Dance Rebels: A Story of Modern Dance, BBC Four, 13 December 2015

Bernadette O'Brien set herself a difficult task in this documentary; to tell the story of modern dance since the early twentieth century in a ninety minute slot. She did an excellent job, combining archive footage with re-creations of some of the most seminal dances performed by students at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Some of the archive footage was quite fascinating. We saw the only extant film of Isadore Duncan performing in 1917 in front of an admiring audience, as well as interviews with influential figures such as Rudolf Laban. Modern dance represented a reaction against what was perceived as the dead hand of tradition cast by classical ballet, where moved had become stereotyped and dances were performed mostly for the sake of it. Duncan and Laban wanted to bring the art up to date through innovative movements, and choreographies embodying current issues, using the body to tell stories. Sometimes their efforts caused controversy, but it re-invigorated dance, as well as inspiring others to follow their example.

In the postwar period American innovators such as Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham pushed the boundaries still further, concentrating not only on the body but on divorcing movement and music. With his longtime collaborator (and lover) John Cage, Cunningham developed dance forms that had no need of accompaniments; they were often developed separately and brought together only a day or so before the first night.

In Britain modern dance innovators were spearheaded by Michael Clark, whose work turned away from classical or traditional sources and embraced new musical movements and/or fashions such as punk. Once again it seemed as if he deliberately courted controversy, but by doing so he demonstrated modern dance's potential to expand in any way it chose.

The program ended somewhat peremptorily by interviewing several contemporary British choreographers. To be honest, their work, although creditable, lacked the chutzpah associated with their more celebrated forbears; but we had to admire their efforts to broaden the genre in different directions.

The content made one omission: we wondered why the work of Marie Rambert was not surveyed. Perhaps she was not exclusively devoted to modern dance. Nonetheless this was a thoroughly informative and well constructed piece, an eye-opener for anyone not really conversant with the genre.