Modern dance is often performed in bare feet, with non-traditional costuming.

Revelations performed by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in 2011

Modern dance is related to ballet, but aims at different types of performance, as compared to the classical ballets. Many of its dancers have been trained in ballet, and modern dance companies are rather similar to ballet companies. Here the word "modern" is not used to mean "recent". Modern dance is over a century old, having begun (in this sense) around 1900.