Modern Dance Modern Dance in the UK London Contemporary Dance Theatre Dance post 1960

Kurt Jooss: The Green Table

The first major influence on modern dance in England came from refugee German dancers in the 1930s, particularly Kurt Jooss and Rudolf Laban. Laban’s school in south London, The Laban Centre, has introduced some of the most interesting new dance talents of the last twenty years.

Kurt Jooss, The Green Table

In the second half of the century the inspiration came from America. In 1966 an admirer of Martha Graham’s work, Robin Howard, founded a school based on her technique from which the London Contemporary Dance Theatre evolved. It was the first contemporary dance company in England. Within a year, Ballet Rambert had also transformed into a contemporary dance company and by the end of the 1960s the Royal Ballet was performing modern dance-based works alongside its classical repertoire.

Tanztheater Wuppertal in Viktor

Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal

Leaders of the new generation of dancers continue to experiment, taking movement inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. Twyla Tharp, Pina Bausch and Mark Morris are just a few of the major contributors.

Jooss, Kurt

Jooss was a major figure in German modern dance. He worked with Rudolf Laban before founding a company and school in Essen, which survives today. In 1932 he formed the Ballets Jooss, touring Europe to great acclaim. Jooss's ballets combined the freedom of Central European dance with the symbolic approach to character and subject typical of German expressionism, as in his famous anti-war ballet The Green Table. In 1934 the company left Germany for England returning to Essen after the war.

Laban, Rudolf

Born in Hungary, Laban worked extensively in Germany, where he helped lay the foundations of European modern dance. In 1938 he fled to England where he continued his work. He invented Labanotation, a system of writing down movement. He promoted dance in education and studied the needs of industrial workers and psychiatric patients, which led to the use of movement and dance in therapy. His explorations of movement as behaviour created a basis for the training of dancers and actors in expressive movement.