As time passes, we are seeing modern dance (contemporary dance) do what it does best: adapt to changing circumstances. One of my favorite qualities about modern dance is that it can fuse with many other dance forms and still be considered contemporary. One of the biggest crazes right now seems to be joining modern with hip hop. I think many choreographers are trying to take the "professional" and "respected" modern dance and fuse it with the "crowd-pleasing" and "commercially viable" hip hop dance. Personally, I feel that much of it is still boring. Here's why: I feel that the strongest quality that modern dance can offer a dancer/choreographer is the ability to truly say something that is unique and original to themselves. What I see in so many of these modern/hip hop fusion choreographers is that they are making "cookie-cutter" dances that look the same as everybody else's modern/hip hop dance. I want to see why a choreographer is unique. What are they doing that no one else is doing?
So, speaking of evolution, here is a clip from Israeli-born choreographer Hofesh Shechter. He is a product of the incredibly awesome Batsheva company (remember them from early in the quarter?), which is descended from Martha Graham, one of the founders of Modern dance. He is another step forward in the evolution of dance. Check him out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czcXspACmD8
Corollary Questions:
What speaks to you? Why? What is he doing that no one else is? If you were a choreographer, what unique abilities or interests would you fuse into your dancing?
