Dance is an art-form that entertains and inspires. Over the years, many dancers who are now seen as the pioneers of modern dance influenced the art-form with their unique ideas and techniques. Dance has changed over time and although the old techniques are still practised and involved Isadora Duncan, Ruth St Denis, Ted Shawn, Doris Humphrey, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham and Lester Horton have enabled dance to evolve into the largely versatile art-form that we are familiar with today.
Isadora Duncan was an incredibly unique dancer and choreographer whose free flowing style was very different from the prominent style of the time. The prominent style in the 19 hundreds was ballet and Isadora’s style created controversy as it was extremely different. She was inspired by the sea, the wind, classical music and ancient greeks. Her inspirations enabled her to create masterpieces which outstanded and inspired audiences. Isadora was described by many as. She had an ability to transfer feelings and beliefs into movement and her focus was on trying to “dance a different dance” and tell her own story. Isadora Duncan is a cultural phenomenon due to her experiments of human movement which enabled the notion of “freedom…show more content… This dream was accomplished in 1948 with the opening of ‘Dance Theatre’, this was the first theatre that was devoted to only teaching modern dance. The company taught Horton’s codified technique which is known as Horton Technique. The technique focused attention on the body as a whole and involves strength, coordination and flexibility to ensure “freedom of expression”. Throughout his work Horton’s approach to dance progressed and involved different aspects such as upper body isolations, Japanese arm gestures, Native American folk dance and he payed particular attention to the eyes, hands and head. The characteristics of his style were very different from the conventional style of the