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Modern Dance Videos and DVDs

Modern dance videos Lester Horton, Martha Graham, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn.

Dancing In The Light Video

DVD Only - $19.99
The American Dance Festival presents Dancing in the Light, a one-hour modern dance television program showcasing six historic dance compositions by African American choreographers.

All of the dances were originally recorded for the Emmy Award-winning series Free to Dance, a three-hour documentary that aired on PBS in 2001 as part of the Great Performances: Dance in America series. While Free to Dance uses select excerpts from the dances to inform its narrative within a historical context, Dancing in the Light features six dances in their entirety or in the case of one work, a complete section.

The dances include: Ostrich (1932) by Asadata Dafora, Barrelhouse Blues (1943) by Katherine Dunham, Strange Fruit (1943) by Pearl Primus, Mourner's Bench (1947) by Talley Beatty, Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder (1959) by Donald McKayle, First Section of D-Man in the Waters (1989) by Bill T. Jones.

50 mins. (2007)
DVD - All Region

Dance Technique of Lester Horton: Guide for Teaching an Advanced Beginners Class Video

Dance Technique of Lester Horton Guide for Teaching an Advanced Beginners Class DVD Only - $29.99
The first video class teaching the legendary Lester Horton technique – The Advanced Beginner Class taught by Ana Marie Forsythe including Improvisation with Marjorie Perces.

This Advanced Beginners Horton class was created to show how the Horton studies can be incorporated and taught within a class. The class is based on the book The Dance Technique of Lester Horton by Marjorie Perces, Ana Marie Forsythe and Cheryl Bell, and the three Dance Spotlight videos: Lester Horton Technique The Warm-Up, Intermediate and Advanced Levels. These sources contain more in depth analysis of the movements and can be used as reference by teachers and students.

The class contains:
THE WARM UP with Ana Marie Forsythe: Round Over and Round Up; Flat Back Series; Primitive Squat Descent and Ascent; Lateral Stretches; Release Swing Series; Fortification #1; Prelude #1; Twists with Open Egyptian Arms; Leg Swings; Leg Swings with Stag Position Balance; Preparation for Deep Forward Lunges; and Coccyx Balance.
IMPROVISATION with Marjorie Perces.
CENTER FLOOR work with Ana Marie Forsythe: Lateral T Study.
PROGRESSIONS: Side Hip Pull; Side Hip Pull with Figure 4 Turn; Side Hip Pull with Figure 4 Turn and Lateral T Balance; Single Foot Arch Springs; Single Foot Arch Springs with Stag Jump; and Fortification #14.

DANCERS: Zara Bartels – Lion King – London production; Courtney Corbin – Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 5/05; Katherine Horrigan - Elisa Monte Dance Company; Mary “Little light” Hudetz – North Carolina Dance Theater II; Kevin Jackson – Dallas Black Dance Company; ShaylaVie Jenkins; Andrew Lamar – Kansas City Ballet; James Pierce – Ailey II; Yusha Marie Sorzano – Ailey II; and Hattie Mae Williams – Independent choreographer. All are graduates or former students in the Ailey School/Fordham University BFA program.

90 mins. (2007)
DVD - All Region

Lester Horton Technique, The Warm-Up Video

DVD Only - $19.99

This is a revolutionary dance training tape for both modern dance and exercise enthusiasts. This unique program is designed to prepare dancers for rehearsal and performance. The technique's creator, Lester Horton, was determined to develop a warm-up that did not limit how the body could move, and that was anatomically corrective. As a result, his method has enormous variety, range and complexity. Many noted dancers began their dance training with Horton and used the technique with their own students. Horton protégées lead a group of young professional dancers through leg swings, metatarsal presses and fortifications in this exclusive presentation. For the professional dancer who needs to build strength, agility and flexibility, this tape provides important injury-preventing techniques. It's also an excellent way for the non-dancer or athlete to do a non-aerobic workout that helps develop grace and relieves muscle stress.

45 mins. (1990/2005) Lester Horton
DVD - All Region.

Lester Horton Technique, Intermediate Level Video

Lester Horton Technique - Intermediate Level DVD Only - $19.99
Dance Spotlight presents the Intermediate tape of the innovative dance training technique of Lester Horton for modern dancers, teachers and choreographers. Lester Horton developed a training method which expanded the body's traditional range of motion. These codified technique studies preserve this important achievement in modern dance training for future generations. Marjorie B. Perces, former Horton dancer and teacher, and Ana Marie Forsythe, chair person of the Horton Department at the Ailey School since 1979, lead a group of professional dancers through Preludes, Fortifications, Hinges, Balances and other studies which continue the documentation begun in "Lester Horton Technique - The Warm-Up". The material presented on this tape helps to build strength, agility, and flexibility. This is also an excellent way to do a non-aerobic workout and beautiful movements that help develop grace, free artistic expression and reduce muscle stress. Features Prelude Studies #1, 2 and 3, Fortification Studies #7-12, Hinge Studies #1, 2 and 3, Falls, Balance Studies, Figure 4 Study, and Percussive Stroke Study.

60 mins. (2002/2005) Lester Horton
DVD - All Region.

Denishawn Dances On! Video

Denishawn Dances On DVD Only (D2234) - $19.99
Between 1919 and 1931, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, and their company toured the entire United States, England, Cuba, and the Far East. Within that period, they created some 300 pieces, using their original technique based on classic ballet discipline molded to pliant bodies and bare feet, with emphasis on various ethnic cultures.

With this new expression of movement, they became the creators of the choreography from which American Modern Dance evolved. Sadly, little of the rich body of work from that time could be visually preserved. Only over the last twenty years did Barton Munaw, a member of Denishawn in its last year, and Jane Sherman, the last living member of the original Denishawn company, succeed in creating this video-documentary - the largest re-creation of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn's dances in existence, featuring 23 powerful works of the Mother and Father of American Modern Dance. With the issue of this video, their mission to preserve these seminal works from oblivion has been accomplished.

100 mins. (2002/2006)
DVD - All Region.

Denishawn: The Birth of Modern Dance Video

Denishawn The Birth of Modern Dance DVD Only (D1301) - $19.99
This historic dance documentary tells the story of one of the least publicized, yet most-influential modern dance companies in America.

Founded by Ruth St. Denis and her husband Ted Shawn at the turn of the century, Denishawn has become legendary for its unique approach to contemporary dance. Martha Graham, Jack Cole, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman and countless others have built their companies and their work on the foundation established by St. Denis and Shawn.

Incorporating elements of Far and Middle Eastern dances to create abstract pieces they called “musical visualizations,” the couple rejected the tradition of basing dances on fairy tales: their dancers played human beings, not sugarplums or swans.

Husband-and-wife actors Paul and June Reed portray the Shawns in “interview” segments, and rare film footage of the real St. Denis and Shawn show them at the peak of their creative talents. The current Denishawn Company re-stages some of the founders' original choreography, which remains as vital and modern today as it was then.

40 mins. (1988/2006)
DVD - All Region.