Your Top Choices Of The Century - survey results on 20th century dance - includes related chronology on history of modern dance

Dance Magazine, March, 1999 by Doris Perlman

In our December and January issues, as wen as on our Web site, we asked you, the readers of Dance Magazine, to list your favorites of the twentieth century--your top ten works, top ten dancers, ten most influential people. Although your replies continued to come in as we went to press, we are going to give you the results so far. Mikhail Baryshnikov is far and away the leader among favorite dancers, and he also received quite a number of votes for most influential figure. In the latter category, George Balanchine surpassed everyone else. Five of his ballets were also among the top ten works. Alvin Ailey's glowing masterpiece, Revelations, was the favorite piece of choreography, far outdistancing popular ballets that use classical technique and pointe. In fact, the two works that came in first do not employ classical technique at all. Fokine's evergreen Les Sylphides, generally acknowledged as the first modern ballet in classical style, came third. Landmark modern works that did not appear in the top ten but received a fair number of votes included Martha Graham's Appalachian Spring and Night Journey and Kurt Jooss's The Green Table.

Some readers misread our limiting our request to the twentieth century. There were several votes for such nineteenth-century classics as Giselle and Coppelia, and quite a few readers mentioned Nutcracker and Swan Lake. (They may have been thinking of contemporary rechoreographed versions of the latter two--perhaps Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake that just closed on Broadway and is now touring the States.) All in all, there were few surprises and some interesting mentions, including the little-known ballet "Union Jake" and that elusive but arresting Native American modern dance personage, "Mary Wigwam."

Many thanks to all who took the time to respond. In general, a fair mix of past and present. It is heartening, for example, that Nijinsky remains an icon in spite of the fact that few, if any, people living today could possibly have seen him dance during his brief ten-year career. His influence is so pervasive that he could not have been overrated. Dance before the use of film, videotape, and the computer can somehow survive through the still photograph, the printed word, and the imagination.

Compiled with the assistance of Gail Cox

The top ten dancers of the twentieth century

1. Mikhail Baryshnikov 2. Rudolf Nureyev 3. Margot Fonteyn 4. Anna Pavlova 5. Natalia Makarova 6. Vaslav Nijinsky and Martha Graham (tied) 7. Suzanne Farrell 8. Isadora Duncan and Gelsey Kirkland (tied) 9. Alicia Markova 10. Maria Tallchief and Paloma Herrera (tied)

Other favorites included: Maya Plisetskaya, Fred Astaire, Tamara Karsavina, Gene Kelly, Darci Kistler and Galina Ulanova, Darcey Bussell and Peter Martins, and Angel Corella.

The top ten works

1. Revelations 2. Rite of Spring 3. Les Sylphides 4. Agon 5. Apollo 6. Serenade 7. Romeo and Juliet (version not specified, except for three Cranko and five MacMillan) 8. Afternoon of a Faun 9. Prodigal Son 10. Four Temperaments

Other high scorers were: Jewels, Appalachian Spring, Firebird, Night Journey, Symphony in C, The Leaves are Fading, Theme and Variations, and The Green Table.

The ten most influential people

1. George Balanchine 2. Jerome Robbins 3. Martha Graham 4. Merce Cunningham 5. Serge Diaghilev 6. Lincoln Kirstein 7. Michel Fokine 8. Paul Taylor 9. Alvin Alley 10. Jose Limon

Additional notables: Isadora Duncan, Agnes de Mille and Antony Tudor, Lucia Chase and Bob Fosse, Twyla Tharp, Frederick Ashton, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. (And there were two votes for Michael Jackson, make of that what you will.)

RELATED ARTICLE: Timeline of Modern Dance in the 20th Century

Highlights of an Art Form

At the turn of the century, the public looked upon dance as a diversion, not a form of artistic expression. The pioneers of modern dance, often performing in vaudeville theaters, chose classical or exotic subjects. After World War I, successors would drop gods, lyricism, and color for strong, percussive dancing and psychological and political subjects. By the 1950s, mood and relationships were presented with few historical references and in a less literal manner. The next generation mistrusted theater and favored minimalist effects. Our century winds down with a generation that favors abstract as well as timely subjects and dances them in an unconventional, frankly theatrical way to a wide variety of music.

* Isadora Duncan (1878-1927) was a revolutionary who danced solos to classical music and whose private life defied political and sexual norms. Fervently believing that dance could enhance the spiritual health of society, she became a legend through her interpretive artistry and personal example.

* Ruth St. Denis (1880-1968). After an international career performing lyrical interpretations of Asian myths, she returned to the U.S. and formed the Denishawn Company (1915) with her pupil and husband, Ted Shawn. The dominant serious dance company of the 1920s, Denishawn was the training ground for Graham, Humphrey, and Weidman, among others.