November 25, 2007

I'm an elitist, and so are you

Aren't we all elitists? I mean, not just you and me, but everyone?

As soon as we begin to acquire specialized knowledge and communicate with others with similar knowledge we begin to leave people out of the conversation. Individually or privately this may not be much of a problem, but when we present a performance and some members of the audience don't "get it", aren't we leaving them out? Could we have made it easier for them "to get"? But, if I go to a model train convention, or a neurology conference, I'm pretty much out of luck in both of these cases Are the people attending these events being elitist? Should they start from square one for me? Or, is it my responsibility to acquire knowledge if I'm interested? Both? How many entry points are necessary before a community has done its share to be welcoming? Is it everyone's job to be an entry point for a general audience?

Dance is specialized knowledge, whether your a student, performer or audience member - so is model train building, neurology, plumbing, interior design and hip hop music. People come to it, or not. Are interested in it, or not. And, when is enough enough? If they love Dancing with the Stars do they have to become fascinated with Merce Cunningham's choreographic procedures? If they enjoy Mark Morris', or Rennie Harris', or Pilobolus' work is that enough? Must they enjoy Joe Goode, Bebe MIller or David Dorfman as well? Not to mention Phffft Dance Theater, Mansurdance, or Joe Kreiter. If they like dance that is pretty and exciting if that enough? Or must they be fascinated with post-modern explorations of audience/performer relationships and the connection of movement vocabulary to structural form?

Of course, there is a range of interest - both visceral and intellectual. I will, most likely, always have a smaller audience than the Washington Ballet, and that is fine. One could say my work is more elitist than their work because it doesn't follow as familiar norms. But, Riverdance has a larger audience than the Washington Ballet. And more people watch So You Think You Can Dance than go see Riverdance. And, most people don't see any of these dance performances.

Boo-hoo. If you're a dancer, your elitist. If you're an artist, your elitist.

I invite everyone to be an elitist with me.

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November 13, 2007

AM Response

Over the last couple of classes at the university we've been exploring Authentic Movement. It is such a new approach and idea for them it is really wonderful to see them open to the practice. Today we did some writing after each set and then shared the writing with the class. Here is what I wrote after one set, with the grammar as I wrote it:

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November 7, 2007

"Authentic / Contact" Video Excerpts

This video below is some excerpts from an exercise that we do in rehearsal that I call authentic/contact. It combines Authentic Movement and Contact Improvisation. We begin doing Authentic Movement with our partner - one person moving, one person witnessing and then switching roles. Then instead of discussion or writing we move with one another, in contact. Contact Improvisation skills come into the dance we're having, but it is not, strictly, a Contact dance - it is something closer to Authentic Movement duets, with contact. At the same time, it is an effective way to open up our Contact Improvisation dancing with one another because it allows for a wide range of possible movements - many non-typical when doing straight Contact Improvisation. I like starting rehearsals with some Authentic Movement because it gets us away from trying to be interesting or correct or accomplishing anything. It allows our subconscious, creative selfs to be alittle more present when we go into other structures and scores. I also like to do some Contact Improvisation as part of our warm-up because it gets the whole body moving in 360 degree space and gets us moving in strong yet supple ways. Combing these two forms lets us get some of both of these worlds without taking too much time away from the limited creative time we have together.

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November 2, 2007

snickered

In Lisa Traiger's recent post, What's Wrong With Modern Dance?, she describes watching the Metro DC Dance Performance at Carter Baron last August, and specifically the reaction to my work by a couple sitting in front of her. The gist of it is that it started with a snicker and ended with them leaving the performance during our work. Lisa isn't criticizing our work - in fact, she says she likes it, but is using it as an example of how some modern dance is difficult for people not familiar with it. Amanda Abrams of DCDance Blog writes about the same thing, more or less, as does Matthew Gough here at quodlibet. So, this whole idea of dance and its accessibility is an issue people are thinking about and talking about - at least here in the blogsphere.

But, what I really want to write about is my reaction to hearing that I was snickered at... It is an interesting experience having someone laugh at or walk out of your performance. A number of years about I presenting a work in conjunction with a theater company, The Theater Alliance. The work, Buried in the Sky, was a one act dance that followed a one act play at the H Street Playhouse here in DC. It was a work that I understood was difficult, abstract and dense and, in the end, not the best match for the play. The work was presented with the audience on 3 sides, and the only way out was to walk onto the stage and leave. Well (you know where this is going..) one night a nicely dressed couple decided they had had enough and go up, walked across the stage, while we were performing and left. It was such an interesting moment of thinking, "they're leaving...you got to be kidding me...fuck you...keep dancing..." After the show I was more amazed at their audacity than anything else. But, you feel like you've missed an opportunity to reach someone, in some way. Of course, that isn't always the case - it is also likely that their lack of experience with dance or aesthetic preference or daily exhaustion level brought them to leaving. But, you can't help but feel like you've fallen short.

I guess this is especially true in work that you think is pretty approachable. I think My ocean is never blue is accessible because of the straightforwardness of the text, the movement is fairly full bodied, there's lots of people to look at, it moves from section to section at a clip and for Carter Baron it was pretty short at 13 minutes or so. It is true we don't point our feet alot, or dance is formations, and all the women aren't size 1s and the guys slim and buff. We aren't doing obviously impressive moves nor are we dancing "to the audience". Certainly, if you were looking for a light evening under the stars of So you think you can dance "routines", then you were certainly disappointed. Now I'm feeling defensive. Maybe they love challenging, aggressive, "down-town" art and just thought we sucked.

In high school when a student would complain about how the novel we were reading was too long, or boring, one of my english teachers, Ms. Masters, would respond by saying, "not all books are as boring as their readers"...

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