Modern Dance: From 19th Century Origins to 21st Century Artistry - Essay Sample

Introduction

Modern dance is perceived to be a theatrical dance that began in Europe and in the United States in the late 19th century. However, the dance received its widespread success and nomenclature later in the 20th century. The dance is percived to have evolved when protesters began to upraise against balletic and interpolative dance traditions during that era. Modern dance was also triggered by the cultural and socioeconomic factors in both the United States and Europe. Modern dance artists, for instance, Mauda and Loie started by disregarding the strict ballet movements, the specific set of movement that was considered appropriate for ballet and also stopped wearing the ballet clothing in order to enhance the freedom of movement. In the 20th century, various historical events, social, political concerns, and other key development helped to improve the modern dance in Germany and the United States. However, later on in the 1960s new dance ideas began to develop due to the new social changes thus leading to the inclusion of new elements such as contact improvisation, preference art, and release techniques. Modern dance is believed to have been attained through three sets of errors that include, first, the early modern period that was mainly featured by the works of artists such as St Denis and Eleanor King. During this period, the artistic practices had changed radically, but the modern dance techniques were yet to emerge. Secondly, the central modern period that was choreographed by artists such as Charles Weidman and Doris Humphrey. These artists developed the American movement vocabularies and styles and also distinct dance training techniques. Thirdly, the late modern period, which was led by artists such as Tally Beatty and Paul Taylor who introduced the clear abstractionism movements that paved the way for the post-modern dance. The aim of this paper is to discuss modern dance as a form of therapy.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Dance Therapy

Dance or movement therapy is perceived to be a psychotherapy that focuses on using movement to improve the cognitive, emotional, physical, and social development of a person. In most cases, dance therapists usually work with different types of people who have varying intellectual defects, emotional problems, and other key life-threatening illnesses. Dance therapy is mainly used in various institutions such as daycare centers, psychiatric hospitals, prisons, and mental health facilities and in special schools. The therapy usually works for people in all age groups to solve all the existing problems. Dance therapy can specifically be traced from the modern dance movement that occurred in the 19th century. Dance therapy developed from the basic idea that dancing can exceed entertainment and be used to express feelings and communicate with other people.

The modern dance movement laid the groundwork for various dance therapist pioneers such as Mary Whitehouse and Marian chance who developed the dance therapy foundation, which focused on improving the interpretation, observation, and manipulation of various dance elements in practice. When teaching dance classes, Mary chance found out most of the students were more interested on expressing their emotions rather than the actual movement. She, therefore, began to encourage and emphasize her children to focus more on the freedom of movement rather than technique. The movement or dance therapy was mainly influenced by various events or aspects that include, first, in the year 1940, movement therapy is perceived to have been influenced by the psychodynamic theory. Secondly, in the year 1960, movement therapy was influenced by the function of the human body in mental health issues and the continuous research on various nonverbal behaviors. Thirdly, in the year 1966, the United States dance association was initiated, resulting to the creation of training and certification standards. Currently, dance therapy is mainly influenced by various electric grouping of theoretical frameworks such as the psychodynamic theory, humanistic theory, and the gestalt theory.

Issues Addressed By Modern Dance Therapy

Modern dance therapy is considered to be an accredited means or method of solving various issues affecting human beings. Some of these issues include, first, the mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. Currently, most people within the society are at risk of experiencing or suffering from various mental health issues; however, to reduce the risk, the health practitioners are encouraging people to enrolled in modern dancing classes and learn the different ways of managing these issues. Secondly, cognitive issues, such as communication and dementia. Some people within the society usually find it hard to communicate or express themselves verbally to other people. However, if they are offered an opportunity to take part in modern dance, they can use the nonverbal cues to relay information or express themselves.

Thirdly, social issues, such as violence, autism, and family conflicts. People experiencing social issues within the society usually find it hard to open up to other people what they are feeling or going through due to the fear that confidentiality might be violated. To overcome this fear, such individuals may use modern dance to express what they are going through to the rest of the population. Fourth, physical issues such as obesity, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases. Modern dance tended to improve one's body fitness, thus reducing the risk of contracting the non-communicable diseases.

The Principle of Modern Dance Therapy

Modern dance therapy usually has various key principles that help to bring out the expected effects or outcomes. Some of these principles include, first, the mind and the body is interconnected; therefore, any change in one tends to impact the other. The modern dancers are required to be aware that they must interlink their mind and body to create the best moves and also express the needed message effectively. If the dancer intends to create or bring out a certain image, he or she must prepare the body effectively. On every occasion, every move has to be linked and incorporated between the two parts.

Secondly, dance movements usually express various aspects of personality, such as moods, behavior tendencies, and emotions. Modern dance is only considered effective if all the personality traits are expressed in the dance. The dancer has to interlink the movements with the body's emotions and moods to bring out the expected image or perception to the audience. Compared to other formed of dance, modern dance is considered to be the only form of dance that gives people the freedom to express their personality traits. For instance, in other forms of dance such as ballet, the dancer only focus on the body movements instead of focusing on other aspects such as moods and emotions.

Thirdly, movements in modern dance may be symbolic and represent unconscious processes and materials. Modern dance involved the use of nonverbal cues to illustrate a particular situation or incident. Therefore In most cases, all movements represented or showcased in modern dance usually try to bring out certain imaginations or creativity to the intended audience. Fourth, movement experimentation and improvisation may bring about new ways or strategies of being. In modern dance, there are usually no strict rules that require the dancers to use only specific moves. The modern dancers usually have the freedom to use, experiment improvise any move. The main reason of allowing people to use to choose their move is to bring out various emotions and images when performing.

Advantages of Modern Dance as a Form of Therapy. It Enables People to Express Their Emotions

Modern dance usually enable people to express emotions that are not easily expressed verbally. The dance usually provides each individual with an opportunity to express how music makes him or her feel and also express the feeling in terms of movement. When watching modern dance, the audience usually feels involved since they are able to interconnect the different emotions and feelings being showcased by the dancer through movement. For instance, the love and depth of the feelings or emotions that the dance has towards a particular issue. Modern dance usually enables people with slow or limited mobility to express themselves mainly through their abilities and emotions. A certain song tends to raise different feelings and emotions, for instance, one song can make a person feel sad, happy, or energized, and on some rare occasions, a song may make a person who has not shown any particular expression to smile. This clearly shows that music and dance can affect people in different ways.

It Helps to Relief Stress

Any form of exercise is perceived to be very effective and beneficial in relieving stress from the human body and mind. Dancing is perceived to be an effective stress reliever not only because it helps the body physically, but because it is also therapeutic. Surveys indicate that movements are usually related to various feelings and thoughts, thus making it easy for modern dance to instantly create or bring changes to attitudes and emotions. Most healthcare professionals have continuously encouraged people who are at risk of having stress to enroll in dancing classes, which usually enable them to express their daily moods and feelings. These prevent them from getting other serious health complications such as mental health disorders and high blood pressure.

Enhances the General Physical Fitness and the Entire Gross Motor Skill Development

Dancing is perceived to be an effective way or means of improving general body fitness in a musical and fun driven atmosphere. Modern dancing usually incorporates different dancing styles, for instance, partner dancing and line dancing, which usually help people to move their body, thus improving their physical fitness. Modern dance also tends to incorporate deep breathing and stretching to enhance the strength of the muscles, increase flexibility, and reduce the risk of injuries. Modern dance therapy also tends to focus on enhancing gross motor skills. Growth motor skill is highly encouraged in modern dancing since it helps to improve coordination, strength, and body balance.

Improves Confidence and Self Esteem

Modern dance has shown the capability to increase confidence, communication, and social skills and also improve people's general attentiveness and self-esteem. When joining a modern dance class, people are usually encouraged to get other people, make eye contact, and say something positive to other individuals irrespective of their specific verbal ability. Developing this ability helps to improve the dancer's level of confidence and esteem to interact with other people. Modern dance also provides a person with the opportunity to perform on a stage with a huge number of viewers. However, before getting such a platform, the dancer is first taught how to handle and act in a situation where there is a huge number of viewers. Such lessons usually help to improve the dancer's self-esteem and level of confidence. A dancer is usually not forced to perform before a large gathering; instead, he or she chooses the right moment when he or she is ready enough to perform. Dancing before a huge crowd helps the dancer to develop a sense of accomplishment and also enhances the general work ethic. Modern dancers usually believe that having the ability to maintain a reassuring and extremely encouraging environment is crucial in increasing self-esteem and self-confidence.

Encourages Imagination and Creativity

One of the greatest ability or gift that every human being yearns to have is the ability to have a strong imagination and creat...