Contemporary & Modern Dance Lessons in Istanbul.

Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dances has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.

In the early 1900s a few dancers in Europe started to rebel against the rigid constraints of Classical Ballet. Shedding classical ballet technique, costume and shoes these early modern dance pioneers practiced free dance.

Typically, Modern Dance has now been categorised further. In Europe in particular, early modern dance or free movement dance is now classified as Contemporary Dance, a genre that encompasses the work of Rudolf Laban, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham . Whilst those studying Contemporary Dance learn a technical subject as for anything else, the choreography seen in performance is very diverse and generally can not be recognised as any specific dance style, although other dance styles can often influence much of the movement.

The term Modern Dance today, is typified as being the style of theatrical dance seen in the period between the 1970s and 1980s. With a strong classical ballet influence, in its purest technical sense, the movement is generally very fluid and balletic, although it does include the dynamic highlights and tricks of jazz dance, with isolations, kicks and leaps. Many movements are very weighted and to the earth. This has led to it being given the name Classical Jazz, in many countries.

As the field of Modern Dance has developed and other dance genres have become more defined, the term Modern Dance has become almost obsolete. Now, most styles once seen as Modern Dance are normally classified as being either Contemporary Dance, Jazz Dance or sometimes, Classical Jazz or Modern Jazz.

Contemporary dance is the name given to a group of 20th century concert dance forms. It is a collection of systems and methods developed from Modern and Postmodern dance. Thus contemporary dance is not a specific dance technique. European, Canadian and American contemporary dance differ from each other in a number of ways.

Rather than emphasizing technique per se, which is seen more as a tool for the dancer and a means by which to strengthen the body, increase flexibility, and through a deliberate exposure of the contemporary dancer to a wide range of techniques to ensure versatility, contemporary dance as a field is more concerned with examining the choreographic and performing process: as a result there has been limited development of dance techniques by seminal dance artists. Instead, contemporary dance draws on modern dance techniques (developed in the first sixty years of the 20th century) and an array of still developing philosophies of movement based on study of the human body and body/mind inter-relationships.

Idea : By our professional contemporary & modern dance teacher ( Ms. Stephanie ) you will be able to learn the basic or advance techniques about contemporary & modern dance and have a nice time during your visit in istanbul . Our workshop contemporary & modern dance class is located in Galata - Taksim area.

For more information regarding our lessons, please send us an e-mail.

Group Classes on Tuesdays & Thursdays at : 18:30 for 2007 - 2008 winter schedule.