Dance / Drama: Contemporary Dance Choreographers and Companies

Martha Graham, influential American dancer, teacher, and choreographer of modern dance, whose ballets and other works were intended to “reveal the inner man.” Over more than 50 years she created more than 180 works, from solos to large-scale works, in most of which she herself danced. She gave modern dance new depth as a vehicle for the intense and forceful expression of primal emotions. (Includes biography, assessment of legacy, plus further reading suggestions).

This interactive site is an introduction to the life and work of Martha Graham, known as "the mother of modern dance." You will learn about specific dances through the journals of Jordy Kandinsky, a (fictional) new member of the Martha Graham Dance Company. In Jordy's journals, you will find letters, newspaper articles, checklists, photographs, video clips, and music that illuminate various aspects of the dance Jordy is learning. Jordy keeps journals for four Graham dances—Lamentation, Appalachian Spring, Errand into the Maze and Diversion of Angels. (Via ArtsEdge.)

Meet the master artist through one of her most important works, Appalachian Spring. Exploring Graham's choreographic style and framing an understanding of her work. (Via ArtsEdge.)

Full length documentary, includes interviews and performances from Martha Graham and her dance company. (Via YouTube).

Documentary about Martha Graham, her life and works. Length: 60 mins. (Via YouTube).

Three original dances choreographed by Martha Graham: Cortege of Eagles, Seraphic Dialog, and Acrobats of God. Performed by Martha Graham and her company. (Via YouTube).

Doris Humphrey, pioneer in American modern dance and an innovator in technique, choreography, and theory of dance movement. Biography, legacy and suggested additional reading.

Merce Cunningham, American modern dancer and choreographer who developed new forms of abstract dance movement. Biography, legacy and suggested additional reading.

Includes biography, further information about Cunningham's choreography and works, video and interview footage, and links to the Merce Cunningham: 65 Years iPad app.

Produced by Twin Cities Public Television in 1981, Cunningham sits down in this segment to discuss his methodology and how a vocabulary of movement fuels his way of thinking.

This free dynamic multimedia iPad app celebrates Merce Cunningham’s unique legacy. An innovative primary resource, Merce Cunningham: 65 Years offers a vibrant and experiential account of the late choreographer, dancer, and artist’s life and work, while reflecting Cunningham’s own interest in engaging with technology—a principal motivation for creating the interactive app. (Download via iTunes App Store).

Meet the master artist through one of his most important works. Explores Cunningham's choreography style and frames how to view his work. (Via ArtsEdge).

German ballet dancer and choreographer broke down the boundaries between ballet and theatre with her dramatic choreographed works incorporating dance, speech, music, and fantastical sets.

Acclaimed director Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire) returns to the screen with this vibrant and poignant tribute to modern dance legend Pina Bausch, using lavishly staged dance pieces.

Hailed by London's The Daily Telegraph as "the Nureyev of contemporary ballet," Christopher Bruce was appointed Houston Ballet Associate Choreographer in 1989. In April 1994, Mr. Bruce assumed the artistic directorship of The Rambert Dance Company, Britain's most prestigious contemporary dance troupe. At the time of his appointment, The London Times hailed him as an artist who "could change the face of British dance." (Via The Houston Ballet).

Biography, career and works, including links to websites of the dance companies Obarzanek has worked with, as well as relevant articles, photos and other media. (Via Trove).

Chunky Move has been a giant on the Australian contemporary dance landscape since 1995. This film tracks the 16-year history of this seminal Melbourne-based dance company through the eyes of its founder, and outgoing Artistic Director, Gideon Obarzanek. The program follows Obarzanek and takes a behind-the-scenes look at the preparations of two major new works, Connected and Faker.

Chunky Move constantly seeks to redefine what 
is or what can be contemporary dance in an ever-evolving Australian culture. Our work is diverse in form and content encompassing productions for the stage, site specific, new-media and installation work. Led by internationally acclaimed Choreographer Anouk van Dijk, the Company’s multi-tiered programming initiatives nurture and underpin a strong and vibrant dance culture in our home city of Melbourne and create critically acclaimed and popular productions of scale for presentations nationally and internationally.

(Different content to the YouTube Channel)

Chunky Move has been a giant on the Australian contemporary dance landscape since 1995. Follow its history through the eyes of its founder and outgoing artistic director, Gideon Obarzanek.

KAGE was established in 1997 by Victorian College of the Arts Dance graduates Kate Denborough and Gerard Van Dyck. Kate and Gerard formed a creative partnership based on a shared desire to create original works that progress the form of dance. This took place by collaborating with extraordinary artists and communities to find original ways to present dance in new contexts. KAGE explored the development of arresting visual languages, the parallel creation of choreography and music and the dramatic potential of dance and extreme physicality with irreverence and humour. On the cusp of KAGE’s twentieth birthday, the desire for continuous exploration and discovery along with a collaborative ideology is still the central focus. KAGE creates performances that relate and respond to current social thinking and strives to develop an unparalleled and distinctive sensibility, style and aesthetic for dance theatre.

Lucy Guerin Inc is an Australian dance company established in Melbourne in 2002 to create and tour new dance works. Renowned for the skill and originality of its small group of performers, it is a flexible organisation dedicated to challenging and extending the art of contemporary dance. The company is committed to the exploration of everyday events and the redefinition of the formal concerns of dance.

Phillip Adams BalletLab is a vital contributor to Australian dance and performance culture today. It is an arresting company led by Artistic Director Phillip Adams, an interdisciplinary choreographer and artist. Everything begins with the body. We think physically and visually to create and curate new and unmediated experiences that contest the boundaries of contemporary arts practice. Adams’ process draws on collaboration and is an investigation through mediums of music, design, fashion, architecture, cinema, visual arts, photography and live arts; engaging with the unorthodox, queer and popular culture. Since its inception in 1998, Phillip Adams BalletLab has toured widely nationally and internationally, performing in the USA, China, Denmark, Scotland, Germany, England, Korea, Mongolia, Romania and Bulgaria.

Sydney Dance Company is a legendary force in Australian contemporary dance. Its performances have appeared on the great dance stages of the world, from the Sydney Opera House in Australia, to the Joyce Theatre in New York, the Grand in Shanghai and the Stanislavsky in Moscow. Its dancers have left audiences breathless, it has presented Australian art to the world, and brought the world to Australia. Dance in Australia would be inconceivable without it.

Sharing Spaces takes a behind-the-scenes look at the creation process of Shared Frequencies, Sydney Dance Company's first season for 2011 at Sydney Theatre. In this 6-part documentary, Sydney Dance Company resident multimedia artist Peter Greig, will follow the new work of Rafael Bonachela (artistic director & choreographer), Ezio Bosso (composer), Jacopo Godani (guest international choreographer), 48 Nord (guest composers) and their incredibly talented and dedicated team that forms the backbone of Australia's leading contemporary dance company. (Via YouTube).

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater grew from a now-fabled performance in March 1958 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Led by Alvin Ailey and a group of young African-American modern dancers, that performance changed forever the perception of American dance. The Ailey company has gone on to perform for an estimated 25 million people at theaters in 48 states and 71 countries on six continents – as well as millions more through television broadcasts, film screenings, and online platforms. In 2008, a U.S. Congressional resolution designated the Company as “a vital American cultural ambassador to the world” that celebrates the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance heritage. When Mr. Ailey began creating dances, he drew upon his "blood memories" of Texas, the blues, spirituals, and gospel as inspiration, which resulted in the creation of his most popular and critically acclaimed work, Revelations. Although he created 79 ballets over his lifetime, Mr. Ailey maintained that his company was not exclusively a repository for his own work. Today, the Company continues Mr. Ailey's mission by presenting important works of the past and commissioning new ones. In all, more than 235 works by over 90 choreographers have been part of the Ailey company’s repertory. Before his untimely death in 1989, Alvin Ailey named Judith Jamison as his successor, and over the next 21 years, she brought the Company to unprecedented success. Ms. Jamison, in turn, personally selected Robert Battle to succeed her in 2011, and The New York Times declared he “has injected the company with new life.”

Meet a master artist through one of his most important works. (Via ArtsEdge.)

DV8 Physical Theatre's work is about taking risks, aesthetically and physically, about breaking down the barriers between dance and theatre and, above all, communicating ideas and feelings clearly and unpretentiously. It is determined to be radical yet accessible, and to take its work to as wide an audience as possible. DV8 is motivated by artistic inspiration and creative need: these, rather than financial, organisational and touring demands dictate the creation of new works. Great emphasis is placed on the process by which new work is created. The company has fought successfully for funding to cover lengthy research and development periods in order to maintain rigorous artistic integrity and quality in each new project. The focus of the creative approach is on reinvesting dance with meaning, particularly where this has been lost through formalised techniques. DV8's work inherently questions the traditional aesthetics and forms which pervade both modern and classical dance, and attempts to push beyond the values they reflect to enable discussion of wider and more complex issues. DV8 (Dance and Video 8)'s strong commitment to film and video continues. This reflects its ongoing interest in how two primarily visual media can enhance one another and reach a crossover audience from within both forms. The company's reputation relies on pushing its own boundaries and on the constant re-examination of the roles and relationships of men and women in our society. Its policy insists on the importance of challenging our preconceptions of what dance can, and should, address.

Lloyd Newson has led DV8 Physical Theatre since its inception in 1986. His work has had a dynamic impact on contemporary dance and theatre. Links to a selection of published interviews.

Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) is one of the most productive dance companies in the Netherlands, if not in the world. With six programs and nine world premieres in season 2015/2016, NDT shows an unprecedented number of new ballets. Artistic director Paul Lightfoot has deliberately chosen only a few revivals: "It's about artistic creation, not just choreography." The company has always been ambitious and idiosyncratic. Since its founding in 1959 by Benjamin Harkarvy, Aart Verstegen and Carel Birnie in cooperation with eighteen dancers from Het Nationaal Ballet (The National Ballet), NDT has tried to pave its own way in the modern dance field. Glen Tetley and Hans van Manen prominently imprinted NDT with an avant-garde aesthetic and their nonconformist, progressive productions put the company on the national and international map.

NW Dance Project was founded in Portland in 2004 by acclaimed dancer, mentor and choreographer Sarah Slipper. NW Dance Project is dedicated to the creation and performance of innovative, new contemporary dance works from established and emerging dance makers created in an open and artistically stimulating environment. NW Dance Project has fostered the creation and Portland premiere of over 190 original contemporary dance works to date. Our dedication to providing dancers and dance makers the resources and creative room needed to realize new, inspired dance works led Dance International Magazine to proclaim that we are “changing the way dance is created” and that NW Dance Project has become “a laboratory, factory and repository for risk-taking new works from the next generation of choreographers from Europe and North America.”