In 1915, Ruth Denis opened the Deninshaw School of Dancing and Related Arts. Students danced barefoot, wearing minimal clothing and practicing free form dance exercises such as “arms and body.” The school was noted for using dances of varied origin as well as classical ballet. Renowned dancer and choreographer Martha Graham studied here.
Rudolf Laban was active from the 1920s through the late 1950s, and the social and cultural changes that took place during his lifetime had a direct influence on his style. A convention of rigid, stoic dance was being replaced by a style that encouraged showing feeling, and he embraced this. He created a dance style known as Der Freier Tanz. In this style Laban cast off the convention of dance being dictated by music and having to portray a story. He aimed, rather, for the body to illustrate its own rhythms, steps and dynamics.
One of the most influential figures in American dance history, Graham founded her dance company in 1926. She took her choreography from a rich array of sources, such as Native American tribal rituals, Greek mythology and modern paintings. She choreographed over 180 dances, performing into the 1960s. She choreographed "Clytemnestra," her most elaborate work, in 1958. Graham wished to be remembered as a dancer rather than a choreographer. She also disliked the term "modern dance," instead preferring "contemporary dance." She felt that modern things were constantly changing and lacked any kind of permanence. However, the very nature of fusion dance relies on change.
Through the 1950s and 60s, John Butler and Glen Tetley fused classical ballet with Netherlands’ influenced modern dance. Followers of both schools criticized them at first, but eventually their fusion was successful and caught on. According to choreographer and teacher Eric Hampton, dancers were concerned with dance in performance during this period, and technique was more strictly adhered to than in the following decades.
Hardly any classes are strictly classical or strictly modern because the two have interwoven so tightly. According to George Jackson’s Fusion dance: breaking through the barriers of style and technique, only the large academies in the dance capitals still teach specialized classes as such. Instead, dance today is influenced by gymnastics, folk dancing from all over the world, dance and movement therapy, and other movement activities.