All three of these artists performed, toured, and opened schools. During this period many teachers of physical education participated in dance classes taught by these outstanding artists and in turn taught dance to the young people in their own classes. Today many universities house a dance department. Modern dance is of great importance in the total education, as it involves the individual mentally, physically, and emotionally. Through the years theorists have attempted to categorize movement properties for studying, teaching, and analyzing dance.
Dance takes place in space.
Therefore, a knowledge of the basic space elements is a necessary part of the education of the modern dancer. Force is concerned with concepts such as strength, manifested in downward movements, and lightness, shown in upward movements. This movement property, also described as weight, includes such descriptions as weak heavy, weighty, and resilient. Time refers to the speed of movements. Usually quick and sudden movements are made in a backward direction, while slow and sustained motions are correleated with reaching forward.