Dancing naturally

About this book

This edited collection illuminates what made dance modern in keeping with the spirit of developments in science and other artforms in the early twentieth century. A revitalised interest in nature, the ancient Greeks, and the freedom of the body to express powerful emotions was to transform dance and physical culture. Contemporaries of Isadora Duncan and LoIe Fuller, the distinctive contributions of dance teachers and artists, Madge Atkinson, Doris Humphrey and Ruby Ginner who generated schools and syncretic creative approaches are documented in this book. Educators and scientists were harnessing the natural in gymnastics and social theory, while inter-related cultural trends were inspiring arts practices, such as Art Nouveau, new music and fashion, to study 'nature'. These developments in the UK, US, Europe and Australia created the landscape for the serious pursuit of dance, in the flow of modernity, and continue to influence the major currents of dance activity today.