Talk:Contemporary dance

FAQ

What is the point of the questions below? They are not only naive, but don't help one bit in descibing what contemporary dance is, or, more importantly, what it isn't.--PrimateMover (talk) 10:20, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Question: What are 3 features of contemporary dance?

Answer: ballet, airy and gracefulness

Question: What are the roles of males and females in contemporary dance? What are the differences and/or similarities?

Answer: That really depends on the company, choreographer and dancers. There is a lot more scope in contemporary dance then in some other forms. There are not structured roles. Sometimes their differences are hilighted and sometimes supressed, it really depends. As in everything, men tend to be stronger and women more supple, however contemporary dance often stresses that a female dancer will have to lift and do muscular work and a male take on the traditional feminine characters.

Question: Why do people choose to dance this style?

Answer: They choose it out of a desire to explore and expand movement artistry that cannot be achieved within the confines of the other major classical dance family - Ballet.

Question: When did the industry begin using the term Contemporary Dance?

Answer:

The sketch uses the german word "ausdrucktanz". As a native german speaker, I think that "Ausdruckstanz" is the correct form!? (note: upper case "A", and binding "s") --stsz 21:39, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Contemporary dance vs. contemporary ballet

To my knowledge, the term "contemporary ballet" commonly either refers to a subclass within contemporary dance or differentiates aesthetic principals among or within contemporary dance pieces, as do other terms, such as "concept dance" or "multimedia choreographic installation" etc. As always in art, sharp, absolute distinctions are impossible, however, some forms of contemporary dance are obviously not well described as "ballet" – take butoh, belly dance or breakdance for example: one could stretch the meaning of "ballet" to include butoh, belly dance and breakdance, but this would strip the term "ballet" from any distinction between it and the term "concert dance" (in other words: it would be using the term "ballet" as a synonym for "concert dance"). "Contemporary dance" serves best as an umbrella term for all forms and genres of contemporary concert dance (generally excluding forms of social dance), and "contemporary ballet" should be kept as a distinct designation for forms of contemporary dance which distinctly share common aesthetics, traditions or ancestry with ballet. Dan Pelleg (talk) 13:35, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

How could you stretch the definition of ballet to include b-boying? Since when is b-boying thought of as a contemporary dance or even concert dance? I mean this in the traditional sense of the word. It certainty can be danced in a concert/theater. Hip-hop theater as a genre is small but it exist. But to say that ballet when used as a synonym for concert dance can include b-boying as a definition is to make a large generalization. Ballet came from 16th century Italy/France and b-boying came from 1970s South Bronx. Ballet is all about technique and structure whereas b-boying is about spontaneity and freestyling. I've never seen a ballet on TV (or in person) where all of a sudden the danseur (or ballerina) broke out in a head spin and last I checked ballerinas don't dance in ciphers or battle each other either. I disagree. // Gbern3 (talk) 17:47, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Feldenkrais method

An unregistered user seems determined to name FM as something that is associated with contemporary dance, but I can find no independent supporting evidence for such a claim. Is this really a valid claim, or just someone trying to boost FM's rankings? As far as I can tell, FM seems to be a type of "alternative" physical therapy (and a rather dubious one if its many critics are to be believed); it is clearly not a dance technique nor is it even related to dance. Second opinions? Lambtron (talk) 23:13, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

A: Feldenkrais is not a dance style, but rather, like pilates, a conditioning system designed to tune a person's body for dance, theatre, or for therapeutic purposes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by PrimateMover (talk • contribs) 10:10, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

National identity of contemporary dance works

It's little wonder that this quote needs a citation: "Australian, European, Canadian and American contemporary dance differ from each other in a number of ways"

Aside from narrative subject matter, I defy anyone to demonstrate how today's Western contemporary dance works differ in distinct and identifiable ways from one nation to the next. —Preceding unsigned comment added by PrimateMover (talk • contribs) 03:01, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Contemporary dance, ballet and unique styles

This line is also problematic: "[Contemporary dance] is a collection of systems and methods developed from modern and postmodern dance and, as such, is not a unique dance technique"

The above sentence could just as easily be written like this: "[Ballet] is a collection of systems and methods developed from [the Classical and Romantic periods of] dance and, as such, is not a unique dance technique."

People seem to have forgotten that, like contemporary dance, "ballet" is an umbrella term for many styles, methods and systems, such as the Vaganova, Cecchetti, Bournonville, Balanchine and R.A.D methods. —Preceding unsigned comment added by PrimateMover (talk • contribs) 03:20, 12 May 2009 (UTC)