UC Irvine

Mid-Twentieth Century Modern Dance in the Twenty-First Century

The relevance of modern dance being performed today has been a growing topic in the dance field as legacy companies age and the field of contemporary dance continues to expand. This thesis begins with critical response to mid-century modern dance in the work of well-known dance critics John Martin, Edwin Denby and Louis Horst and how they substantiated modern dance’s place in dance history. My interviews with dance critics Alastair Macaulay and Sarah Kaufman discuss how the intention of dance writing has changed over the years and I examine the impact that some of those changes may have had on the state of modern dance in America today. I also discuss my interviews with artistic directors of the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Limón Dance Company. I examine their ideas about finding unique approaches to engage and grow a newer, younger audience while maintaining a connection with their current fan base. They attempt to combat what some critics have identified as mid-century modern dance losing relevance with today’s dance audience.

My research inspired a concert presentation on April 25, 2017, involving my restaging of a mid-century modern dance masterpiece in tandem with a premiere of my own choreography inspired by the same themes. This product is my response to contextualizing older work and

giving the audience a reference point for understanding new choreography. The final aspect of this paper explains my creative process of how I put the ideas of critics and artistic directors into action. I discuss restaging and choreographing through the inspiration of my interviews and research and how that work provided ideas which enabled me to build an evening of work to better engage an audience with mid-century modern dance and contemporary choreography.