CONTEMPORARY DANCE

Contemporary is a freeform, creative dance form that combines classical and jazz technique with a sense of expressive release.  The choreography usually tells a story or portrays a theme and relies greatly on the contribution of the dancers themselves to use feeling and imagination.  It is versatile in the different styles of music you can dance to and movements can vary between graceful, beautiful movement to sharp and harsh. 

While it explores the ease of movement, it works within the body’s natural alignment and the concepts of flow and weight, rebound and suspension, contraction and release, fall and recovery.

Contemporary is often united with other dance forms to create new styles of movement. This may include Lyrical and Neoclassical, both of which are explored within our Contemporary dance classes.

Lyrical - Combines the techniques of jazz, contemporary and ballet. Lyrical invites dancers to use their bodies to interpret the music. While mainly choreographed to music with lyrics, "lyrical" generally refers to the expressive, melodic and highly emotional quality of dance. Dancers gain fluidity of movement, grace and control.

Neoclassical – A ballet style using traditional ballet vocabulary, but is generally more expansive than what the classical structure allows. For example, dancers often dance at more extreme tempos and perform more technical movements. Spacing in neoclassical ballet is usually more modern or complex than in classical ballet and is a defining characteristic of neoclassical ballet. It is often described as less rigid and more sleek than classical ballet.

Offered from Cecchetti Grade 1 and over (7 years of age), as well as a part of our General Dance (Recreational) Stream. Students in our exam stream are required to be taking ballet to participate in contemporary classes.