Dance has been an essential part of art for many centuries. It is one of the unique ways of artistic self-expression through the body language. Dance contributes to the culture of any nation. From the ancient times, people discovered the ability to express their emotions and feelings by the body movements. Modern dances can surprise the viewer by their variety, complexity, sensuality, and delivery. The current paper analyzes five documental pieces about types of dances and artists, who dedicated their lives to the movement art. The papers is wriiten on demand of dissertation literature review service.

The first film is Free to Dance. The persons of interest in the documentary are Isadora Duncan, Ruth St.Denis, Ted Shawn, and Edna Guy. Their artistic collaboration played an important role in life through different means and methods. The film explains to its audience the value of the African-American dancers and choreographers in the history of dance. Moreover, the director showed the artists’ contribution to the development of modern dance in the United States. The spiritual relationship existed between a dancer and his or her cultural roots, as the dancers implemented the spirit of their people, transformed the traditions of a nation into a dance, they watched and imitated the tribal moves. Dance is an important element of cultural identity for African Americans as it creates the exchange of moves and synthesis of elements. African Americans created the esthetic dance as the form of high art that supports harmony of dancing moves and body language. The artists mentioned in the film have similar techniques because they were inspired by the same cultural roots. Ruth St. Denis combined the different dances and created her own moves. She presented the new level of royal quality when she danced. She and her husband Ted Shawn worked in tandem that resulted in the Dance Company. Moreover, St. Denis inspired the colored girl Edna Guy to create art, which was a historic phenomenon. Artists dedicated a lot of time to unity of the soul and body, as they believed that spirituality was the essential part of any dance. The majority of dancers are historically linked to the period of the colored people apprising and social inequality. The video effectively presents the depth of the colored dance issue; thus, it is worth 3 stars out of 4.

The second piece is called Free to Dance: Steps of Gods, the second part. The documentary is a bit different from the first episode of the series. The main artists are Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, Talley Beatty, and Donald McKayle. The collaboration between the dancers and choreographers was the central attention of the film. For example, the choreographer Donald McKayle used the art heritage of Dunham and Primus as a guideline in his dances. Katherine Dunham was a Caribbean-born dancer, who also was transferring her roots to her art. She said that dance is communication, it is life itself. Her dance style was unique because each part of her body starting from fingers and ending with legs would move separately. She mixed ballet and modern Caribbean dance. The other dancer, Pearl Primus, was an exception in the history of movement art. She introduced the Funga, which is a welcome dance of her people. She integrated music and dance in a very specific way, as if her body was inhabited by spirits. Talley Beatty is known as the artist with passion, love, and emotionality. Thus, Donald McKayle as the choreographer created stories out of street plays that used to be a multinational phenomenon. He created new realism of the perception of social inequality through art. He collaborated with the singer Leon Bibb to present the world with a dance so striking, punching, and full of angry aspiration for freedom, that it changed people’s attitude towards art. The film is also very inspirational; and it deserves 4 out of 4 stars.

The third film that attracted attention is Still/Here with Bill T. Jones and Bill Moyer. The movie is a landmark interview with the legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones. The main artists are the ill people, who were the part of the Bill Jones’s troop. Therefore, the central attention of the movie is the collaboration between dancers and their leader. Together they created a unique performance. The peculiarity of the project lies in the idea of self-expression in dance made available for the people, who battle cancer, HIV, and other serious illnesses. Jones wanted to work with them because he had to deal with personal drama; thus, he understood the people that experience pain every day. Jones believed in the healing power of art and often completed the trust exercises with his dancers. The key moves in Jones’s choreography are life gestures. Jones shared the philosophy that movement is liberating. He used to ask his dancers to express their deepest voices and show audience the real emotions. He encouraged the troop to pray via dances. The film has a deep impact on the viewer, as it makes one question the existence and pay attention to the people, who struggle and fight for their lives. It has a significant philosophical meaning. The movie deserves 4 stars for its realistic depiction of Bill Jones’s motivation to start a troop with the non-professional dancers.

The fourth film’s title is Butoh – Piercing the Mask. The presented artists are Tatsumi Hijikata and Ono Kazuo. They worked together in a tandem, but were constantly arguing because of difference in understanding the butoh dance. Butoh is about being down on earth, it is unconventional for the Western people, who perceive dancers as aim to reach for the sky. Dancing Butoh mean being a pine tree root deep down under ground. Hijikata introduced the term butoh to the dance community. It is an enigmatic art, spiritual, out of flesh; it seems to be very different form of art expression. The dance was created in the historical context, when the Japanese lost the WWII and were searching for the new national identity. Butoh is different from other conventional dances. The concentration and technique is based on the feet movement. A dancer must clear his/her body and concentrate the inner energy in feet. Some people think of it as a form of religion or the expression of narcissism, but it is art in its very core. The sky inspires people to reach for the heaven, and earth inspires to stay in a human body. Kazuon Ono is different form Hijitaka, the father of Butoh. His dancing style is spiritual, as he thinks that Butoh begins with the abandonment of one’s self. He believes that art cannot be taught, but once it is learned in through living a life. Despite the value of the dance itself, the video seems eccentric, strange, and vulgar. The idea of the spirituality of the dance seems overrates, and deserves 1 star.

The last piece is called Ballet Russes. The video is an artistic delight. Some of the main artists were Russians by origin that never danced in Russia. They are Diaghilev, Frederic Franklin, Mia Slavonska, George Zoritch, Nathalie Krassovska, Michel Forine, Vaslow Nijinsky and Bronislava Nijinska, Leonid Messine, Alicia Markova, Irina Baranova, Tamara Toumanova, Tania Riabuouchinska and others. These choreographers and ballerinas were forced to become refugees in the time of the revolution. The artists gave birth to the modern ballet that people enjoy nowadays. Nathalie Krassovska, Irina Baranova and Tamara Toumanova had one teacher in common – Olga Preobrajenska, who showed them the true nature of the ballet. The early ballet was associated with one name – Diaghilev and after his death ballet was revitalized by two rather talented choreographers from Monte Carlo: Vasily de Boyse and Rene Blum. The film creates positive energy and a beautiful feeling of perfection. It does not allow questioning the existence and nature of the ballet, it inspires. No doubt, the video is worth 4 stars for its expression of the art.