Making Dances: Seven Post-Modern Choreographers

1980 / 89 min. / color
Directed by Michael Blackwood

Douglas Dunn, Kenneth King, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, David Gordon, Meredith Monk, Sarah Rudner. Curated by Marcia B. Siegel. Narrated by the choreographers.

In the early 1960’s, the world of dance was experiencing a shift and making room for free and experimental movement. With many people still considering dance to mean solely ballet and other contrived genres, the seven choreographers featured in “Making Dances” faced trials and tribulations when working in the postmodern movement. Showing audiences that dance meant truthful expression of the body as opposed to defined, labeled movements were innovators such as Merce Cunningham and Robert and Judith Dunn. The choreographers we follow in “Making Dances” discuss the inspiration of past artists and the ways in which postmodern dance found its place in the midst of cultural revolution. Through their experimentation with speech and non linear storytelling, choreographers of the postmodern movement introduced a new, breathtaking form of expression. Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, David Gordon, Douglas Dunn, Kenneth King, Meredith Monk and Sarah Rudner take us through their creative process and welcome us into the intimate rehearsal space where their concepts are brought to life.