Roots of Diversity in Contemporary Dance

European contemporary dances

Contemporary artistic movements in Europe

There are many different artistic movements in Europe. For instance, in Germany: Rudolf Laban, Mary Wigman, Pina Bausch, and in France: Carolyn Carlson, Elsa Wolliaston, Fodéba Keïta, Germaine Acogny, Jacqueline Robinson, Féral Benga, Karin Waehner, Françoise and Dominique Dupuy… We can also mention the “Jeune danse française” movement: Jean-Claude Gallotta, Dominique Bagouet, Maguy Marin, Angelin Preljocaj… And current contemporary dance: Olivier Dubois, Thomas Lebrun, Corine Lanselle, James Carlès, Sophiatou Kossoko, Salia Sanou, Noé Soulier…

Contemporary dance developed in Europe mainly in the 1970s, under several influences, notably the “Nouvelle Danse française” (New French Dance). This movement sought to break away from American modern dance and the influence of the Paris Opera on the French artistic scene. In Germany, notable figures include Pina Bausch and her work in dance theater, and Mary Wigman, a pioneer in expressionist dance. Contemporary dance in Europe remains a rich scene with a multitude of artists from diverse backgrounds.

Vêpres is danced and performed by James Carlès, accompanied by Emmanuel Pi Djob for the creation of the project at the Altigone cultural center in Saint-Orens (a suburb of Toulouse). Breathing, a fundamental concept in contemporary dance, is the starting point for the creation of this solo. In addition, James Carlès, like Ohad Naharin, created of a method offering solutions adapted to dancers who are injured or physically limited (R.E.S.E.T©).

JC Danse©, derived from R.E.S.E.T© and created by James Carlès, allows dancers to listen to their bodies and their breathing in order to better grasp the benefits of fluidity, musicality, movement, expression, creativity…

JC Danse© is one of the few cross-cultural techniques created in Europe.

Pedro Pauwels is a Belgian contemporary dancer. Here, he reinterprets Mary Wigman‘s 1914 piece “La Danse de la Sorcière” (The Witch’s Dance) for the 2013 Festival Danses et Continents noirs. At the time, this dance was intended to break with the classical style, showing sudden movements performed by contorted and tormented bodies.

Carolyn Carlson was born in 1943 in the United States but became in the 1970s a figure of the New French Dance. In 2014, she created her own company in France. She wrote this solo for James Carlès, following the fundemental elements of Alwin Nikolais’ concept: “motion,” to which she added her poetic and spiritual dimension.

“Dance is greater than the dancer and always will be, despite the paradox that it can only exist and function through its living instrument.”

Mary Wigman

Contemporary dances from the United States

Contemporary movements in the United States: Modern Dance and Afro Dances

The United States contemporary dance movements can be divided into two main categories.

– Afro-American dance, carried by figures such as Asadata Dafora, Pearl Primus, Katherine Dunham, Alvin Ailey, Talley Beatty or Bill T. Jones, who helped bring African-American artistic and political expression to the public eye.

– Modern dance, popularized and developed by Ruth Saint Denis, Ted Shawn, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Hanya Holm, José Limon, Alvin Nicolais and Merce Cunningham, among others.

Today, they both are part of “contemporary dance.”

Contemporary dance in the United States has developed around strong, enduring figures who have made lasting contributions to the artistic foundations on which others build their own worlds and bring their energy to audiences. Dancers such as Merce Cunningham, Lester Horton, José Limon, Katherine Dunham, and Pearl Primus, for example, have left such a mark that their techniques and contributions are still studied today in classes, workshops, and organizations such as The Cunningham Dance Foundation and the Los Angeles Dance Project. The works of these artists are still being performed and reinterpreted by new generations.

There are many sources of inspiration in the United States.

James Carlès and Robert Swinston, two choreographers with different inspirations and practices, joined together around a common event at the CNDC in Angers, paying tribute to Merce Cunningham. Robert Swinston, then Artistic Director of the CNDC has worked with Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, the Mexican dancer José Arcadio Limon and the Paris National Opera Ballet.

This is a class given by Marcus Jarrell Willis, former member of the Alvin Ailey Company, during an international workshop at the Centre Chorégraphique James Carlès. M.J. Willis trained with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre. He is now exploring choreographic practices and passes on his knowledge in masterclasses around the world.

Here, Georgey Souchette performs a solo rendition of Talley Beatty‘s “Mourner’s Bench,” passed down by James Carlès and the American company Philadanco. Talley Beatty is still considered one of the best American choreographers today. He studied under Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham. The piece “Mourner’s Bench” tells the dramatic story of the Ku Klux Klan’s influence on a multi-ethnic rural community in the southern United States.

“Why do I dance? Dance is my medicine. It’s the scream which eases for a while the terrible frustration common to all human beings who, because of race, creed, or color are ‘invisible’. Dance is the fist with which I fight the sickening ignorance of prejudice.”

Pearl Primus

African contemporary dances

Depht of African influences

The vision of dance is often Eurocentric, allowing only a partial and biased view of its history. Here, we will discuss contemporary African dances, as represented by artists such as Germaine Acogny, Koffi Kôkô, Flora Tefaine, Robin Orlin, Vincent Mantsoé or Zora Snake. The expression “contemporary African dances” is complex because often the choreographers who bear this label, although black, are are French or from other European countries—which raises questions.

Today, African contemporary dances occupy a prominent place in theaters and dance festivals in Europe and around the world. We can see common inspirations, approaches, and themes, without necessarily categorizing the artists mentioned above under the same umbrella. Practices remain diverse, but the memory of the end of the slave trade, decolonization, movements between two continents, and the relationship to music, traditions, and theater act as motifs that unite artistic methods and visions. The artists mentioned above have contributed to what journalist Isabelle Danto calls a “choreographic revolution” that came from Africa.

Germaine Acogny is a French-Senegalese dancer who specializes in African contemporary dances. She first practiced her art in Senegal, then in Belgium and France, among other places. Close to Maurice Béjart, she created in 2004 an international center for contemporary and traditional dance in Toubab Dialo: L’École des Sables.

Coupé-décalé is a dance and music style that originated in Paris, London, Milan, Geneva, etc., and in Ivory Coast in the early 2000s, with a strong emphasis on rhythm and percussion, featuring African sounds. The style developed in Paris, mostly in nightclubs. Notable figures in coupé-décalé include Douk Saga, DJ Arafat, and Serge Beynaud.

“Dancing to fight”

Zora Snake

Caribbean contemporary dances

Contemprary dance practices in the Caribbean

In the Caribbean, dancing practices can be devided into two large families that intersect and cross in several areas: Latin and Caribbean dances and contemporary Afro-descendant dances, with Léna Blou, Norma Claire or Fred Lasserre. Concerning the Latin and Caribbean dances, we can mention Cumbia, Zouk, Reggaeton, Dancehall, Son, and variou types of Salsa (Cuban or Colombian, for example). As for contemporary Afro-descendant dances, there has been a massive influx of young people from the Indian Ocean, the Pacific, the Caribbean, and America into this artistic movement since 2010.

Choreographic creation in the Caribbean has its own codes, its own diversity, which has recently connected with artistic movements from Europe and the United States. In Guadeloupe, the Centre de la Danse et des Études Chorégraphiques created by Léna Blou after her studies in metropolitan France, tends to become a major pole of the Caribbean choreographic art. We can also talk about the contemporary dance company from Martinique managed by Christiane Emmanuel. The Centre chorégraphique and the Compagnie James Carlès Danse&co have had the opportunity to work with Léna Blou during international workshops and dance festivals.

Léna Blou is a dancer, choreographer, historian, and creator of Gwoka dance. After years of research, she has created a Caribbean contemporary dance: Techni’Ka, offering the dancer a physical and musical exploration. An approach of the “Body’s states” with multiple possibilities.

“The singularity of the festival is to cross the writings, and especially to cross research, thought, that the body is thought [as] a tool for understanding the world…”

Léna Blou about the Festival Danses et Continents noirs

“What is ‘Guadeloupean contemporary’ dance? Is it a dance that has been influenced by French contemporary dance, therefore that could be limiting, or is it a Guadeloupean dance of today, therefore Caribbean, therefore multicultural, therefore full of an enrichment that allows openness to expression, communication and exchange?”

Fred Lasserre, interview with Stéphanie Bérard for Africulture

Israeli contemporary dances

Leaders and influences in Israeli contemporary dances

In Israel, contemporary dances are led by Hofesh Schechter, Barrak Marshall and Ohad Naharin, among others. One cannot omit the Batsheva Dance Company, founded in 1964 by Martha Graham in Tel Aviv, which Naharin took over in 1990. The innovative and inspired spirit of the company gave rise to Gaga dance, a training method with solutions adapted to injured or physically limited dancers.

Israeli contemporary dances are on the crossroad of contemporary, modern dance, and Gaga style. The Israeli dance scene is currently enjoying international success, first thanks to Ohad Naharin, and now with the performances of Hofesh Shechter, who trained with the Batsheva company. One example is the choreographic representation “Show,” which combines contemporary dance, urban trance and electro, performed by eight young dancers under the direction of Hofesh Shechter. Themes addressed in Israeli pieces often deal either with tragic historical facts or with themes of daily life.

Echad mi Yodea is a traditional Jewish choreographic and sung piece. The tone and form are meant to be funny and humorous, as important lessons to give to children. Ohad Naharin has reappropriated the piece, in order to produce and perform it on stage. Here, the Junior Ballet Toulouse-Occitanie, directed by James Carlès, reinterprets the piece.

Political Mother is a contemporary piece created and choreographed by Hofesh Shechter. It is an artistic work that aims to question political indoctrination and totalitarism. The electric, rock, and musical dimension of the piece expresses the power of Shechter’s dance. The Professional Trainig of the Centre Chorégraphique James Carlès worked on this piece during the year 2016-2017.

“The Batsheva Dance Company’s move after long years of absence in Paris created the effect of a choreographic explosion.”

Philippe Noisette, French journalist and critic, on the play Naharin’s Virus in 2014

Butō: a Japanese contemporary dance

Butō: a contemporary dance-theater

Butō is a choreographic art born in Japan in the 1960s. Its particularity is that it stands in opposition to the traditional Japanese arts of Kabuki and Noh, because it intends to express more current themes.

Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo ōno are considered the main founders of this choreographic practice. Butō is steeped in Buddhism and Shintoism, but also inspired by European artistic currents such as German Expressionism or Surrealism. The Butō has been carried by artists such as Akaji Maro, director of the Dairakudakan troupe, or Yoko Ashikawa, dancer in Tatsumi Hijikata’s troupe.

“Personally, the search for butô dance develops and deepens in an exploration of oneself, of one’s existence, of human life, in relation to others, daily life, society, nature and the universe… with in parallel, a constant study of one’s own body which is unique. The body, the material of dance, is there like a stone placed on the earth by chance.”

Maki Watanabe, Butô dancer and choreographer

Urban Dances

Means and forms of expression in Urban Dances

Urban dances are contemporary in their forms and means of expression. They are always conceived for and with the public, with the aim of describing a social reality, or, wich is new, autobiographical narratives. These new artists were initially attracted by informal gatherings, family or community celebrations. Later, the movement developed through competitions and contests. This is one of the primary roots of diversity within contemporary dance.

Urban dances first appeared in 1970 in New York, with hip-hop as one of the main incarnations. They emphasized the importance of singularity and community, and took on a political message, especially concerning racism and social violences. Their influence is huge in contemporary dance, particularly in terms of the renewed focus on physical engagement and performance. This can be seen in Afrobeat (new forms that appeared around 2010: kuduro, azonto, ndombolo, etc.), which emphasizes addressing the audience and exploring gestures, stepping, and movement.

The number of contemporary dancers practicing urban dances confirms the reality of hybridization among young dancers. It is a driving force in the development of contemporary creation.

In this dance lecture, Olivier Lefrançois combines factual, historical, and practical explanations. We see him putting the facts he recounts into practice. Here, the stage performance itself shows diversity, combining lecture, choreography, storytelling, and humor. In this performance, the artist expresses his love of contemporary dance and hip-hop.

This interview with James Carlès, intended for video format, discusses the development and sharing of black dances. The introduction, as well as other passages, demonstrate this range of dances that belong to different social and political histories.

Brissy Akezizi is a dancer, performer, also choreographer and creator of Dancehall coupé-décalé. Influenced by traditional African and Afro-urban dances (hip-hop, dancehall, Azonto, contemporary dances…). Regular teacher at the Centre Chorégraphique James Carlès, he gives here a course during an international workshop.

These new scenic practices abound, but the vast majority come from Afro-descendant communities all over the world. The particularity today is that the dominant current is no longer American, but African and Caribbean, or also European. Indeed, many Afro-descendant urban dances, since the 2000s, come from European capitals (Paris, London, Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin…) Their strength is the appropriation of public space and the creation of their own codes, conveyed in a viral way by the youth, through social networks.

Jazz dances

A contemporary art movement

We cannot ignore the influence of jazz dances on modern and contemporary dance. Members of the jazz dance community claim to be an artistic movement independent of modern-contemporary dance. However, modern dance developed at the same time as jazz dance. It is difficult to imagine that there was no connection between these two movements. The modernity of jazz is so strong that all the great figures of modern dance cite it in their works, from Martha Graham to Katherine Dunham and Merce Cunningham, not to mention Maurice Béjart and the Dupuys.

The influence of jazz can be found in modern music, cinema, the visual arts, and literature. Many artists from the“Jeune danse française” came, without saying so, from a jazz background. This is still the case today.

Jazz dances can be divided into three main groups: social or vernacular dances, entertainment dances, and “concert” dances. There are many points of convergence between concert jazz dances and several trends in modern-contemporary dance, as they share the same aesthetic and socio-political references, with a strong and deliberate hybridization phenomenon among jazz dance performers.

Some names of concert jazz dance authors include Jack Cole, Matt Mattox, Luigi, Réné Deshauteurs, Rick Odums, and Geraldine Armstrong.

The James Carlès Danse & Co company, like the Alvin Ailey company, is a repertory company committed to promoting wider recognition of the choreographic heritage of the 20th century. It works with authors and rights holders to reconstruct works that are landmarks in the history of dance. Here, Oh Lord is a creation by choreographer Géraldine Armstrong. This choreographer is influenced both by the technique of her mentor Mat Mattox and by choreographer Alvin Ailey, whose approach is rooted in the cultural and spiritual experience of people of African descent.

Conclusion

Through this thematic journey, we have presented a snapshot of the circulation of dances around the world, to show the importance and the forms that diversity can take and enable in the context of contemporary dance. The artists at the Centre chorégraphique and the Compagnie James Carlès have placed this notion of diversity at the heart of their practices and artistic philosophy.

It seems crucial to diversify media and aesthetics in order to create interaction between the senses and symbolism. Mixing and diversity seem to be at the origins of contemporary dance, while also being a powerful vector of creative energy.

By all means, let’s dance together!

Credits

Works presented by the Centre chorégraphique James Carlès, Toulouse, France.

Photo chapter 6: Senkai Juku by Carlos de las Piedras

General design and editorial: James Carlès

Text: James Carlès & Idriss Jendoubi

© James Carlès collection