Contemporary Dance

Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in the U.S. and Europe. Although originally informed by and borrowing from classical, modern, and jazz styles, it has come to incorporate elements from many styles of dance. According to the New Grove Musical Dictionary, contemporary dance evolved from the foundations of modern and postmodern dance, emphasizing innovation and a break from traditional forms. Due to its technical similarities, it is often perceived to be closely related to modern dance, ballet, and other classical concert dance styles. It is characterized by a blend of styles that often integrate elements of ballet, modern dance, and cultural or social dance forms.

In terms of technique, contemporary dance tends to combine the strong but controlled legwork of ballet with modern dance that stresses on torso. It also employs contract-release, floor work, fall and recovery, and improvisation characteristics of modern dance. Unpredictable changes in rhythm, speed, and direction are often used as well. In the 1980s, the approach to contemporary dance became more intentional and academically focused, often described as “interdisciplinary” and “collaborative.” This period marked a shift from spontaneous and experimental methods to choreographies grounded in intellectual concepts, such as mathematical structures and repetitive patterns. Contemporary dance sometimes incorporates elements of non-western dance cultures, such as elements from African dance including bent knees, or movements from the Japanese contemporary dance, Butoh. Contemporary dance continues to explore natural movement while embracing diverse influences and unconventional staging.

Additionally, contemporary dance also examines the concepts of choreography and dramaturgy. The distinction between composition and improvisation, as well as between finished works and ongoing processes, is collapsed in the style of contemporary dance. This dissolution between previously rigid distinctions parallels broader cultural shifts from what scholar Gabrielle Klein calls the "linguistic turn," which treated dance as a form of text and choreography as a structured linguistic system, to the subsequent "performative turn" which critiques representational practices and introduces new themes central to contemporary choreography. These themes include liveness, immediacy, authenticity, identity, and the interplay between presence and absence. As a result, contemporary dance works have become platforms for exploring complex themes, such as the unrepresentable and intangible aspects of human existence, which are difficult to represent using traditional and classical movement forms.