Final answer:
Post-modern dance incorporated pedestrian movement, such as everyday actions, into performances to challenge traditional definitions of dance and to question the medium's limits as a form of expression.
This approach expanded dance's aesthetics and meaning, prompting audiences to reconsider their understanding of what constitutes dance.
Step-by-step explanation:
Post-modern dance, which emerged as a significant movement since the 1960s, incorporated pedestrian movement into its vocabulary as a way of challenging traditional perceptions of dance.
Pedestrian movements refer to everyday movements such as walking, sitting, running, or other common actions not typically considered as 'dancerly.'
By integrating these movements into performances, post-modern choreographers questioned the definitions and limits of dance as an art form and expanded the medium's expressive capabilities.
This incorporation of pedestrian movement forced audiences to confront their preconceptions about what defines dance. Whereas traditional dance emphasized technical skill and often had a clear distinction between everyday movement and 'performance,' post-modern dance blurred these lines, thereby challenging the audience's understanding of performance art and dance.
Such an approach aligns with certain characteristics of postmodernism in the arts broadly, which often seeks to deconstruct established norms and encourage fresh ways of thinking about art and expression.
The use of everyday movement in post-modern dance communicates ideas and emotions in new ways, questioning the extent to which dance should be creative versus ritualized and exploring its potential as a medium of expression.