SCIENCE AND INNOVATION IN THE
EDUCATION SYSTEM
International scientific-online conference
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WHAT DOES “MODERN” MEAN?
Sagatov Kurkmas Sagatovich
Associate Professor, Department of
Choreography, State Academy of Arts,
Honored Artist of the Republic of Uzbekistan,
People's Artist of the Republic of Karakalpakstan
.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11500347
Abstract:
this article provides detailed information about modern dance
and its development today. Particular attention is paid to today's choreographic
means of expression of modern dance.
Key words:
dance, keljak, choreography, image, art
Contemporary dance and its individual directions are becoming
increasingly independent in Uzbekistan. The popularity of modern dance is most
clearly manifested among young people, which indicates its prospects for
development in the future. This new artistic phenomenon, in the not distant
future, will certainly occupy its own niche in the cultural life of Uzbekistan.
The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sh.M. Mirziyoyev in his work
“Ensuring the rule of law and human interests is a guarantee of the development
of the country and the well-being of the people” emphasized that “the current
rapidly changing times, expanding globalization are opening up more and more
new opportunities for humanity, especially youth” . In this regard, scientific
research into the development of modern dance in Uzbekistan and teaching
methods in the system of choreographic education become particularly relevant.
It should be noted that over the past three decades, modern dance in
various forms of its implementation “in theaters, in amateur performances and
in other stages” has gone through its own history of development. Of course, this
story is not comparable in duration and significance with the history of the
development of traditional Uzbek dance, but it is of undoubted interest, as it
reflects modern trends in the development of culture in society. This
accumulated artistic experience must be introduced into the creative and
educational process. In this regard, there is an urgent need to conduct a
scientific analysis, classification, generalizing research into the methods of
teaching modern dance in choreographic art.
We use the word “Modern” a lot in different applications. Lately, in the
combination “Modern dance”, what does this mean? What is “Modern Dance”?
What elements make it up? And are there any? How is this phenomenon learned?
And who are its bearers and performers? These are the questions that I would
like to answer in this article.
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The term “Modern”, which originally meant “Modern”, appeared along
with a new direction in art at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. This process
also manifested itself in choreographic art, that is, in dance. The first
manifestation of modernity in the ballet theater can be safely called the
performances of Vaslav Nezhinsky. In the enterprise of Sergei Diaghilev.
The modern dance direction of the beginning of the 20th century is
associated with the name of Ruth Saint-Denis, Martha Graham and their
followers in America, Mary Bigman, the Wiesenthal Sisters, Rudolf Von Laban
and their followers in Europe. The system – Methods of teaching modern dance
– was developed and became the subject of training.
I believe that if you attract the most brilliant teachers, even if you master
all the techniques, then your dance will not become modern, because it begins in
the thoughts and in the heart, and not in the hands or feet. It is useful for
different groups to meet on stage, because it is invisible, but it penetrates one to
another. There are different paths, and it is not necessary to always be so open
to the viewer. And it is very important for an educational institution to develop
personality, to give students the opportunity to be who they want.
What is “Modern” dance? on the one hand, this is not a classic, on the other
hand, we are asked to consider choreographies, for example, how balloons fly.
And they say that this is also a dance. Here you still need to understand that not
every movement is a dance.
I would like to say this, addressing first of all my colleagues and seminar
participants. There is such a good truth. If you can’t write, don’t write; if you
can’t put it, it’s better not to put it. Because my belief is that the task of people
engaged in art is to create a new entity. And it is not the task of people to create
additional emptiness. If you have nothing to bring to the audience, sit at home, in
class, anywhere until the moment when you actually have something to bring
and do something with me as a spectator. I want to come to the theater like this
and leave as a different person, communicating with you. As far as education is
concerned, training a choreographer. Pay attention, try to analyze what we
talked about and thought about today. We think and talk about technology,
technology and tools. And we completely forget that art is actually magic, and I
don’t know how to create people capable of creating this magic. Yes, everything
is correct, knowledge is needed, knowledge is never superfluous. But it just
doesn’t work... today I can afford not to watch modern dance, because I feel like
they are stealing my time, stealing my life. But at the same time, there are rare
moments when that very magic happens. After all, the task of art is not only to
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create something with the viewer now. You need to put a bomb in the viewer's
pocket, which will explode somewhere after a while. If we now try to clarify the
terminology of modern dance, everyone will answer in their own way. But it
seems to me that in modern choreography it is, first of all, modern thinking.
The language of dance can be classical, neoclassical, contemporary,
interpretation of all techniques and types. The quality of a choreographer’s
thinking for me determines whether this choreographer is modern or not.
Otherwise, the situation arises when a society of the most worthy, most
beautiful people gathers on the jury at competitions, each of whom has his own
ideas about what is in modern choreography. And as a result, everything comes
down to physical scoring. So I have a question; to what extent can these two
worlds, which have very little contact, find a common language? I would like that
people who are developing in the field of modern dance would become more
consolidated, maybe they would take something from academic ballet as a basis
and vice versa. Because these two incontiguous systems, two independent
planets need to take something from each other. Maybe this is precisely our task
at the present stage in Russia, because in the world everything is already a little
different. And this is understandable; the development of modern choreography
did not stop there. And no one put up ideological barriers. If we developed
classical and folk dance, but there was no modern, then everything goes on as
usual... so for now we have a problem.
Indeed, there comes a time when the lack of development of theory affects
practice.
The incomprehensibility of the term “Modern dance” with its many faces
gives rise to a number of confusing pictures. He who knows how to analyze has
the right to judge. We learn analysis from each other. This is a mutual process.
Practice feeds into theory, and theory influences practice.
I would like to say that mutual respect and understanding is not a simple
phenomenon. The nature of dance allows, moreover, suggests the emergence of
ever new dance styles. The 20th century offered a large choice: jazz - dance and
a response to the musical movement of jazz. Tap-dance, in Russia its variety is
“Tap”. Music - hall performances where different styles of dance were combined,
especially its mass forms. Dances appeared and disappeared, influencing stage
theater art. Some of them retained their form for a long time, these are
“Charleston”, “Woogie-woogie”, “twist”, “jive”, “break”. Many dances are
influenced by national traditions of people's development. It is known that in
history the most stable forms of dance arose at the junction of plastic motifs of
SCIENCE AND INNOVATION IN THE
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dances of a number of peoples, this was the case, for example, with the birth of
the waltz in central Europe, or with the “tango”, which combined the motifs and
rhythms of Spanish and Argentinean dance and mentality. I would like to explain
by what criteria modern ballet is defined, as well as the value of those works
that are shown on stage. Because art reflects life, and life becomes more
complicated, we are bombarded with a large flow of information in all areas.
This also affects the authors who create works in modern ballet. In my opinion,
one of the criteria is the complication of vocabulary, an increase in the density of
movement material per unit of time, including due to several points of
perception. This is another system of complicating movement material,
something that modern life and modern reality dictates - complications. What
creates this intensity?
Firstly, due to the author's vocabulary, if a choreographer struggles and
takes risks to create a work, then of course he first of all invents his own style,
his own lexical language and this only becomes interesting within the
framework of the competition.
Secondly, in my opinion, what defines modern ballet? It is a lack of
narrative, a lack of telling a story in favor of movement. Abstractly - dance, but
this does not mean that telling stories is prohibited. Each author decides for
himself, I'm talking about trends. And one more point that defines modern ballet
for me is the lack of illustrativeness, lack of inventiveness, including in emotional
terms, emotions are experienced authentically, and not depicted, when this is
not due to the facial expression of the face, but due to the complexity of the
vocabulary that is present in the div of a dancer. The last point by which I
characterized my ballet is the use of modern music. Dance is a reflection of life.
The dance is a poem in it, every movement is a word, Mata Hara.
The word “modern” can be interpreted as associated with time, its rhythm
and lifestyle. And how the dances perceived by contemporaries as their own
correspond to their interests and tastes. Time passes, and they become only a
characteristic of their time and lose the rights to the characteristic “modern”.
This happened with Modern dance. Today, Modern dance is a specific direction
that has its own classical examples. The concept of “Modern Classics” appeared.
And to replace “modern” as “modern”, the term “contemporary” appeared. It
characterizes the plastic styles of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In other
words, we can talk about a number of dances and styles included in this layer of
culture of our time. They have their own characteristics, plastic motifs, musical
rhythms. This means that there is no separate modern dance. And the styles of
SCIENCE AND INNOVATION IN THE
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International scientific-online conference
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the times are very diverse and eclectic in the good sense of the word. The only
alarming thing is the desire of the bearers of these styles to deny the general
flow of the choreographic culture of the world, its diverse choreographic art, in
which something new is born, in tune with its time. Search and creativity should
not be aggressive - this is a positive process that arises and stable patterns, and
they, in turn, will be tested by time and the best will become a characteristic of
our time. A time when a huge stock of samples of classical, folk - stage, modern,
sports, jazz - theatrical and mass forms of dance has been accumulated.
And together this is the modern culture of choreographic art - the
property of the peoples of the world, an enduring value that does not need
support in all its varieties. The nature of dance allows, moreover, suggests the
emergence of ever new dance styles.
I would like to say that mutual respect and understanding is not a simple
phenomenon. And everyone should understand that if he comes to an exhibition
of impressionists and wants to judge him according to the laws of the Itinerants,
then he will not like it. And if he comes to the Peredvizhniki and does not see
what he loved from the Impressionists, he will be upset.
The examples we have given of teaching methods and techniques of modern
dance abroad show the diversity and diversity of the “manifestations” of modern
dance and the ways of teaching it in different schools in world art. The review
also allows us to identify something in common that impoverishes all these
teaching “technologies”. At the head of them all is always the personality of the
choreographer - the artist, who every time creates his own new and original
systems. Each such system can be created without regard to past traditions,
since it is based on extensive practical experience. All these techniques are of
great interest for the educational process, and they should be carefully studied
and creatively comprehended in the context of pressing problems of the
development of modern dance in the system of choreographic education in
Uzbekistan.
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