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What exactly is Modern dance? This session offers an accessible overview of the rich history of Modern dance including its origins—both American and European lineages—and its theatrical development. Excerpts of important dance works from significant artists of the past 140 years will enrich your understanding of the art form. We will learn about how and why a decisive break from Ballet reshaped performance across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. From early Modern dance pioneers like Isadora Duncan to contemporary artists of today, we will explore how shifts in philosophy, music, visual art, and technology influenced ideas about the body, space, time, and narrative. Using video clips, we will connect choreographers and their significant works to the social contexts that shaped them such as women’s emancipation, the civil rights movement, and anti-war counterculture. Designed for curious dance audiences and newcomers alike, this talk uses video excerpts, guided observation, and plain-language analysis to build a working knowledge of dance history and a vocabulary for watching dance. Attendees will leave able to recognize hallmark techniques, situate major artists on a timeline, and identify through-lines that link early modern dance to today’s concert, community, and cross-disciplinary stages. Recommended for arts enthusiasts, educators, and anyone interested in how dance reflects—and helps to shape—the modern world.
Sarah Hixon is a choreographer, dance educator, and artistic director of Hixon Dance. The company is known for its collaborations with other artists, especially musicians, and for presenting impactful and accessible performances. Ms. Hixon studied choreography with Doug Varone, Bebe Miller, David Parsons, Susan Rethorst, Vera Blaine, Susan Shields, and others. She trained at The Washington Ballet, American Repertory Theatre, and The Milwaukee Ballet, among others. She holds a BFA in Dance from George Mason University and an MFA in Choreography from The Ohio State University. Hixon’s award-winning choreography has been presented at The Wexner Center for the Arts, The National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., Joy of Motion, Playhouse Square, Short North Stage, The Lincoln Theatre, The Fairfax Center for the Arts, The Pivot Center, and others. She has worked with Opera Project Columbus, the Worthington Chamber Orchestra, CATCO is Kids, Vox Novus, COSI, and many collaborators throughout the region. Recent collaborative partners include The Columbus Symphony, The Movement Project, poet Maggie Smith, and composer Michael Rene Torres. She has received special commendations for her work from Congresswoman Joyce Beatty and Ohio House Representative Beth Liston. She has taught at several universities and pre-professional schools throughout the region including the OSU Department of Dance, BalletMet Columbus, New Albany Ballet Company, Wittenberg University, George Mason University, and The Peabody Institute among others.
Denotes MAC-Presented Program