The Early Moderns/Repertory Workshop

What:  One Hundred Years of Modern Dance (The Early Moderns)

When:  Saturday, March 4 and March 11, 2017 from 12:30-3:00pm

Where:  Integrarte Arts, 85 Seaverns Ave., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130.

Who:  Taught by Kathy Hassinger, Artistic Director of Dance Currents, Inc.

Cost: $30/session or $50 for both. Register online at Mindbody or in-person at INTEGRARTE.

Clothing: Please dress in comfortable dance clothes. Bare feet, slippers or jazz shoes are acceptable.  

Ages:  Open Class (Teenagers through Adults).

After a brief warm-up you will be learning the repertory of the following famous Modern Dance Choreographers.  

March 4th Repertory

Narcissus (1903)

Choreography:  Isadora Duncan

Music:  Chopin Opus 64, #2

A dance of the Greek god, Narcissus, discovering his reflection in the water.  Kathy Hassinger learned this from Patricia Adams,

“Dances by Isadora.” At this point, natural movements, that we do everyday became the vocabulary of a new dance language.  

Incense (1906)

Choreographer:  Ruth St. Denis

Music:  Harvey Loomis

Incense was performed as the first piece in St. Denis’ programs to bless the performance space and honor the spiritual world.  

This interpretation is staged by Kathy Hassinger from Jill Beck who used the Labanotation score.

Mazurka and Tango (1920)

Choreographer:  Ted Shawn

Music:  Traditional, played by Meeker

-from Sixteen Dances. Sixteen Rhythms, Sixteen Minutes

Staged by Jill Beck and Kathy Hassinger from the Labanotation score.

March 11th Repertory

Three Brahms Waltzes (1964)

Choreographer:  Charles Weidman

Music:  Sixteen Waltzes by Brahms.  Waltz 9, 13, and 14.

Staged by Jill Beck and Kathy Hassinger from the Labanotation score.

These waltzes were created by Charles Weidman to honor his partner, Doris Humphrey. She felt that movement, like life, began from an off-balance start and continued into a series of falls, rebounds, rises, suspensions and falls again. 

The Pond, the Cage, The Pond (1981)

Choreographer:  Anna Sokolow

Music:  Charles Ives

This interpretation is staged by Jill Beck and taught by Kathy Hassinger, after Lorry May (Sokolow Now!) and Jim May (The Sokolow Theater Dance Ensemble) from the Labanotation score.  Sokolow was known for her intensely psychological dances in which she would reveal the inner lives and alienation of her characters.  

Kathy Hassinger:  is the Artistic Director of Dance Currents Inc. (www.dancecurrentsinc.com). She was head of the Dance Department at Newton Country Day School for seventeen years (1990-2007), and recently retired from Emerson College after teaching Dance History for eight years (2008-20016). Hassinger produces historical modern dances in a program titled One Hundred Years of Modern Dance, and is working on a movie entitled Living the Legacy of Modern Dance.