When Back Stage debuted, on December 2, 1960, artfully conceived dances by Jerome Robbins, Gower Champion, and Peter Gennaro were enriching the Broadway musicals "Gypsy," "Bye Bye Birdie," and "Fiorello!" The ballet world had begun to swoon over the virile athleticism of its new all-American star, Edward Villella, while modern dance fans remained ecstatic over the premiere, earlier in the year, of Alvin Ailey's masterpiece, "Revelations." Today, Broadway dance includes everything from male strippers to puppets to disco. Ballet companies are absorbing and benefiting from the choreographic imaginations of modern dance artists, while the post-modern and serious contemporary dance scene is withering under severe financial distress. Our terpsichorean climate has altered dramatically since Back Stage first hit the newsstands in 1960. What were the catalysts of change and how can we characterize each of the past four decades of dance?
BROADWAY DANCE
The 1960s was the last decade of the "golden age" of Broadway dance. Choreographers were making dances that were tightly woven into the overall fabrics of the musicals and served integral dramatic functions. Robbins' dances for "Fiddler on the Roof" (1964) brilliantly energized the action, while simultaneously embodying the show's overriding social themes. Bob Fosse's choreography for Gwen Verdon in "Sweet Charity" (1966) was an exemplar of how dance movement can enhance character development. In "Cabaret" (1966), Ron Field's dances metaphorically bolstered the musical's decadent portrayal of the infectious growth of Nazism.
By the end of the 1960s, however, American society, divided by political controversies such as the Vietnam War, embraced a wave of cultural nostalgia-- a return to old-fashioned styles of entertainment that reminded us of simpler times and calmed our confused notions of patriotism. For Broadway choreographers, this meant a return to the flashy, tap dancing routines that characterized musicals of the 1920s and 1930s. Coupled with the renewed interest in hoofing that grew out of a rising awareness of African-American culture spurred by the Civil Rights movement, 1970s nostalgia launched a two-decade revivification of big tap dance musicals. Audiences flocked to "No, No, Nanette" (1971), "Bubbling Brown Sugar" (1976), "42nd Street" (1980), "Sophisticated Ladies" (1981), and "Anything Goes" (1988).
It was during this period that the Broadway musical lost the expressive use of dance as an integrated dramatic component. With the exception of Michael Bennett's "A Chorus Line" (1975-- that landmark paean to Broadway gypsies) and Fosse's "Chicago" (1975-- distinguished by the choreographer's uniquely captivating movement vocabulary), most musicals of the 1970s and 1980s used dance simply to entertain or decorate the stage. Serious concert dance choreographers, who in previous eras had shared their talents with Broadway, were no longer choreographing musicals. Robbins had returned to the New York City Ballet and the pervading post-modern aesthetic encouraged its followers to say "no" to theatricality in dance performance. The intense verbal density of the shows of Stephen Sondheim and the imported sung-through pop operas also contributed to the decline of Broadway dance; these kinds of musicals left virtually no room for dancing of any sort. Sadly, in 1985, due to lack of nominees, the dance category was eliminated and no Tony Award was granted for Choreography.
Theatrical dance of the 1990s was stimulated by an increased interest in human physicality, fueled by the health and fitness craze of the 1980s, and advances in sports medicine that skyrocketed dancers' techniques to astounding new heights. Audiences developed an enthusiasm for displays of technical virtuosity and Broadway soon became a showcase for a vast variety of new choreographic activity. Susan Stroman wowed us with her imaginative incorporation of props in the spectacular dances she created for "Crazy For You" (1992) and "Contact" (1999). Garth Fagan orchestrated some of Broadway's most unusually thrilling choreography for the dancing human-puppets of "The Lion King" (1998). Graciela Daniele pushed the boundaries of song, dance, and text in the intelligently conjured productions "Once on This Island" (1990) and "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" (1995). Noteworthy newcomers Rob Marshall, Kathleen Marshall, and Joey McKneeley made traditionally crafted dances and staging that enlivened "She Loves Me" (1994 Revival), "Kiss Me, Kate" (1999 revival), and "Smokey Joe's Cafe" (1995), respectively. Dance companies and choreographers from abroad also contributed to the revitalized Broadway dance amalgam of the 1990s, satisfying audience desires for titillating kinesthetic prowess, with such extravaganzas as "Forever Tango" (1998), "Riverdance" (2000), and Matthew Bourne's gender-bending "Swan Lake" (1998).
REINKING REVERES BROADWAY'S REVOLUTIONARIES
The acclaimed Broadway dancer Ann Reinking (who choreographed "Chicago" [1996 revival] and co-directed the retrospective "Fosse" [1999]) recently spoke to Back Stage about the history and current state of Broadway dance.
"The most significant developments in Broadway dance," Reinking feels, "have been initiated by Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, and, for awhile, Michael Kidd. These artists were quite revolutionary in that they had a real story to tell and it was their vision that was put up on the stage. They were the original director-choreographers and they worked with real triple-threat performers, so that the true ideal of musical theatre-- which is the exercise of all three disciplines to tell a story-- was mined to the hilt. Michael Bennett was also enamored with all three disciplines and was very gifted. I also think Graciela Daniele did a good job in this area-- I loved her 'Tango Apasionado' and 'Dangerous Games.'
"For about 10 years or more," Reinking continues, "we had a great era of the singer-actor, with all those musicals like 'Phantom of the Opera' which are almost operas or rock-operas, like 'Les Miserables' and 'Jesus Christ Superstar.' To really get the equal incorporation of dance back on Broadway we had to turn to revivals. I think true musical theatre dance has been given another shot, via all the revivals we're now seeing, and the retrospectives.
"Although I think 'Swing!' and 'Contact' are wonderful, and part of a great resurgence of dance on Broadway, in terms of genuinely significant developments-- where there's real innovation and a push towards something that hadn't been done before, such as making dance an equal component in the musical-- you still have to look back to that great triumvirate-- de Mille, Robbins, and Fosse-- and also Kidd. They are the ones who really did it, plus they are the ones who inspired all of us choreographing on Broadway right now-- Graciela [Daniele], Susan [Stroman], Lynn [Taylor-Corbett], myself, and there's also Kathleen Marshall coming up. Do you notice that there are a great number of female choreographers working on Broadway right now? Many more so than ever before! And I think these women are all quite interesting. There's really a lot to look at on Broadway right now," Reinking concludes, "and it has a real classic appeal. It may come from a certain era, but it's not dated. And when you judge something on a developmental level," she asserts, "remember, a decade is just a hiccup."
BALLET AND MODERN DANCE
In the 1960s, while Villella was changing the elitist, European image of classical ballet and challenging the effeminate stereotype of the male danseur, an influx of Russian superstars also helped foster a newfound popularity for ballet among the general public. Beginning with the defection of Rudolf Nureyev in 1961, followed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Natalia Makarova, Alexandr Godunov, and others throughout the 1970s, classical ballet dancers became "household names," spurring a dramatic growth in audiences and financial support for ballet. Thanks to the establishment of the National Endowment for the Arts, other government agencies, and the Ford Foundation, the major New York companies flourished and smaller regional ballet troupes sprang up nationwide. In response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1969 Arthur Mitchell co-founded Dance Theatre of Harlem, the world's first African-American classical ballet company. Reflecting the new popular awareness of concert dance, by the mid-1970s, the Public Broadcasting System began telecasting its series of great performances of ballet and modern dance.
During the "dance boom" of the 1970s, the governing aesthetic in modern dance changed from the mid-century focus on inventing personal movement vocabularies to a new post-modern sensibility. Driven by Yvonne Rainer's famous manifesto that urges dance-makers to say "no" to a litany of conventions-- such as spectacle, stages, and even dance steps-- post-modern choreographers rejected the expressive, theatrical, and technical components of modern dance in favor of pedestrian movement vocabularies and minimalist approaches to choreographic form. Ingenious choreographers such as Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Steve Paxton, and Rainer forced us to broaden our conceptions of dance and the relationships between sound, movement, and intellect.
Drastic cuts in federal and state funding for the arts during the 1980s crippled the concert dance world. Many companies began to fold, while lots of dancers and choreographers (such as Mark Morris) moved to Europe in order to continue their careers. The division between ballet and modern dance-- based on longstanding ideological and aesthetic oppositions-- dissipated significantly during this period. Ballet companies began hiring modern choreographers to create original contemporary ballets. An exciting era of cross-pollination commenced: Twyla Tharp made stylish modern ballets for American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet; modern pieces by the supremely popular Paul Taylor showed up in abundance on ballet programs; and, by the late 1990s, ballet virtuoso Vladimir Malakhov was dancing for modern choreographer David Parsons, while Broadway choreographer Susan Stroman was creating a piece for the Martha Graham Dance Company. Today, in order to survive, a serious concert dance artist (or company!) must embrace it all-- ballet to post-modern, and everything in between.
ANTHONY LAMENTS MODERN DANCE LOSSES
Recognized as one of the leaders of the modern dance movement-- as a performer, choreographer, and exceptional teacher-- Mary Anthony is worried about the future of her chosen art form. In a recent interview with Back Stage, she explained, "In the 1940s, modern dance had something to say. It was following the Depression and the wars and had a great deal of passionate concerns to 'talk' about. And that's where the art form's initial excitement lay. Then we began to realize that it had to be more than that, so Martha [Graham] and Doris [Humphrey] and the rest of them began to introduce the element of theatre, which was really very important. And then the generation that followed them continued to study choreography, learning about form, structure, and music. Now all the great modern dance companies are in trouble financially, and what I call the 'present generation' of choreographers are doing this contact improvisation, with no form, no structure, no understanding of music, and this, I feel, may be the end of modern dance.
"I went a week ago to see Jose Limon's 'There is a Time.' It's magnificent. I wept at the end of it. And I thought this is modern dance, it's what I started out with. And then this weekend I went to a program at the Cunningham Studio that was just embarrassing in its corniness, its tastelessness, its lack of musical knowledge. I came away from it totally depressed. The dancers were very good, but the choreography was not.
"A big part of the problem," Anthony asserts, "is that the cost of living has gone up so much that students who used to have time to really study choreography can't anymore, because they're waiting on tables, walking dogs, or moving to Brooklyn. And if you are going to do choreography, seriously, you have to get in the studio at least several times a week. You see, back in the 1970s there was something called the Dance Touring Program, in which dancers could make a living through their dancing-- by touring and then going on unemployment insurance when the tour was over. President Reagan cut that program. It was a dually funded program. For example, if a college wanted a dance company to come to their campus, it paid half the expenses and the government paid the other half. So there was a great deal of work for dancers, modern dancers in particular, at that time.
"My hope for the future of contemporary dance is that it will move back to being theatre instead of just dance. We've said so much already movement-wise, physically, in both ballet and modern dance, that there now has to be another channel, and I think the answer is to find ways to combine movement and theatre. I don't mean in a jazzy, Broadway way-- and I don't mean to imply there's anything wrong with that, I think 'Fosse' is a real good show-- but to add movement, in a deeper way, to illuminate theatre.
"It's difficult for choreographers today," Anthony observes. "They seem to have nothing to inspire them. I think it all began at the end of the 1980s. The social climate changed so radically-- with the Gulf War, Rwanda, Bosnia, so many things going wrong in the world-- that these issues were almost too big to talk about through dance, whereas we in the early days of modern dance could more easily talk about our social climate-- the depression, or the Spanish War. That was a small war. How do you talk about the Gulf War in dance? It could be that the social picture became overwhelming and, therefore, dancers turned to contact improvisation, where they were simply touching another human being, rather than trying to touch the world at large. I feel the artist is the editor of the beauty of the world. We are responsible for making people see that no matter how terrible things are at the moment, there is still beauty around us."