Modern dancers and choreographers respond freely to music—or silence—creating their own language of movement.
In these locally based groups, exceptional dancers create professional level performances and training opportunities throughout Florida.

[ By Margaret Barlow]

When the 25th Florida Dance Festival opens on June 15 in Miami and Miami Beach, some of the state's premier dancers and companies will be in attendance. For its two-week run, workshops and clinics abound for dancers of all levels and abilities wishing to expand their dance horizons. Dance lovers are treated to evening concerts showcasing the strength and diversity of the state's dance community. Audiences sample more than two dozen of Florida's finest, performing in the festival series "Florida Dances," and are treated to performances by outstanding national companies, too. Sharing the limelight with ballet companies are modern and contemporary dance companies with widely diverse offerings.

Modern dance differs from ballet: it is less tradition-bound and expresses a broader range of ideas and movements. Modern dancers and choreographers respond freely to music (or silence), creating their own language of movement. And while ballet sets, costumes, and lighting may be prescribed by tradition, modern dance is endlessly inventive. Most wonderful about modern dance is the multiplicity of influences, from every corner of the world, that inform its infinite variety. Florida's modern dance community celebrates this variety with grace and dedication.

Among the pioneers to rebel against the constraints of ballet was Isadora Duncan (1878-1927). At the dawn of the 20th century, Duncan helped revolutionize the world of dance. She taught her students of all ages, dressed in sandals and diaphanous "Grecian" robes, to move in a mode of free expression based on her philosophy of classical art, beauty, and harmony. Audiences around the world were alternately shocked and entranced by Duncan's performances. That legacy is preserved and celebrated today by a unique Miami dance group.

Since 1990, the Isadora Duncan Dance Ensemble (IDDE), under the auspices of Miami's DanceArts Foundation and directed by Andrea Mantell-Seidel, has been performing solo and group pieces from Duncan's original repertory. Their artistic adviser, Julia Levien, danced with Duncan's adopted daughters and formed her own Duncan-inspired company in New York. A few years ago, the Ensemble performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., kicking off "America Dancing," a series exploring the roots of modern and contemporary dance. Performances often feature guest artists, the "Isadorables" children's company, and longtime IDDE dancer Stephanie Bastos, who now performs wearing a state-of-the art leg prosthesis.

Lake Worth is home to the Demetrius Klein Dance Company. Founded in 1989 by Demetrius Klein, the company showed off its world-class artistry in May 2000, performing with Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project in the free Ocean Dance 2000 concert, in Hollywood, Florida. Works performed by this company increasingly reflect director-choreographer Klein's commitment to the idea of a community of dancers. Klein describes his dancers as spanning "every age, gender, ethnicity, and ability." Key to this approach, says Klein, is "including people whose life experiences inform their dancing." The company's extensive schedule includes a subscription series of three full-length programs and a month-long Klein Dance Fall Performance Festival featuring more than 30 performances, workshops, lecture demonstrations, and children's activities.

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