Expressions of form and gesture in Ausdruckstanz, Tanztheater and contemporary dance

My dissertation examines the historical trajectory of Ausdruckstanz from its break with Renaissance court dance and classical ballet by tracing it through its downfall and emergence into Tanztheater and contemporary styles of postmodern dance. The purpose of this study is to examine the different modes of expression indicated by the character, form, style, and concept of Ausdruckstanz, Tanztheater and contemporary dance. Through a close analysis of select case studies, each chapter provides a critical engagement with its corresponding movement. Each case study focuses on conceptual issues, stylistic innovations, aberrant forms, and critical turning points that underscore a complexity or philosophical problem that is evidenced by the particular instance, concept or movement in question.;My research and case studies indicate that Ausdruckstanz is not a uniform movement, which is evidenced by the eclectic nuances, complex contradictions, and eccentric personalities discussed in the following five chapters. The problematic that informs this historical, conceptual, and stylistic account of Ausdruckstanz is prefaced below.;Expressionists dance rejected the traditional forms of dance given its necessity to convey subjective experiences and feelings through movements that were incompatible with the rigid structures and restrictive costumes of classical ballet. In the course of its development between 1908–1936, expressionist principles of individuality and subjective emotion produced an inflation and exaggeration of personal identity that proved problematic given its ideological tendencies. This impasse further distanced Ausdruckstanz from engaging with the presence of movement that was concealed by historical narratives and stagnant forms passed on from early nineteenth century classical and romantic ballet. As a result, an emphasis on objective, mechanical, and formal concepts of movement were developed to counteract the lack of critical distance and exaggerated emotion that was prevalent in the choreographic works of Ausdruckstanz. Oskar Schlemmer's Bauhaus figures and Pina Bausch's use of repetition in Tanztheater both exemplify how these styles attempted to restrain the crisis of individuality and its emotional excess by incorporating formal mechanisms. However, since both of these styles relied on the concept of spatialization as derived from theatrical conventions, they subsequently failed to transform perceptions of dance in terms of radically disrupting its representational value.;With the establishment of postmodern, contemporary dance in the late 1950s, a significantly different experience of temporality emerged that rejected the representational value of movement. When the object of dance is dance itself, the tendency towards ideological or content oriented claims is negated because the internal mechanism is geared towards motion not matter. However, in order to perceive this difference, the experience of time requires a rupture to allow the presence of movement to be seen and engaged through its immediacy. This reframing of how time is experienced marks a crucial intervention in the historical trajectory of modern dance insofar that form does not predicate itself upon an ideological value. Instead, form opens up different possibilities for new arrangements to be perceived vis à vis its rhythmic mechanism, which continuously moves through inflected variations of movement in multiple places simultaneously.