2nd Generation Modern Dancers
by Anna Adams Stark
By the end of World War II, many new choreographers had emerged from the first generation of modem dancers. These dancers began to break all of the rules that had been set for them by their predecessors, who had had to establish modern dance as a respectable and independent art form. This new generation of dancers created dances that had no theme and expressed no emotion. A wide majority of the pieces threw out the dance vocabulary and dealt with fall and recovery, contraction and release. These choreographers had no urge to uplift or inform their audiences. Among these choreographers were Merce Cunningham, Anna Sololow, Paul Taylor, and Erik Hawkins.
Merce Cunningham grew up in Washington State. He received his first formal dance training at Cornish College in Seattle. From 1939 to 1945 he was a soloist in Martha's Graham company. During this time period of time, Cunningham began to choreograph independently with John Cage. He formed is own company in 1953 with Cage at the Black Mountain College. The way that Cunningham designed his dances was unlike any dancers before him. Cunningham would not have a set plot or set characters in his dance. There were times when he would write the name of a movement, the name of a dancer, a length of time, and a space on the stage. Then he would toss a dice or dip into a grab bag to decide what dancers would do what movement for how long and where.
Another extremely influential dancer of this period was Anna Solokow. Like Merce Cunningham, Solokow began her dancing career dancing with Martha Graham.
She then studied with Louis Horst at the Neighborhood Playhouse where she became Horst's assistant and most prominent composition student. Soon afterward, Solokow created the first dance company in Mexico. Anna Solokow's choreography frequently dealt with the themes of alienation, isolation, and despair. Sokolow has supplied the world with her unique modern choreography for almost seventy years and still amazes the world today with her choreography.
Paul Taylor grew up in Washington D.C. He studied dance at Juilliard. From 1955 to 1962, Taylor was a compelling soloist performer with the Martha Graham Dance Company. However, Taylor broke away from Graham to choreograph his own pieces and is most well known for his fascinating choreography. Two of his most sensational pieces are 3 Epitaphs and Aureole. "Paul Taylor turns everyday movement into breathtaking art of heart-wrenching beauty... paints dazzling tableaux that sizzle with passion ... and exposes the cloud in every silver lining." (excerpt from the biography on the Paul Taylor Dance Company website).
Erik Hawkins was born in Colorado, and went to Harvard University on a scholarship thinking he would spend the rest of his life studying Greek culture. Yet, after Hawkins saw Harald Kreutzberg and Yvonne Georgi dance, he knew he wanted to be a dancer. He then became the first American student in George Balanchine's School of American Ballet. After that, Erik Hawkins then became Martha Graharn's first male dancer. Hawkins intensely believed in the beauty and power of live music in the theater. His company always performed to live music. Erik Hawkins is known as one of the pioneers of modern dance through his original choreography and evolution of a new theory and technique of modern dance.
"The modern dance is a point of view, attitude toward the function of art in a contemporary world.
As that world changes, the modern dance will change, for the symbols will again-
as they become acceptable- lose their power to evoke the hidden realities.
They will again have to be recharged, revitalized; even demolished and recreated anew in order to serve their function.
Unless this happens, the modern dance is not modern- it is dead." (quote found on the Development of modern Dance in the U.S.)
This generation of dancers kept this concept of continually changing dance ideas going with their
beautiful dancing and compelling choreography.