Dancers and choreographers who helped found modern dance, which broke from the rules of classical ballet in the early twentieth century with barefoot, expressive, weighted movement, and those who carried it on. A person belongs here when the cited article calls them a modern dancer or a pioneer of modern dance. It excludes classical ballet dancers. They created new vocabularies of movement, such as contraction and release, fall and recovery, and ran companies and schools that trained later dancers, and a person is placed here by the description the cited article gives.
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Modern Dance Pioneers
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Martha Graham (Wikipedia)
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Martha Graham (May 11, 1894, April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer, teacher and choreographer responsible for creating the Graham technique.
Isadora Duncan - Wikipedia
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Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877, or May 27, 1878, September 14, 1927) was an American-born dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance and performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the United States.
Merce Cunningham (Wikipedia)
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Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham (April 16, 1919, July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years.
Alvin Ailey - Wikipedia
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Ailey's work fused theater, modern dance, ballet, and jazz with Black vernacular, creating hope-fueled choreography that is credited with spreading global awareness of Black life in America.
Loie Fuller (Wikipedia)
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Loie Fuller (; born Marie Louise Fuller; January 15, 1862, January 1, 1928), also known as Louie Fuller and Loïe Fuller, was an American dancer and a pioneer of modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques.
Katherine Dunham (Wikipedia)
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One of the most renowned modern dance artists of the 20th century, she has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance."
While a student at the University of Chicago, Dunham also performed as a dancer, ran a dance school and earned an early bachelor's degree in anthropology.
Wikipedia: Ruth St. Denis
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Denis (born Ruth Dennis; January 20, 1879, July 21, 1968) was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art and paving the way for other women in dance.
Wikipedia: Choi Seung-hee
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Choi Seung-hee (Korean: 최승희; Hanja: 崔承喜; November 24, 1911, August 8, 1969) was a leading Korean modern dancer.
Twyla Tharp (Wikipedia)
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as a pioneer of American modern dance
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