Contemporary dance is a style of expressive dance that combines elements of several dance genres including modern, jazz, lyrical and classical ballet. Contemporary dancers strive to connect the mind and the body through fluid dance movements. 

Contemporary dance stresses versatility and improvisation, unlike the strict, structured nature of ballet. Contemporary dancers focus on floorwork, using gravity to pull them down to the floor. This dance genre is often done in bare feet. Contemporary dance can be performed to many different styles of music. 

Contemporary dance is the exploration of the total movement potential of the body. It differs from commercial or competitive dance in that it is not bound by set standards, as well as defined styles such as ballet or Jazz dance. Instead, it seeks to express a personalized vision, often through experimentation and collaboration for the development of new, more individualized approaches to the moving body and choreographic possibilities.

It does not refuse classical ballet's leg technique in favor of modern dance's stress on the torso, while it also employs contact-release, floor work, fall and recovery, and improvisation characteristic of modern dance. Unpredictable changes in rhythm, speed, and direction are often used, as well. It can use elements of non-western dance cultures, for example, elements from African dance such as bent knees, or elements from the Japanese contemporary dance Butoh.

Contemporary dance draws on both classical ballet and modern dance, whereas postmodern dance was a direct and opposite response to modern dance. Merce Cunningham, initially a student of Martha Graham, accompanied his dance in April 1944, with music that was composed and performed by John Cage, who said that Cunningham's dance "no longer relies on linear elements (...) nor does it rely on a movement towards and away from climax. As in abstract painting, it is assumed that an element (a movement, a sound, a change of light) is in and of itself expressive; what it communicates is in large part determined by the observer himself." Cunningham continued to showcase his work until 1953, when he formed Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Cunningham is considered the first choreographer to "develop an independent attitude towards modern dance" and defy the ideas that were established by it. Cunningham made over one hundred and fifty works for his dance company and his pieces have been incorporated into ballet and modern dance companies internationally.

Cunningham's key ideas include:

- Contemporary dance does not refuse the classical ballet's leg technique in favor of modern dance's stress on the torso

- Contemporary dance is not necessarily narrative form of art

- Choreography that appears disordered, but nevertheless relies on technique

- Unpredictable changes in rhythm, speed, and direction

- Multiple and simultaneous actions

- Suspension of perspective and symmetry in ballet scenic frame perspective such as front, center, and hierarchies

- Creative freedom

- "Independence between dance and music"

- Dance to be danced, not analyzed

- Innovative lighting, sets, and costumes in collaboration with Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns

Other pioneers of contemporary dance (the offspring of modern and postmodern) include Ruth St. Denis, Doris Humphrey, Mary Wigman, Francois Delsarte, Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Paul Taylor, Rudolph von Laban, Loie Fuller, Jose Limon and Marie Rambert.

Choreographer's Role

There is usually a choreographer who makes the creative decisions. He/she chooses whether the piece is an abstract or a narrative one. Dancers are selected based on their skill and training. The choreography is determined based on its relation to the music or sounds that is danced to. The role of music in contemporary dance is different than in other genres because it can serve as a backdrop to the piece. The choreographer has control over the costumes and their aesthetic value for the overall composition of the performance and also in regards to how they influence dancers’ movements.

Dance techniques and movement philosophies employed in contemporary dance may include: