Goodson 1 Emma Goodson Lori Bedell CAS137H October 29, 2012 Ballet Explodes Dance has been around

for centuries. Ballet originated in the court of King Louis XIV. The first ballet company was created in Paris and the art form spread across Europe and Russia. When it came to America however, it was not as well received as it had been long ago in eastern nations. Classical dance lacked support that did not come until the dance boom of the late twentieth century. Funding and well-known artists pushed dance to newer heights. During the boom, dance prospered and audiences were flocking to theaters. Of course the boom eventually died out but the new view of dance stuck. In America, classical dance was considered elitist and therefore underfunded until Mikhail Baryshnikov changed the name of dance and the Ford Foundation Grant gave dance a future, both sparking the historical boom in the industry. Classical dance is not something that just anyone can do. It takes practice, patience, and determination. Most people do not have the time or motivation to pursue a career in ballet. In America, dance was a minority art, considered too highbrow for mainstream American tastes, (Dance Takes Off). People thought it was too elitist and intellectual. Back in the early twentieth century the popular forms of dance were ragtime and swing dancing that originated from the jazz movement (Escoffier). These forms were easier to pick up and more accessible for Americans across the country. As these social forms of dance were easily able to travel all across the country, ballet was held captive in

Goodson 2 New York City and a few other major cities like San Francisco (Dance Takes Off). With such narrow availability throughout the country, ballet did not have a large audience. Only thirty-two percent of ballets audience was located outside of New York City (Dance Takes Off). Small audience means small profits from ticket sales and funding was already a problem with the industry. For many of the few ballet schools established in the states, funds were always desperately scarce and the future never assured, (Daphne H). There were no dance scholarships or donations that were not flooding in for an art form that was lacking appreciation. Dance companies had a larger proportion of female dancers in comparison to male dancers before the boom. During the boom is a different story. The dance boom occurred in the nineteen-seventies and has since left its mark on American classical dance. The key proponents of this movement were professional Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and the Ford Foundation Grant. Both influenced the shift in this aspect of American culture. When Mikhail began preforming in America, dance had finally arrived in the United States, (Dance Takes Off). Ticket sales and audience numbers broke records at the American Ballet Theater and there was now an increased interest in ballet from the American people. Attendance had been in the millions in the sixties, but with Mikhails debut in 1974, attendance records increased to eight million and later twenty million in the late seventies, (Dance Takes Off). Mikhail had talent strong enough to change the way Americans enjoyed and valued classical ballet dance. His athletic grace, good looks, and amiable persona aided in his claim to fame and the new definition of dancer stemmed from his style and technique, (Dance Takes Off). After Mikhail reached superstardom, more male dancers emerged. He gave

Goodson 3 athleticism to dance and showed audiences that dancers in fact are athletes (Dance Takes Off). Mikhail Baryshnikov single-handedly changed the name of dance with his sold out performances and role model status for young dancers. He is largely responsible for the boom in partnership with the Ford Foundation Act. Monetary matters were never a strong suit of classical dance in America. The addition of government grants in the seventies gave way to the dance boom and the increase of accessibility of classical dance. The Ford Foundation Grant gave $7,756,750 over ten years to strengthen professional ballet in the United States, (Daphne H). The funds went to not only dance schools, but to students in the form of scholarships (Daphne H). This funding increased accessibility which lead to the expansion of dance companies throughout the country. There were over one hundred twenty-five professional companies in the seventies rather than the handful only a decade earlier, (Dance Takes Off). With more companies springing up, there was an increase in the size of the audience. Now people did not have to travel to the coasts to see ballet performances. There now were festivals and touring companies available for the publics enjoyment, (Dance Takes Off). The grants given to dance made it possible for the art form to grow and reach its full potential. Finally dance was popularly recognized in America. The boom changed all aspects of the institution. The actual form of dance also underwent a transformation during the boom. Primarily all dance companies that existed practiced ballet, but during the boom modern dance was catching up and almost surpassed ballet. Choreographers like Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and Isadora Duncan began promoting a new technique called modern (Dance Takes Off). Isadora was the leader of the modern dance movement who

Goodson 4 emphasized the importance of individual expression in dance movement, and her technique combined ballet with her spiritual beliefs (Escoffier). Modern is less rigid than ballet and provides room for interpretation. Ballet is precise and restricted therefore much practice and talent is needed to make the movements look graceful. Modern is focused on the natural flow and movement of the body. With the grants given in the time of the boom, ballet companies dominated modern companies only to level off in the eighties (Kisselgoff). This new form of, what is still considered classical, dance was the final transformation of the dance boom of the seventies. After the boom issues began emerging and they were not new to the industry. Dance lost its key players like George Balanchine and Antony Tudor who ran the School of American Ballet and Baryshnikov danced in many of Balanchines productions. Also, as the number of companies continued to rise, the amount of funding did not which lead to a battle between companies (Jennifer D). Companies also lost revenues from national tours due to under-booking after the Dance Touring Program of the National Endowment for the Arts died out (Jennifer D). Dance was facing the same problem it always had once again. Problems with audiences came about as well. With more viewing options, it was hard for a company to gain a solid fan base and the lesser availability of dance, as opposed to other art forms like music, made it hard for audiences to stay put (Jennifer D). Even though the financial prosperity brought upon by the boom was started to disappear, the boom continued artistically. Ballet and modern dance remain a vital form of cultural activity and popular entertainment, (Escoffier). The dance boom had both short and long term impacts on the institution and in the end some of its original problems resurfaced but without the boom dance in America would not be what it is today.

Goodson 5 Classical dance started as a phenomenon that was too good for the common American and it grew into a widely accepted and praised art form. The dance boom brought about a shift in the way the institution of dance functioned and how its audience received it. The boom gave dance the ability to prosper and reach its fullest potential from which it could continue to surpass in the future with new techniques and choreographers. Dance was given the opportunity it needed to reach out beyond its current audience and change the minds of its adversaries. It was not only a boom in success but it was a shift in beliefs and values of Americans.

Goodson 6 Works Cited

"Dance Takes Off." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 8: 19701979. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 15 Oct. 2012 Daphne H. "Where the Boom Began." New York Times (1923-Current file): 1. Nov 24 1985. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2008). Web. 17 Oct. 2012 . Escoffier, Jeffrey. Ballet. St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 1. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 165-166. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. Jennifer D. "After the Boom, Tough Times for Dance." New York Times (1923-Current file): 2. Feb 05 1990. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2008). Web. 24 Oct. 2012 . Kisselgoff, Anna. "Diversity is the Word for American Dance Today." New York Times (1923-Current file): 1. Mar 10 1985. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2008). Web. 17 Oct. 2012.