Looking up contemporary and modern dance I get these definitions:
Contemporary dance is a genre of concert dance that employs systems and methods found in modern dance and postmodern dance, as well as classical ballet. Contemporary dance draws on modern dance techniques as well as newer philosophies of movement that depart from classical dance techniques by altogether omitting structured form and movement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_dance
Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_dance
I will continue to read up on these so I have a better idea of what to expect in the project.