Have you noticed how dance programs often toss around two deliciously confusing labels—modern and contemporary—as if they were the same lipstick in different shades? Let’s peel back the curtain together.
Why We Even Care
When you know a flavour, you taste it deeper. At ANIMA FABRIK we call that becoming a dance sommelier—someone who can sip movement the way a wine lover tastes cherries and sunshine in a glass of red.
Our dream is to raise not only brave movers but curious audiences—dance sommeliers who can whisper, “Ah, that grand battement—definitely a Balanchine bouquet,” or “Those feral spirals? Pure Graham.”
Knowing the name does not make you a snob; it simply opens the door to more joy.
A Lightning Tour in Pointe Shoes
Picture Renaissance Italy, 1500‑something. Court spectacles are all the rage: nobles showing off, candlelight glittering on silk. Catherine de’ Medici ferries the craze over the Alps to France, where ballet grows tall and royal. Then, one February evening in 1823, the ballerina Amalia Brugnoli rises onto the very tips of her toes. The audience gasps—the stage suddenly looks weightless, limitless. Pointe work is born, and kings and queens polish it until it shines.
Merce Cunnningham “Beach Birds“
“Modern” Arrives Like a Riot at a Dinner Party
Now we fast‑forward to crowded cities around 1900. Smoke clouds the sky, machines clatter, fresh ideas buzz. Women toss their corsets, painters shatter perspective. Dancers, feeling trapped by stiff rules, kick off their shoes.
Isadora Duncan flings her hair and her heart toward the sun.
Martha Graham hugs the floor, then throws her ribs to the sky.
Merce Cunningham lets dice choose his steps—chance becomes his dance partner.
José Limón shows us how falling can look like floating.
Matt Mattox mixes jazz with cheeky charm and teaches it to wink.
Modern dance is yesterday’s loud “NO!” to tight corsets and tight ideas—a capital‑R Revolution, freedom written in sweat.
“What happened to me“ by ANIMA FABRIK
Contemporary Dance – The Soup We Cook Today
Jump to right now. Contemporary dance is an open kitchen. Take a dash of ballet lines, a spoonful of Graham spirals, a pinch of capoeira kicks, a breath of yoga, your grandma’s lullaby, even video‑game moves. Stir, taste, dance.
We call it organised chaos because it is messy, honest, and different every single night. Where modern once shouted, “Out with the old, in with the raw,” contemporary murmurs, “Bring everything you’ve got; we’ll see what sticks.”
The Simple Take‑Away
Modern = The past revolution that broke the rules.
Contemporary = The living conversation happening today.
Both grow on the same family tree, and both dance in our Vienna studio. We train, sweat, laugh, invent—always with room at the table for you. Come taste the dance with us. ✨