What Is Contemporary Dancing All About?

what is contemporary dancing

So what is contemporary dancing and how did it come about? Let’s explore this misunderstood dance form a little more. Contemporary dance is a genre that’s tricky to define but thrilling to experience. It breaks the mold set by classical ballet and even modern dance, blending a variety of styles and techniques. You’ll see elements … Read more

The 10 Top Dance Styles Explained

Top Dance Styles Explained

In this article I am going to look at the 10 Top Dance Styles and why they are so popular worldwide. What Are The 10 Top Dance Styles? Well this is a personal choice in most cases, but in general, I think it would be the following: Ballet Hip Hop (Many different styles) Modern Dance … Read more

Marius Petipa And The Imperial Russian Ballet

Marius Petipa

I always enjoy researching and finding out the history of dance and Marius Petipa (1818 – 1910) and The Imperial Russian Ballet come up so often in my reading that I thought that it only fitting to write a bit about him. Marius Petipa is the colossus of nineteenth-century ballet. Other choreographers may well have … Read more

Walter Gore and Street Games

Walter Gore and street games

Let’s take a look at the life of Walter Gore and Street Games which was his best-known pieces of choreography. So who was Walter Gore? He was the choreographer of Street Games which was a one-act Ballet. Walter Gore was also one of the first male dancers to make a reputation at Marie Rambert’s Ballet … Read more

Who Was Andrée Howard?

who was Andree Howard

Andrée Howard was born in 1910. She was a pupil of Marie Rambert and also studied with the great Russian teachers in Paris; she spent a short time in the de Basil company and danced in early performances of Massine’s Les Presages and made her first attempt at choreography in 1933. Returning to London and … Read more

Shadowplay Ballet – What Was It All About?

shadowplay ballet

Shadowplay ballet is a one-act ballet that was choreographed by Tudor and first performed on the 25th of January 1967 at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The music was by Charles Koechlin (Les Bandar-Log and La Course de Printemps). The scenery and costumes were designed by Michael Annals. What Was Shadowplay Ballet All … Read more

Ekon Av Trumpeter – A Ballet In One Act

ekon av trumpeter

Ekon av Trumpeter or Echoes of Trumpets is a one-act ballet that was first performed by the Royal Swedish Ballet at the Royal Theatre in Stockholm on the 28th of September 1963. It was later revived for the London Festival Ballet at the London Coliseum on the 27th of April 1973. The entire ballet is … Read more

Why We Use Cupped Hands For Modern Dancing

cupped hands in modern dancing

Let’s look at cupped hands for modern dancing, and why we use them in this genre of dancing. “The cupped hand is a reflection of the torso,” says Blakeley White-McGuire, principal dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company. “When I’m working with the movement as a deepening of the center, that reflects in the hand.” There … Read more

What Is Dark Elegies Ballet All About?

dark elegies

Dark Elegies is a ballet in two scenes. Tudor did the Libretto and the choreography and the music was composed by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) to Cycle Kindertotenlieder (“Songs on the Death of Children”). Nadia Benoit did the scenery and costumes. The first Performance Cast to do this ballet were Peggy van Praagh, Maude Lloyd, Antony … Read more