Running Head: BALLET BECOMES MODERN 1

Ballet Becomes Modern;

An Exploration of Choreographic Technique with Ballet Vocabulary

Megan VanGilder

Youth Performing Arts School

Abstract
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When creating a dance choreographers often try to do something that hasn't done before,

something quite unlike what has been previously seen by audiences. The purpose of this paper is

to provide a final report and evaluation of a project that used modern choreographic techniques

with ballet vocabulary to create a new piece of choreography. Can classical ballet steps be used

with modern choreographic techniques to create a cohesive piece of choreography? became the

guiding research question for the project. The most important methods of research involved

analyzing text discussing modern and ballet as styles as well as choreographically, studying

videos of both ballet and modern work, and rehearsing and creating a new piece of

choreography. This final report will include a detailed record of the of the project including

sections that address the initial research, procedures, timeline, evidence provided, conclusion and

acknowledgements. The completion of the project fulfills the final requirement for completion of

the dance major at the Youth Performing Arts School.

Ballet Becomes Modern; An Exploration of Choreographic Technique with Ballet Vocabulary

BALLET BECOMES MODERN 3

Choreographers often look to try new things and put work on the stage that contains a

new twist never seen by audiences before. Mixing styles and choreographic techniques is one

way that choreographers attempt to do this. The differences between ballet and modern both

stylistically and in choreography make them challenging and entertaining styles to use together.

The differences in use of intention, focus, movement patterns and more provide differences that

make combining modern and ballet an interesting challenge.

As a student of the Balanchine method my original inspiration for this project came from

a place of wanting to create a piece of contemporary ballet. This however was not enough of a

stretch from my comfort zone and did not provide adequate space for a research question. In an

effort to take this idea further I came up with the idea to bring ballet vocabulary into a modern

choreographic setting. Through the study of my source, Next Week Swan Lake: Reflections on

Dance and Dances, I began to understand how complex defining what ballet and modern are

could be and what a challenge my task could become. I also began to realize that if executed well

this idea could look end up being a beautiful creation.

Initial Research and Guiding Question

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The beginnings of my research were guided by my questioning the fundamental

differences between ballet and modern choreographic styles. Originally I wanted to use this

information to take a few ballet steps to create a modern solo but as I began to create I realized

that what I was truly working to discover was the possibility of taking ballet steps and then using

on modern choreographic techniques to create a cohesive piece of choreography. My first source,

Next Week, Swan Lake. Reflections on Dance and Dances. by Selma Jeanne Cohen discussed

ballet and modern in their stylistic difference more than in their choreographic difference but still

gave me more of an understanding of helpful fundamental differences. For example her Cohen

states,

In watching a dance, you do not see what is physically before you- people running

around or twisting their bodies; what you see is a display of interacting forces by which

the dance seems to be lifted, driven, drawn, closed, or attenuated The physical realities

are given But in the dance, they disappear; the more perfect the dance, the less we see

of actualities. (Cohen, 1982, p.110).

This made me think about more of the fluidity and connectedness necessary to convey more of

the flow seen in modern choreography than the more poised and aloof feeling held in classical

ballet, especially in the idea of a variation, wherein the idea is presentation. Similarly my second

source, Modern Bodies: Dance and American Modernism from Martha Graham to Alvin Ailey

by Julia L. Foulkes discussed stylistic differences while focusing a lot of modernist and feminist

issues. This source was helpful for me thinking again about that difference from the variation

where the dancer isn't performing for an audience but it becomes a much more personal and

internal expression of art.

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Throughout my initial research I had also been using the words contemporary and

modern interchangeably to describe what I was going to do but I realized through my research

that I couldn't do that as the terms aren't synonymous. My third source, an article called Modern

Vs. Contemporary featured in dance magazine is a discussion of the difference between these

terms. Through my analysis of this source I came to the conclusion that the term I wanted to be

working with was modern rather than contemporary.

Can classical ballet steps be used with modern choreographic techniques to create a

cohesive piece of choreography? was the guiding research question of this project. In working

to answer this question I approached choreography from a few different angles giving myself

different parameters for the steps I could use before deciding to allow any ballet steps with

modern choreographic techniques of motif, flow, purposeful stillness, and unpredictable

movement patterns. My goal for the final product was to have a cohesive piece of choreography

that uses ballet steps and employs modern choreographic techniques. By working through

several different trials and discovering more through each week of rehearsals I think I have

achieved this goal.

Procedures

This section provides a detailed account of the activities involved in researching and producing a

final product in my study on the usage of ballet through modern choreographic techniques. I

began my initial research process by searching for strong text sources to help me understand the

differences between ballet and modern stylistically and choreographically. I first analyzed the

book, Next week Swan Lake. Reflections on Dance and Dances, by Selma Jeanne Cohen. I also

Thoroughly analyzed the book, Modern Bodies: Dance and American modernism from Martha
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Graham to Alvin Ailey, by Julia L. Foulkes. Evidence of these analyses can be found in my

sources assignment.

Both of these books gave me new thoughts and insights on ways to look at modern as a

style and from a choreographer's standpoint. Looking at these texts from the perspective of a

classical dancer trying to understand how to take these steps I know so well and take the more

modernistic qualities of internal intention and fluidity in a different sense gave me a lot to think

about as I went into rehearsals. After thoroughly working through these books I was heading into

rehearsal with new ideas of flow, volume, and focus on the movement of the dancer rather than

concern for an audience or even entertainment. My initial idea was to include only a limited

number of steps, specifically only the classical ballet steps frequently used in variations. In order

to achieve this I watched about 15 or 20 variations in preparation for my first rehearsal. Evidence

of this can be seen in notes that I took while watching the videos.

Rehearsals occurred twice weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays for one hour for four

weeks. I secured one dancer as I originally had different ideas for what this project would be, not

knowing a group would have been better. Evidence of the rehearsal process is available in

rehearsal plans and notes in a choreographer's journal as well as videos from rehearsals.

The first few rehearsals were a kind of series of choreographic experiments as I struggled

to figured out how to incorporate the ballet without manipulating the steps into a modern piece of

choreography. I really struggled for the first week, mainly I think because I was not looking at

the dance as a whole, or from a very artistic point of view. I had a really helpful conversation

with one of my dance teachers at my ballet studio where she made me think about what makes a

dance modern or contemporary as opposed to ballet. I then began to incorporate a motif into my

choreography and truly think about the choreography from a modern perspective with the steps
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simply being balletic. It was then after a conversation with Ms. Mansilla about what my I was

trying to discover with my research that I realized what I truly wanted to discover was if I could

make a cohesive piece of choreography with modern choreography techniques such as flow,

purposeful stillness, and unpredictable movement patterns with ballet steps. After that point I

threw out my original parameters and allowed any ballet step, with a choreographic focus of

incorporating only modern choreography techniques, especially the ones previously mentioned

as they differ most drastically from what is seen in a ballet variation.

The final product of this project was a piece of choreography which will be performed at

the Young Choreographers Showcase, as well as put into a video with explanation of the

research and product. Evidence of this is available as the video is to be displayed on my website

along with the rest of the research project.

Overall, I think I had a good idea for this project although the execution had a few

bumps. This process has required me to think about dance in a lot of new ways and has definitely

pushed me out of my comfort zone. Through all of my research and experimentation through

choreography I have gotten an answer to my guiding question which will be discussed in the

conclusion section.

Timeline and Evidence

Dates Activity Evidence Hrs.

Week 1 Sept. 17-22 Analysis of classical Notes from 2.5

variations for watching
frequently used steps. videos in
evidence file
First two rehearsals 1
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w/ dancer. Mentors (Ms.

Mansilla and
Mr. Cesler)
witnessed

Sep. 22 Senior Project Journal 1

Week 2 Sept. 25-29 Rehearsals w/ dancer Mentors (Ms. 2

Mansilla and
Mr. Cesler)
witnessed
Video from
rehearsal

Week 3 Oct. 2-6 Rehearsals w/ dancer Mentors (Ms. 2

& conversation w/ Mansilla and
mentor (Mansilla) Mr.Cesler)
witnessed
Video from
rehearsal

Oct. 5 Senior Project Journal 2

Week 4 Oct.18-20 Rehearsal w/ dancer Mentor (Ms. 1

Mansilla)
witnessed

Week 5 Oct. 23-27 Rehearsal w/ dancer Mentor (Mr. .5

Cesler)
witnessed

Week 6 Oct 30-Nov.3 YCS tech, dress and Final product 2

show posted to
website

Total Hours 10

Conclusion

The final product of this research project turned out to be a successful piece of

choreography. Choreographing this piece was one of the hardest things Ive ever done, I had to
BALLET BECOMES MODERN 9

really think about dance in new ways. I've never felt my own creativity so stifled before, every

single one of my instincts felt like the wrong step in the process and it prompted me to go

through a lot of reaching out to those around me for guidance and having to let go of a lot of

ideas that aren't necessarily needed. Another struggle was that in the beginning of the process I

had quite a few unnecessary parameters set on myself that made it quite difficult for me to get

very far. Had I not shifted the intent of my product I may have driven myself insane. Originally I

intended to use only steps used frequently in classical ballet variations and then from there create

modern choreography. What I ended up with was quite different but I learned a lot not only

about myself as a dancer and choreographer but about ballet and modern as art forms and the

ideas that go into them choreographically. About myself as a choreographer I learned that I work

much better when I don't work from such a specific idea, if I can just move and let the music and

movement flow together more organically it comes easier and I end up liking it much more.

Before this process I had been taught about the choreographic process but I did not have as deep

of an understanding of it as I do now. I also learned that a great deal goes into defining ballet and

modern or any type of dance, especially a style such as contemporary which can involve so

much, they are far more complex and connected than I previously realized. The answer to my

guiding question,Can classical ballet steps be used with modern choreographic techniques to

create a cohesive piece of choreography? is yes. What is left unanswered by my question is

what are the limits. Limits could be certain steps and defined choreographic techniques that

determine what is a modern choreographic technique and what is necessarily a ballet step.

Acknowledgments
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I would like to acknowledge YPAS for giving me the space and knowledge of

choreography through my classes to complete this project. I would also like to thank my

mentors, Ms. Mansilla and Mr.Cesler, for their guidance through the choreographic process. I

would like to give a great deal of thanks to my dancer, Jordyn Gibson who worked hard and

allowed me to work through all of my theories and ideas. I would like to acknowledge my dance

teacher, Ariadne Conner who provided me guidance throughout the struggles of this process.

Lastly I would like to thank Nick Zalla, a friend and student at U of L who checked out the

books I needed for research for me tuse from the Ekstrom library.

References

Cohen, S.J. (1982). Verbs of motion. Next week, swan lake: Reflection on dance and dances.

Hey hey he (pp.109-136). Middletown, CT. Wesleyan University Press.

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Foulkes, J.L. (2002). Pioneer women. Modern bodies: Dance and American modernism from

hello hey Martha Graham to Alvin Ailey. (p. 27-50) Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North

hello hey Carolina Press.

Looseleaf, V. (Dec. 01. 2012). Modern vs. contemporary. Dance magazine.

Hey hey Retrieved from:

Hey hey http://www.dancemagazine.com/modern_vs_contemporary-2306900829.html