As defined by the oxford dictionary:

1 living, occurring, or originating at the same time. 2 belonging to or occurring in the present. 3 modern in style or design.

hmmm where does that leave us? I suppose Wheeldon's work could be Contemporary on the night of a particular performance, but not contemporary when the curtain falls and maybe that piece we saw last season on SYTYCD is not contemporary anymore either. If we align "Contemporary" dance with the third definition then we get ourselves in a pickle once again. What is "Modern"? The classification of dance as "Contemporary" seems to have been a misnomer from the get go. My best guess is that it was a good name for something that was otherwise unclassifiable at the height of its "coming out". Who knows, if the Modern/contemporary/outsider/experimentalists had not assigned the name early on...................maybe we would call what we think we can classify as "Contemporary" dance Funk. LOL.

I think that if we look at "Contemporary" dance as a discipline, that we may be able to come closer to a true semantic understanding of Contemporary as a form. So my next question would be, what kinds of things would you need to know about "Contemporary" dance to practice the discipline?