Merce Cunningham is another contemporary dancer. He explored the connection between both arts, but in the end, he decided to separate completely those two disciplines. This American composer is known for disconnecting dance from music.  According to Margaret Moore (2008), Cunningham’s choreography is indifferent to the music. In her opinion, the dance co-occurs with music. In other words, it is merely simultaneous to the sound.

CHAPTER 2:

APPROACH TO THE RELATION BETWEEN MUSIC AND DANCE

Music and dance have been connected world-wide in rituals of all sorts and social dancing. This phenomenon differs from tribe to tribe, and its development is also different from nation to nation. It is not something new, from pre-modern dances through modern waltzes, the two arts have always been in touch.

The connection between dance and music is a colossal topic. Both artistic disciplines are structured in and through time. Actually, this closeness is what makes it possible to see dance as an explanation for music, and vice versa.They also have many characteristics in common: tempo, rhythm, meter, meaning, expression, etc. For that reason, we could say that tempo and timing are very important in both arts. However, if we look at the expression used in music learning, it is possible to find out the relation between music and movement. Andante con moto, Agitato, these kinds of expression are totally connected to space and how humans interact with it.Is music connected to movement or time? Moore (2008) speaks about these two connections:

We talk of time flying, dragging, and marching, just as we talk of musical notes doing these same things through time. In fact, given the close relationship between music and time, it is quite possible that the reason we perceive music as moving is because it progresses through time, and we perceive time as moving.

Movement and music have always been connected. Furthermore, it is possible to say the music moves. Does it really move, or is it just subjective perception? We know that sound waves move to create the music. Sounds are created by vibrations that travel through the air like waves, and so clearly all music requires that there be something moving.However, there is also a personal perception that makes us think the music moves. There is a way that music moves that we can imitate with the movement of our bodies.

According to Duerden (2007), this connection of music and dance through movement can be explained by one meaningful term: Gestures.Gestures in music and dance work together. For example, in music visualization, a gesture of the arm sweeping from low to high level could be reflected as a melodic gesture or as an ascending glissando.

According to Scruton (1997), when dance complements the music in choreography, it is called ‘the imagined space of music’. In this case, the dancer draws music into the ‘real space’ of performance. For instance, when a dancer articulates a specific rhythm related to a pattern that the accompanying music created, the human brain automatically notices the relation between them. In this case, the movement could be a visualization of the sound we hear. The audience doesn't need to understand or analyze the correlation between the rhythm and the body movement. The "gesture" is understood easily because it is part of the human daily life.

The term gesture is used in everyday life to describe a special human movement. The difference between movement and gesture is unchallenging. A gesture needs to have an implicit or explicit meaning. For example: shaking the hand in understood by most cultures around the world as a movement to say Hello or Good-Bye. In this case, that movement has an explicit meaning that can be easily comprehended.  According to Smith (2000), in dance, the gesture is most often associated with storytelling and character definition. For example, in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Odette’s first scene with Prince Siegfried suggests a conversation in which Odette explains the circumstances of her enchantment. The choreography creates evocative movements to express the magic of the story, as this video shows.

However, in contemporary dance, it is different. Gestures are usually broad-range movements, and some of them are very far from having literal significance.  Maybe that's the reason why contemporary art is less understandable for the audience. Looking for an explicit meaning in this kind of dance is worthless. One clear reference of contemporary choreography is Jonathan Burrows. He uses daily and usual gestures to make expressive movements. The choreographer takes gestures such as weaving hair or looking at a watch, and he abstracts them to the point that its original movement disappears completely. He compares this process to the practice of homeopathy, arguing that the more the original formula becomes diluted, the more powerful its effect becomes.

In contrast with dance, the music´s gesture has a less explicit meaning. According to Scruton (1997), the musical gestures speak about expression, discourse, and perception. In his words, ‘music shows us movement without the thing that moves’. When music and dance are connected with the term “gesture”, the next step is to speak about different ways to make them work together.Nicholas Cook is a British musicologist who explored the relationship between these two disciplines. He speaks about “gapping”. This process leaves gaps through the expression with the other, avoiding replication.  This relation is very typical in film music, when sometimes the music and sounds evoke information that the image doesn't provide. Nicholas Cook refers to this process as gapping, a strategy for creating space for music and image to inhabit equally.

Musicologist Jenefer Robinson (1998) explored also the correlation between these two arts. She says that music may not ‘mean’ anything specifically. Sometimes music has a context, for example in operas or lieder. In that case, we could have an implicit meaning there, and that meaning can be used in the relation between music and dance. Furthermore, it also happens when a piece has a significant and important title. For example, in Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet. This piece has attracted many choreographers, and each one had a different approach to the score. Some of them struggled with the drama in the story, and others focused on different facets of the score itself. However, this piece was never intended for dancing. For that reason, the creation of the movement may be very subjective, and each choreography is very different from the other.

Neither of the two examples analyzed in this research are narrative, but the choreographers used the gestures to make a connection between music and dance. Somehow, gestures work equally in narrative ballets and non-narrative music pieces.

In conclusion, the connection each artist created with these two disciplines is very personal.

I selected different expressions that may help to create an approach to it.

“It is the music that has caused the choreographer … to want to compose movements and dances.” (1982)

Moira Shearer

 “For us it was the music which provided ballet with its centre of gravity. The moment had arrived when one listened to the music, and, in listening, derived an additional pleasure from seeing it. I think this is the mission of ballet.” (2000)

Alexandre Benois

“I cannot move, I don’t even want to move, unless I hear the music first. I couldn’t move without a reason, and the reason is the music.” (2000)

George Balanchine

“The music “gets into our feet,” making, as the ancients believed, feelings visible.”

G. F. W. Hegel