Music and dance in the twentieth century : issues and analyses

Abstract

The thesis considers ways of analysing music-dance relationships, with a particular emphasis upon contemporary dance.  The first chapter considers the underlying issues from an historical perspective and examines the ideas of several innovative choreographers and composers, including Isadora Duncan, Ruth St Denis, Mary Wigman, Louis Horst and Henry Cowell.  The second chapter is largely devoted to an account of the work of John Cage and Merce Cunningham, whose quest for the independent of music and dance raises important issues relating not only to the intrinsic natures of the two art forms, but also to the ways in which relationships are perceived by the spectator.  The third chapter argues that it is possible to consider music-dance relationships from a range of different and contrasting perspectives, including those of the composer and choreographer, performers, and audience.  Most existing approaches to analysis tend to focus on matters of structure and the ways in which choreographers have used music as a point of departure for their own inventions.  The relevance of these methods in more experimental work in which relationships tend to be rather looser is, however, questionable, and the chapter goes on to consider how methods drawn from film music studies might be used to deepen an understanding of how music and dance work together to create meaning.  The last two chapters are case studies of two contrasting dance works, DV8’s Never Again and Merce Cunningham’s Points in Space.  Both are approached largely from the viewpoint of the spectator and explore the ways in which the perception of the dance is influenced by the music, and vice versa.

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