Can dance be postmodern too?

Whenever I am exploring movements of different eras, I usually look towards music and dance to give me a sense of what they embody because that is what I understand best. During my time at the School of American Ballet in New York City, I was trained in a ballet style called neoclassicism, coined by the founder of New York City Ballet, George Balanchine  (side note: he choreographed a piece called Who Cares? to music of Gershwin). Neoclassicism took a step back from the predominant style of ballet of classicism and romanticism that centered on the dramatics and plots of ballet. Balanchine wanted to focus more on the actual dancing and its cohesion with the music as opposed to the story. The Balanchine technique is more recognized as modernism as it steps outside of tradition; it emphasizes the dancer’s speed as well as asymmetrical and abstract lines of the dancer’s body.

I began to wonder if there are any ballet choreographers who are postmodern but I could not think of any. I then started considering postmodern composers and I immediately thought of the late 20^th century American composer, Phillip Glass. Consequently one of my favorite ballets, Glasspieces, choreographed to some of his work, came to mind.

Glasspieces is a mesmerizing and invigorating ballet, choreographed by Jerome Robbins that “captures the pulsating heartbeat of metropolitan life with its charged, urban choreography, concluding in a finale that propels the corps de ballet across the stage at an electrifying pace” (New York City Ballet). Robbins incorporates classical ballet with steps from postmodern dance. The term “radical eclecticism” could be applied here, as this would be a crossover in different styles. I would add that “disharmonious harmony” may resonate with some people, because postmodern dance and ballet are very different styles, but somehow in this ballet they seem to create harmony. Jencks also talks about “tradition reinterpreted” in which traditions may still be present but they have been redefined or altered. In Glasspieces, the core elements of ballet are still there but they have been reinterpreted, reinvented, and given new meaning. The quick pace of the ballet, as well as the positions in which the dancers are placed on the stage with specific lighting also creates a “suggestive narrative” as it alludes to an urban feeling that is often prevalant to postmodernism.

Here is a video from New York City Ballet that highlights the key components of Glasspieces and it is identified as postmodern. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnFUBGGGFKs

This video also features some of the parts of the ballet that reflect postmodernsim. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsLCUR6OXe0

New York City Ballet. "Georgina Pazcoguin and Adrian Danchig-Waring on GLASS PIECES." NYCB. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2016.