This forward and backward curving of the torso is central to all forms of modern dance. Look in the mirror at your torso as you exaggerate your breathing, and you will see the beginnings of the movement called a contraction. The early women who pioneered the field of modern dance removed their corsets and watched what happened as their breath moved through their upper bodies. They couldn't easily move their torsos or even breathe deeply in many cases. Modern dance began in an era when women wore corsets. You may notice that your teacher begins class with exhaling and curving in the middle or even sitting on the floor and rounding the center of the torso. This is what is meant by centrally initiated movement it begins in the center of the body. Movements in modern dance frequently start from the middle of the body, using the muscles of the abdomen, often coupled with an exhalation.

Let's look at each of these preferences individually. Running through the space and holding your breath, for example, will not look or feel the same as running through the space using a deep exhalation. Sometimes the application of one of these ways of moving is the difference between a well-executed movement and a passable one. If you listen to the directions that modern dance teachers give, and you pay close attention to the feedback or corrections that you and other dancers receive in class, you will likely hear these ideas mentioned frequently. These preferences in ways of moving are equal in importance in modern dance one is not more central or more common than the others. These preferences include centrally initiated movement, breath, integrated body, preference for flow over shape, and countertension. In this section you will learn about these preferences in modern dance that are true for all styles of the form. How, then, is modern dance different from other types of dance? The answer to this question lies in the ways in which movements are put together and also in the aesthetic preferences of the art form.

Each genre of dance uses the same instrument, the human body. Now that you have a grasp of the way in which modern dance looks at movement, the next step is to understand how these movement efforts of space, time, weight, and flow are frequently used in modern dance.

Easy dance moves biomechanics