A Belated Thought on Notation

It’s easier to notate dance pieces with movements that have names. In my experience, some ballet and tap terms are easier to write than others because of their name. We discussed music notation versus dance notation in class. Modern musical composers use the same notes as Classical or Baroque or Romantic composers, but they use the notes in different ways, by augmenting chords, creating dissonance with certain intervals, etc. While modern dancers may modify some Classical or Baroque or Romantic dance steps, most of the movements they use are new, not augmented or arpeggiated Classical movements. Does this contribute to the lack of an established, universal dance notation?

Captivating Blog Writing

This year, the Lawrence-Herchenroether Dance Company created a blog entitled "Filtered." Emily recently posted a blog about an impromptu hand dance while she and Tori traveled on a bus from New York City to Philadelphia. I found her movement description creative, informative, and intriguing. I thought you would all enjoy the journey.

http://lhdanceco.blogspot.com/

Jaclyn

Classifying Beautiful Dance

For the past two classes we have gained greater understanding on dance criticism and dance aesthetics. The foundation for our studies looks at understanding the beautiful, and more specifically, what do we consider pleasing? How has our taste and judgment effect our determination as critics of what is considered to be beautiful? For myself, my definition of what is considered to be beautiful, especially in the realm of dance, has evolved throughout my dance education at F&M. As my knowledge expanded, postmodern dance artists, like Trisha Brown, now interest me with their distinctive choice of form and imitation. To elaborate, I remember watching Trisha Brown’s dance work “Walking on the Wall” (1971) in beginning modern dance. Dancers were harnessed to the ceiling at the Whitney Museum of Art, New York and slowly moved their way down from the ceiling along the walls of the museum. Ivar Hagendoorn can summarize the reason one might find this unusual dance work to be intriguing through his article “The Dancing Brain”. Even though the beautiful can often be categorized as the satisfaction of the anticipated, the sublime, an initial disorder of chaos or the unexpected, can receive an even deeper sense of satisfaction than the expected dance work. Dancing down the wall is something wholly different than I had ever seen before, and therefore became rarely beautiful. But this is through my eyes, as a dance student. How might others perceive this dance work that takes place in a wholly unique space? Many of the dance philosophers we study would immediately dismiss this dance due to its minimal amount of expression.

Understanding Dance Aesthetics: Beauty Verses The Sublime

As we have discussed in class there are three understandings of dance aesthetics: 

1)   Dance is the art of imitation

2)   Dance as an art of expression

3)   Dance as an art of form

We further questioned in class, how do aesthetics relate to dance criticism? What really opened my eyes to this question was the philosophy of Immanuel Kant mentioned in Ivar Hagendoorn’s article “The Dancing Brain”. Kant talks about beauty verses the sublime. Beauty can be seen at first glance because there is something in the dance performance that is pleasing to the eye. On the other hand sublime is mentioned as “ It is at this moment that a feeling of pleasure sets in, as the self realizes that it has survived and, by implication, is more powerful that the vast object or event” (Hagendorn, 22).  I am interested to delve into the meaning of sublime further. If a critic experiences the sublime, will the critique of the performance be more poignant? In other words will there be a more keen sense of understanding about the dance performance as a whole? Knowing the three key points of dance aesthetics can make the performance more comprehendible. Upon viewing the “Witch Dance” by choreographer Mary Wigman or a dance by Cunningham’s Company I wondered how an audience member would view both pieces.  I think it can be a little difficult to find the meaning of these pieces offhand but understanding aesthetics can bring further meaning to these performances and to the critic.  

~ Arielle D. Levy

More on Ivar Hagendoorn

Philosopher turned neuroscience researcher turned choreographer Ivar Hagendoorn posts his thoughts, photos, videos, and recent publications on his website/blog:

http://www.ivarhagendoorn.com/

Enjoy!

Note also that there is controversy about the mirror neuron theory of action and imitation. See:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2773693/

Again, enjoy!

Dance and imitation - a current example

Reading about the upcoming Grant St. Dance Company holiday show (this very weekend!) in the Lancaster newspaper, a quote from "Dancing through the humor, hassles and humanity of the holidays" by staff writer Kathleen Daminger caught my eye.

Daminger quotes Grant St. artistic director Kim Jureckson about one dance in the show:

"I wanted to give a nod to Black Friday," she says. "The whole idea of people lining up at crazy hours, the doors opening, people shoving. It's frightening to see that."

In that piece, video footage shows people shoving and stepping over each other, while dancers come on stage doing the same thing.

"It's art imitating life," she says.

Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/311302#ixzz15Aap8Vtn

Is There A Way?

During our discussion with Jack Anderson, he said something that really struck me. He said that our role as critics and writers is to, "describe non-verbal art in verbal terms." While he was just emphasizing the same theme we have touched on many times, his terms finally made it click in my head just how difficult it is to capture the ephemerality of dance and how universal the question of doing so is.

While he was talking about the importance of evocation and evaluation in critiques he also touched on the ephemeral nature of dance in such a subtle way as to bring a question to my head the instant he said the above quote. In his transition he said that there needs to be more than just description in a critique, there needs to be some assessment or evaluation. You need to say something about it. At this time he off-handly mentioned that there were plenty of other mediums for dance description such notations and the like.

The question that came to my head is such: Is there any medium that is ideal for capturing, in a permanent way, dance? Certainly we have video and photography but even those lack the emotion and feel of seeing the performance live. Even more so, can writing ever capture dance on a page? Notations can capture the steps but they really lack a sense of quality and emotion. Critiques can offer description and assessment but they don't give any indication of exact steps or, sometimes, style of dance. Poems may capture the artistic nature and literary descriptions the emotional and thematic elements but, is there any way to capture the whole dance?

It is clearly important to preserve dance - both in description and critique - but can we ever ideally do it? While this may not have been the theme of his talk, Jack Anderson seemed all too aware of the question of how to capture dance for the future, for the masses, and for the artists.

Draw the Line

Earlier in the semester we studied different choreographers' philosophies of dance. Their philosophy affects the way their dancers present, their choreography, and their piece as a whole. We respect that dancers have different philosophies and outlooks, yet we still critique dances. A new technique or style cannot develop without dancers making changes. How can a critic approach something in a style they have never experienced? Is it fair to "critique" a dance based off of a different philosophy than your own?
To (almost) quote Lynn from a previous class, "You sit next to Joe Schmo at a ballet, and he's never seen a ballet before. That doesn't mean his opinion about it matters less; it just means his opinion is less informed." Of course Joe is not a dance critic, but what is the definition of educated enough or informed enough for one to give a critique? Where do we draw the line between a philosophy and an opinion?

Dance & Media (Dancing Dissertations)

Dancing Dissertations Article

Be sure to watch the videos!

Lisa Kraus’s Reconstruction of “Line Up”

In this reconstruction of Trisha Brown’s “Line Up” by Lisa Kraus, eight dancers must learn one sequence of distinct, angular movements and be prepared to reverse the sequence when called upon. The dancers require tremendous focus and an excellent knowledge of each movement, in order to perform the choreography both backwards and forwards. At this point in the rehearsals, all of the dancers are acting as “callers”. The caller calls out the name of a specific dancer and tells her to reverse her movements. Each dancer is performing the same movements but in different directions. Each performance will be different, with different dancers being called on to reverse their movements at random. I am curious to see how the caller will create rhythms and patterns with the choreography while orienting each dancer during the actual performances this winter.

Trisha Brown based her movement on certain rules that she created. Generally, each movement is completed and then the dancer moves on to the next movement. She would experiment with her dancers creativity by giving them instructions, such as telling them to “line up” and building her choreography off of their responses. Trisha Brown would start with one movement and keep on moving in the direction that she felt was most logical. Branch and spill are two examples of variations in the movement  that can be called out to one dancers.Trisha Brown’s movements emphasize a dancer’s line as they gracefully and weightlessly float across the stage.  

The Complexities of Reconstruction

As I observed Line Up’s rehearsal this weekend I quickly learned how complicated the process of a reconstruction is. In the hour I was there the eight dancers watched a video recording of Line Up stopping every few seconds to recreate the movements they were watching. Each dancer had a person in the film to watch and pay attention to their movement. They then would go through the movements bit by bit until the section exactly followed the video.

While watching this, Lisa Kraus came over to talk to us about how difficult it can be to breathe new life into very strict choreography. This made me wonder why is it that a reconstruction is harder to connect with than a new dance? Is it because the dance was made for other dancers who move in different ways? Is it because it was made for a different time? Why isn’t it the same as learning any other choreography?

Experiencing Performance, Experiencing Writing

As we saw yesterday, there are so many ways to describe a performance from movement description to program notes. Although all of these elements of a critic's essay can be powerful, I believe the punctuation in between the words carries an equal power to articulate the experience. A period can punch. Commas can breath. With just these two simply sentences, rhythm exists. If punctuation is utilized as creatively as the words that surround them not only can the essay describe the scene, but also the experience.

Tying back to poetry and dance, why should poetry just be connected to movement? I think poetry goes hand-in-hand with performance description, evaluation, and interpretation. In some cases, the result can be enticing. For example, Cynthia Bond Perry writes about the Ballethnic Dance Company saying, “Strong and fluid, with subtly refined control, Gentry crouched, exploded into triple turns and sprung into multiple leaps…” Reading this, hearing this, seeing this is an experience in its own right while revitalizing life to an in the moment experience unlike any other.

Of course there is a delicate balance between creative writing and informative writing, especially when there is a word limit. Other factors such as audience or motive can lead a writer to find their own balance. Do you believe that creative writing is more important than informative writing in a critic’s essay, or visa versa? Why? Which would you prefer to read?

movement description in dance criticism

In class on Tuesday, we discussed the fact that, due to word limits, dance critics often have to be very selective with the information that they can convey to their audience. While there are several possible components of dance reviews that the author can choose from, depending on their audience and the purpose of the review, I personally believe that movement description is the most important aspect of dance review. No matter what audience is reading a dance review, any information that they could wish to glean from the writing would be greatly supplemented by an accurate depiction of the dance itself. The challenge in this is to avoid being too rudimentary, or too interpretive, allowing the reader to accurately “see” the movement without being overly influenced by the critic’s personal evaluative view. In an essay about dance criticism, Deborah Jowitt captures this conundrum perfectly, saying, “Description at its best is not simply about surface. It hints at what lurks within a work.”¹

Do you agree with this assessment of the importance and difficulty of movement description in dance criticism? If so, can you think of any examples of movement description from our readings that follow these guidelines?

¹ Jowitt, Deborah. "Beyond Description: Writing beneath the Surface." Moving History / Dancing Cultures. Ed. Ann Dils & Ann Cooper Albright. Wesleyan University Press, 2001. 7-11.

Claudia La Rocco's Journey to Dance Criticism

I wanted to share something I found on the NYTimes website. It is a narrative in which La Rocco describes how she became a dance critic.

Enjoy! (The original posting can be found here)



Claudia La Rocco is a dance critic for The Times.

People often ask me how I became a dance critic. There are several ways to answer this question, but the one I usually give goes something like this:

I was happily ensconced as a general arts writer for The Associated Press, churning out reviews and features on various artists and events, and dabbling in just about every genre, except dance. One day, my editor asked me what I knew about dance, and did I think I could write about it. A little, I answered, and sure, if she gave me several months to prepare.

She smiled, pityingly. Shortly thereafter I was informed that Mikhail Baryshnikov would be performing soon, and that I would be reviewing him.

Voila! A dance critic was born. Thus began several months of humiliating myself in international print and online (not to mention my agita). The evidence of my gross initial ineptitude is still out there, lurking, all too Google-able. Who knew that some of the most terrifying experiences of my young adult life would take place in a theater?

What I didn’t realize at the time, of course, is that dance criticism is an entirely impossible endeavor. That’s what makes it so much fun.

There is something wonderfully peculiar about the rush of reviewing live art, of translating a nonverbal, transitory form into the English language. How grand, and how strange, not to know what I think of something until I find myself writing the words I feel are best suited — but still so often inadequate — to explain what it was like to encounter another person’s world.
Sometimes that world seems so meager, or so ridiculous, that all I can really do is try to salvage the evening by having some fun (see my review of "Celtic Tiger," which did not endear me to Michael Flatley’s many fans). But most of the time, I am stymied only by my own inabilities (see this review, for example): it’s like trying to solve a puzzle when the edges of the pieces keep shifting. Frustrating, yes — but those edges are so interesting, so beautiful, that you can’t stop yourself from picking them up, again and again. Maybe this time, you think, they’ll fit.

Scenario then dance? Or dance then scenario?

In class, we discussed scenarios that were created as part of the choreographic and production process. These scenarios were often created for a choreographer, director, or artistic creator as a ground plan for the production. Thus, in scenarios like Petipa's "Sleeping Beauty," the scenario provides a scaffolding for other elements of performance to reflect on. I wonder how the scenario would be affected if it was created after the dance was choreographed. Would the format of a given scenario change? Would it include more movement description, rather then plot detail? Should a scenario created prior to choreography be separated from a scenario that is created after, and is there use/need for both?

As we make final preparations for our movement studies on scenarios, did anyone choose this pathway in creating their project? I am interested to see how this can affect the creative process of dance from scenarios, and if it could provide a different insight to the connections between choreographer, scenario, and movement.

Dance Scenario: How to keep dance alive?

Before the break, we looked at dance scenarios and some found it a little difficult to follow, yet appreciated the way in which choreographers incorporated quotes, notes, personal thoughts and details of the dance. I agree. Dance scenarios allow one to see the thought process, even if it is not clear to anyone but the choreographer.

In Running Out of Breath, Tom Johnson begins in his introduction with the following: "Considering the difficulties of communicating a dance on a printed page, it might be helpful if I explain where Running Out of Breath came from" (332). When I first read this, I thought about how the dance scenarios were not so easy to follow. I also thought about authenticity and how one can keep a dance alive. In anthropology, text books and ethnographic studies are used to describe culture. The goal is to preserve an experience on paper, yet anthropologist have different interpretations and experiences during participant observation. Similar to anthropology, dance can be interpreted differently from choreographer to choreographer and audiences. If the reader, choreographer or director have different perspectives, are dance scenarios effective? Can one rely on dance scenarios as a way to recreated and preserved based on the details provided? Is there any interpretation, feeling, or motive that is lost every time a dance is recreated? Why or why not?

(Think about assignment #3, creating our own dance scenarios. A person reading your scenario might interpret the dance or an idea differently from what you intended.)

Odissi Indian Dance : Odissi Dancing: Poetry Dance

Poetry dance and other cultures

After class yesterday, I was moved by the different interpretations of the coupling of poetry and dance. I wanted to research this relationship further and discover if this was done in other cultures. I found this video of Classical Indian dance and poetry. Poetry is oftentimes used in stylized Indian dance to interpret a story or theme. I learned that a typical recital of Odissi (Classical Indian dance) contains at least one ashtapadis, which is a poem of eight couplets. I appreciate this finding because it shows that we were working on something that others have had in their traditions since the beginning. It makes me wonder, what other cultures use poetry and dance?

The Connection of Poetry and Dance

In yesterday's class we were able to experience a firsthand connection between dance and poetry. Not only did we have the pleasure of viewing intuitive pieces by our classmates, but we were able to view the different ways that poetry and dance could be connected. It was interesting to me how in a class of our size, we were able to see poetry being integrated with the structure of our pieces in such a variety of ways. People made choices to speak while performing, perform then speak, speak then perform, integrate a song with their poem and performance, have a recording of the poem play while performing, or even have a live reading of the poem while performing as part of the piece. Each performance provided a different tone of voice to the way the piece was performed, and allowed us to experience the connection between poetry and dance in a variety of ways.

Something else that caught my attention was the way that each and every dancer chose to use a form of repetition. Whether movement, pieces of their poem, or the music repeated, there was some kind of repetition present. This aspect of both dance and poetry can be extremely powerful, which I think became a proven point to our class yesterday. This also indicates yet one more way in which the two art forms can be connected and intertwined. Overall, I found the experience personally rewarding, both from my own personal performance and from from everyone else's. I was able to appreciate the beauty of dance on a new level, while gaining a new respect and appreciation for poetry.

Janine

Romance in Dance Literature

In many of the literature excerpts that we read, romance played a large role in the dancing. Dancing was used to begin a new romance or rekindle an old romance. At times, even the lack of dancing showed the jealousy of an individual who watched another person dance with the one who they loved. For example, Thomas Hardy and Willa Cather both wrote about how dancing brought two ex-lovers back together through the close movements and even the communication that could begin while dancing. In Gustave Flaubert’s excerpt, Emma Bovary develops feelings for a man other than her husband while dancing a sensual waltz. Leo Tolstoy demonstrated the feelings of jealousy that could emerge by writing about how Kitty watched Anna dance with the man who she desired.

This made me think about the implications of dance in our lives today. Dance has become such an outlet for artistic expression. There are now plenty more reasons to dance than just to experience romance. Dancers create art, tell stories, or just create movement for themselves. On the other hand, what about the “social dancing” that we do in a party setting? While I would not consider this kind of dancing to be romantic, aren’t there plenty of sexual implications behind the movements and customs of these kinds of dances? Slow dances are also still prominent in our society- whether seen at weddings or a middle school dance- these dances still hold a certain romantic notion. In this sense, have we really lost this old concept of romance in dancing?  

Emily

Literature's view of dance

After reading these excerpts from such wonderful works of literature and looking at the function of dance within them, I find myself curious about the authors' attitudes towards dancing. It seems that despite the tone, be it Twain's mockery or Austen's reverence, all the authors view dance as having purely instrumental value. That is, as having purpose that arises from its ability to enable or bring about something of a higher concern or value. In general, in these works dance serves as the vehicle for pure entertainment, for social interaction or for psychological shift. It seems to possess no value in and of itself.

My current thought is that perhaps this view of dance as being valuable for its own sake only arose when dance took on a form of self-expression, or when the aesthetic value no longer necessarily implied anything about socioeconomic status or upbringing. Could anyone find anything within the literature that suggests that the author could see dance for itself rather than for its usefulness in other contexts? Or any outside sources that we did not touch on?

Aly

Dance alumna has article published!

RACHEL BAKER, a dancer who graduated F&M in 2007, has been writing for New Jersey Family magazine, as well as teaching dance and choreographing at a local studio. Rachel's longstanding interest in dance-movement therapy has resulted in an article on that subject, recently published in NJ Family! Check it out at <http://njfamily.com/en/news/The_Healing_Power_of_Dance.aspx>.

Congratulations, Rachel! Thank you for being an inspiration to other dance writers.

Words and movement

How can words serve movement? Does movement serve words? Where do these modes of expression overlap? How do these means of communication interpenetrate? Should they?