and I

    Explored racial issues. Racial issues are explored through the idea that Anna has many incidents of culture shock and learns how to accept and love those who are different. Additionally, she and the king develop a romantic love for one another- though it always remains unexplored, which called into question multiracial relationships.

  • Singin' in the Rain

    Gene Kelly. Based in the transition of films from silent to talking.
  • Period: to

    Bill T. Jones

    *Still alive || American choreographer, director, author, and dancer. Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company with Arnie Zane (Life Partner). Explores 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. Work infused with multimedia elements like video and text and often has a biographical or autobiographical flair.
  • Period: to

    Gelsey Kirkland

    *Still alive today || American ballerina

  • Tensile Involvement

    Alwin Nikolais

  • Peter Pan

  • White Christmas

  • The Girl in Pink Tights

    Choreo by de Mille

  • Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

    About seven brothers who live in the mountains. Adam, the oldest, comes to town to get supplies and meets a woman who marries him after a short courtship. When she moves in with him, she quickly realizes that she must work to “civilize” the brothers. The boys meet town women at a barn raising. They later kidnap them and cause an avalanche. The girls are stuck in the mountains with the boys until the snow melts and all the time spent causes them to fall in love with the boys and marry.

  • The Lady and the Tramp

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    DJ Kool Herc

    *Still alive || Clive Campbell. Father of hip-hop. Began playing hard funk records of the sort typified by James Brown. Also began to isolate the instrumental portion of the record which emphasized the drum beat and switch from one break to another. This formed the basis of hip-hop music. Herc’s announcements and exhortations to dancers helped lead to the spoken accompaniment now known as rapping. Called the dancers “break-boys” and “break-girls”, or b-boys and b-girls for short.

  • My Fair Lady

  • Period: to

    Mark Morris

    *Still alive || Theories: Uses a broad mix of movements that range from everyday movement to folk dance, to articulated movement and pointe work; Treats men and women as equals in choreographic terms; he also works with many body types and his dancers come in all shapes and sizes; Morris’s work is often quirky and even kitschy but can also be extremely formal; he mixes the serious with the humor in ways that are unexpected and often surprising.

  • The Music Man

  • The Sound of Music

    Explored issues of the Nazis and their takeover of Austria prior to WWII.

  • Sleeping Beauty

  • Revelations

    Alvin Ailey. One of his first pieces and considered his signature and most famous work.

  • Hoofing

    Considered to be more of a street style of tapping that focuses more on complex foot patterns and rhythms and less on the upper body. The sounds are heavier due to the dancers dancing into the ground rather than skimming across the top and it tends to not move across the stage as much.

  • Soft Shoe

    A style that is done without the metal pieces on the bottom of the shoes and is often called the “Sand Dance” because the dancers often danced on small bits of sand where the friction of the sand and ground creates the sound rather than the taps.
  • Period: to

    Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker

    *Still alive || Rosas Dance Company. Beyonce scandal.

  • West Side Story

  • Period: to

    Judson Dance group

    Performed at the Judson Memorial Church. Taking Robert Dunn composition classes.

  • "Click" from Imago

    Alwin Nikolais

  • The Fiddler on the Roof

    Explored religious issues. (Jewish)

  • Mary Poppins

  • Trio A

    Yvonne Rainer. Section of a larger piece entitled The Mind is a Muscle. It was one short dance made of one long-phrase. It questioned the aesthetic goals of postmodern dance, and the intention was to remove objects from the dance while simultaneously retaining a workmanlike approach of task-based performance.

  • Cabaret

    Bob Fosse

  • Urban Dance

    Late 60s/early 70s

  • Satisfyin' Lover

    Steve Paxton. The piece was both an exploration of Paxton’s interest in pedestrian movement and in the general public participating in dance as dancers.

  • Jungle Book

  • Hair

    Explored homosexuality and sexuality in general, drugs, the Vietnam War, questioned/made fun of the government, and contained a nude scene. It's about a 1960s “tribe,” essentially a group of long-haired, politically active, hippie/counter-culture youth who are questioning the Vietnam draft. One of the members has been drafted and he’s debating whether to dodge the draft or just give in to the wishes of his conservative family.

  • Oliver!

  • Disco Music

    Late 60s/early 70s.

  • Sweet Charity

  • Waaking

  • Cry

    Alvin Ailey. Dedicated to his mother and to "all the black mothers out there."

  • Jesus Christ Superstar

  • Pilobolus

    Named after a phototropic fungus. Founded by a group out of Dartmouth College.

  • Cloud Gate Dance Theatre

    Modern dance group based in Taiwan, the first of its kind in Taiwan and Asia.

  • Back to School Jam

    DJ Kool Herc
  • Period: to

    Savion Glover

    *Still alive || Stared in "The Tap Dance Kid" in 1984. Often appeared on "Sesame Street". Played Young Jelly in "Jelly's Last Jam". The HooFeRzCLuB is his sanctuary. "Teaches dance education, not a dance class."

  • The Rocky Horror Show

  • Esplanade

    Paul Taylor. Inspired by watching a young woman running to catch a bus.

  • Sankai Juku

    Butoh dance troupe.

  • A Chorus Line

    No real story. The musical is about a group of dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. The musical also focuses on the different audition finalists and provides glimpses into the dancers’ private lives and why they became dancers. The closest thing to a story is Cassie, who comes to the audition late, and spends most of the audition reminiscing about her failed relationship with the director of the production everyone is auditioning for.

  • Chicago

    Bob Fosse

  • Rocky Horror Picture Show

    The story is of a newly engaged couple that gets caught in a storm and seeks help at the house of a mad transvestite scientist unveiling his new creation (a muscle man named Rocky Horror).

  • Hip-Hop

    Late 70s. Breaking, DJing, MCing, and Grafitti.

  • House Dance

    Late 70s/early 80s.

  • Push Comes to Shove

    Twyla Tharp

  • Accumulation with Talking plus Water Motor

    Trisha Brown. A solo work that combined elements of three different pieces. In this piece Brown talks about the choreographic process while dancing; through this process she was working to demystify dance creation for the audience.

  • Kontakthof

    Pina Bausch. Shows the struggle of courtship and human "mating" rituals.

  • Grease

  • Glacial Decoy

    Trisha Brown. The 1st of Brown’s large-scale works intended for the stage. It is most notable for its slithery and highly articulated movements.

  • Evita

  • All that Jazz

  • Voguing

  • House Music

    Early 1980s

  • Shim-Sham Shimmy

    A tap dance routine done by Vaudeville performers.
  • Period: to

    La La La Human Steps

    Québécois contemporary dance group in Canada
  • Period: to

    Contemporary Moderns

  • Channels/Inserts

    Merce Cunningham. Divided into 16 sections and put together using chance operations.

  • Nelken

    Pina Bausch.

  • Rosas danst Rosas

    Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker.

  • The Tap Dance Kid

  • Crucible

    Alwin Nikolais

  • "Shadow Dance" from Liturgies

    Alwin Nikolais

  • White Nights

  • The Phantom of the Opera

  • DV8 Physical Theater

    Based in England and is led by Lloyd Newson, an Australian-based dancer. Seeks to break the barriers between dance, theatre and personal politics; the artists seek to communicate ideas and feelings clearly and unpretentiously.

  • In the Middle Somewhat Elevated

    Choreographed by William Forsythe

  • Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men

    DV8 Physical Theater. “Was DV8's first stage show to be professionally adapted for film. Loosely based on the story of serial killer Dennis Nilsen, it explores the interwoven notions of loneliness, desire, and trust. Founded upon the conviction that societal homophobia often results in tragic consequences, the work grapples with the disturbing forces that drove Nilsen to kill for company.”

  • L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato

    Mark Morris. Considered his masterpiece.

  • The Little Mermaid

  • Tap

    Inspired the resurgence of tap.
  • Period: to

    Leon and Lightfoot

  • National Tap Day

  • Maple Leaf Rag

    Martha Graham. The last full work she choreographed before her death. Collaboration with Scott Joplin.

  • Achterland

    Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker.

  • Animated Musicals

    Disney's comeback

  • Beauty and the Beast

  • The Hard Nut

    Mark Morris. His restaging of The Nutcracker.

  • Aladdin

  • Strange Fish

    DV8 Physical Theater. “Looks at attraction in relationships between people and their incessant need and search for a person to love together with their underlying need for someone or something to believe in. Newson also explores the tyranny of couples and groups and the pain that is experienced when people are ostracized from these social arrangements which are tied to a deep fear humans have of being left alone.”

  • Newsies

    Flopped at the box office then only became popular as it became a cult classic. An attempt to bring back the live film musical. Based on the newsboys strike of 1899.

  • Jelly's Last Jam

  • The Lion King

  • Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk

    Savion Glover

  • Rent

  • The Gregory Hines Show

  • Pond Way

    Merce Cunningham. Exploration of the effects of water and was inspired by Cunningham's experiences of skipping stones over water as a kid.

  • Moon Water

    Cloud Gate Dance Theatre.

  • Still/Here

    Bill T. Jones. 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.

  • Kajemi-Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors

    Sankai Juku

  • Seussical

  • Krumping

    Created by two dancers: Ceasare "Tight Eyez" Willis, and Jo'Artis "Big Mijo" Ratti in South Central, Los Angeles.

  • Horses Never Lie

    Explores the ideas of metamorphosis- with birth, development, and renewal all being explored through the film.

  • Amelia

  • Sleepless

    Jiri Kylian

  • Cost of Living

    DV8 Physical Theater. A story about some carnival workers, following the ups and downs of their daily lives.

  • Symbiosos

    Pilobolus

  • Full Moon

    Pina Bausch.

  • Ferocious Beauty: Genome

    Liz Lerman. Explores the complex world of genetic research.

  • Hairspray

  • Sweeney Todd

  • Fondly Do We Hope... Fervently Do We Pray

    Bill T. Jones. Tribute to Lincoln.

  • PINA

    A documentary that started after Pina Bausch's death and works as a tribute to her.

  • The Matter of Origins

    Liz Lerman. Two Acts: Act I takes places in a formal theater setting, while Act II is a structured/guided Tea Party where the audience sits around tables and eats chocolate cake and sips tea, and has a conversation that is guided by members of the company (and most often members of the community who have been workshopping the piece prior to the concert).

  • Hamilton

    Important because of the racial role reversals, where people that aren’t white are playing men from U.S. history that were white. It is also a rap musical where many of the songs are sung in a rap format versus the traditional musical theatre or rock musical format. Hamilton is the story of America then told by America now.

  • The Greatest Showman