100 years of modern dance

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-This is an exciting week for pure dance enthusiasts.
For those who have long awaited a visit from the oldest American contemporary dance company established outside of New York City, the days have come. Repertory Dance Theater (RDT), founded in Salt Lake City more than 40 years ago, holds a special place among modern dance companies not only for its production of new works, but because it serves as a sort of living museum to contemporary dance.

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Center for the Arts, RDT will perform “Time Capsule: A Century of Dance.” The piece represents a guided tour of modern dance, with its largely American origins in the early 20th century. Perhaps it began in part as rebellion to classic ballet, though it evolved in step with larger artistic movements, from avant-garde to post-modern and to contemporary work.

More astutely than I could hope to convey, Vienna’s die Press wrote: “RDT follows the development of American dance … with such total identification and vivacity that one could believe they actually were the pioneers of those of those early days with their passion for uprising and revolt against the conventions of the classics.” I might add, though, that the dance evolution was not only a rebuttal against an entrenched, static old form, but also a reaction to the wave of modernity sweeping across the Western world, post-industrialization.

Under director Linda C. Smith, a founding member of RDT, the company acquires works by significant 20th-century choreographers. With “Time Capsule,” RDT will perform pieces by Doris Humphrey who, reflecting on her life, compared dance to Sleeping Beauty. “So long reclining in her dainty bed,” she wrote, the form had “risen up with a devouring desire.”

Of course, no survey of the movement would be complete without some works by Isadora Duncan, who is often called the “mother of modern dance.” Duncan led a personal life that disregarded convention as much as did her approach to dance. In 1927, at age 50, Duncan died tragically in a freak automobile accident caused by one of her trademark silk scarves that, caught in the wheel of a car in which she was a passenger, strangled her.

But just as serpentine beautifully hand-painted scarves billowed behind Duncan’s person in her life, so too does the legacy of modern dance continue its supple march through – and sometimes against – time.

RDT’s short residency begins with free open rehearsals from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday in Dancers’ Studio 1 inside the Center. There will be another open rehearsal at the same time Thursday. There are also several opportunities to participate in a master class, as well as a chance to engage dancers and choreographers at 6:30 p.m. on Friday in Studio 1. Tickets for Time Capsule are $15 or $25. Call 733-4900 or visit www.dwjh.org for more.

COURTESY PHOTO
Two dancers cut a fine figure.

PERMALINK:
100 years of modern dance | Planet JH News Article: General Music Arts and Culture

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