During the early 1960âs, most independent modern dancers struggled to
have their work showcased. However, as Sally Banes suggests in her book
Greenwich Village 1963, the world of dance dramatically changed
with the formation of the Judson Dance Theater. In her opinion, the
theater was a "vital and highly visible collective that
made its impact, not only on the dance world, but on the village art
scene," as well.
The theater grew out of a dance composition class taught by Robert
Dunn, a musician who had studied with John Cage. Unlike most dance
troupes, the members of the Judson Dance Theater were both trained
dancers, as well as, untrained visual artists, musicians, poets, and even
filmmakers. On July 6, 1962 the theater company gave its first
performance, Concert of Dance #1, at the Judson Church. For the
next twenty years, the Judson Dance Theater would dominate postmodern
dance.
Part of the success of the theater was due to the conscious effort of
its artist to work collectively. As Judith Dunn, one dancer in the group
wrote, "no important decisions were made until everyone concerned and
present agreed." This, along with the toleration of artists from a
variety of disciplines, contributed to the groups feeling of unity and
community.
In my opinion, the Judson Dance Theater is extremely important to
Greenwich Village for two reasons. First of all, unlike the other
artistic happenings taking place within the village, Judson was dominated
by women. Not only were they the majority in this group, but they enjoyed
an equivalent status of men and created their own space.
Secondly, the Judson Dance Theater seems to be the unifying art of
Greenwich because its participants were artists from a variety of
disciplines. As Sally Banes suggests, "the Judson Dance Theater became a
metacommunity of sorts where the different
communities revolving around single arts disciplines coalesced and where
interdisciplinary imagination flourished.ä
Author-Sarah Doran
Accessed-Friday 3rd February 2012
This is a group of artists who followed Cunningham's path to create a dance revolution. They were formed in a church, however, the dancers are not always trained. They were very rebellious and they performed anywhere-performance didn't have to haooen on stage. they were a politically active group and they had non-traditional audiences. They blended theatre, film and dance and they performed pedestrian movement which is movement that is done in everyday life.
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