Embodiment of Stress

Walking across campus today, I found myself with my backpack slung over one shoulder and my back so hunched I could feel the stress in my shoulder and spinal muscles. I could not believe I had not addressed what was happening in my body.

As dancers, we must continue questioning the advantages that we take for granted in our own bodies. In the dance discipline, my studies afford me the opportunity to have deep and intimate connection with my body. In an unexpected contrast, I can more easily turn off this connection and "power through it." However, I must not allow the "power through" mindset to become an accepted way of carrying myself. 

As dance students, we must learn to take our backpacks off and engage in the somatic practice of finding our neutral. I returned to my room after class and put down my backpack. I aligned my body from my feet to my spine. Stress is a detriment to every student's body at this time. We must adopt the mindset of "finding our neutral" instead of "powering through." Our bodies will move us through the world for the rest of our lives. We must not destroy them. 

Dance as a Timeless Art

After attending Lori Belilove's speech and performance on the Parthenon, I began thinking deeply about dance as a timeless art. In the question and answer section, an audience member asked, "How do you keep the historical work accessible to contemporary audiences?" Belilove commented, "Isadora's work is timeless." 

Her response took my breath away. Of course, the Duncan work is timeless with its deep roots in nature and femininity, which both remain topics of current media today. I believe that Belilove holds a deep understanding of historical work that we are slowly losing today in the dance community. A strong presence in the dance community, The Martha Graham Dance Company, continues to commission new works to attract audiences to the theater. However, have they not questioned the power and essence of Graham's work? 

When I witnessed Lamentation for the first time, my body wept with the soloist. The dance community must not sacrifice history for spectacle. The community must take on the task to educate the masses. Our audiences must understand and appreciate history first and foremost. After a deep understanding, the audience can appreciate more contemporary work. For example, the commission for Lamentation Variations showcases the original solo before any of the contemporary work. The Graham Company knows the importance of chronology in this particular work. However, I believe a betrayal of Martha Graham lie within Graham Company works that do not come from her essence. 

Dance History is a rich and rebellious world that the dance community and consequently the world is losing its grip on. We must preserve the memory of the people and places that birthed us. We must go back to our Parthenon.

Beauty in Dance

On Tuesday, we all noted in our free writes that "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". If this is to be true, it must also hold true that beauty cannot be objectively defined. There can be no set definition for beauty if every eye observes and recognizes beauty in a unique fashion. To some, beauty may be a gentle breeze or Petipa's "Sleeping Beauty". To others, it may be a thunderstorm or Mary Wigman's "Hexentanz". Though "Hexentanz" is vastly different than "Sleeping Beauty" just as a thunderstorm is vastly different than a gentle breeze, each holds to itself unqiue properties which certain individuals deem as beautiful. Then, if each creation holds unique properties which can be deemed as beautiful, it then must be true that every creation which holds potential to be recognized as beautiful is therefore already beautiful. Beauty is not created by recognition, but is rather innate in creation. Beauty is not dependent on recognition but is rather a product that results from being created. If any creation holds the potential to be recognized as beautiful, it then already is beautiful.

Narrative, Expression, or Form?

       If you had to create a dance and could only focus on one of three elements (form, expression, narrative) which would you choose to focus on? This is something that really stumps me personally because there are so many exciting factors about each. This is really a question of opinion, but interests me deeply because I am not sure I have a straight-forward answer myself.
       I remember being a little girl at my hometown dance studio performing the nutcracker every year around Christmas time. Each year I was excited to have a new role to play in the ballet. I never got bored with it because I thoroughly enjoyed being a new character and learning how to dance a new part each year. The narrative aspect of it made it very playful, involved new acting skills, and was something everyone in the audience could follow.
       As I got older I found myself connecting most with expressive pieces. I still enjoy them to this day. To have to dig deep within yourself to find specific emotions is a difficult challenge that ends up being extremely rewarding. Working with Anna Sokolow's piece right now has gotten me to an emotional point that I did not know existed within me. So while it may be mentally and emotionally exhausting, I feel so blessed to be working in such emotionally rooted choreography.
       In terms of form, I have just recently began exploring it. I began last semester when working with Elizabeth Yutzey purely on form. This process was very new and exciting for me because it was something I had never done before. I found it extremely interesting because every time I performed it, it felt unreal and untamed. I was never truly comfortable with the work, making it nerve-wracking each and every time, but I loved it. So to pick a favorite is very difficult for me, because they are all intriguing in their own separate ways.
 

To Critique the Young, To Critique the Seasoned

To every dance critic,

When the choreographer receives a critic, hearts race and skin crawls. Your words break hearts and bring in paychecks. Your words matter as much as our bodies and movement does.

Artistically yours,

Choreographers 

This past week, I read page after page of dance criticism.  I have watched careers fail and rise. I have experienced the heartbreak or excitement of upcoming artists. I have seen dance criticism laugh at historical, genius choreographers.¹ The dance critic that demands extreme judgement is not creating literary work, but is publishing opinionated hullabaloo. How does anyone hold the right to tear down a piece that required an immense amount of time, effort, and money?  Critics often fully destroy pieces that well established artists create because "they can take it."

Well established artists still hold their art a piece of themselves. When Martha Graham began to age, critics began to compare her current work to her past work. Instead of comparison, critics could have acknowledged a new era in her work. Past work does not bind to the expectations of the critic. Her creative process does not need outside negativity.

I believe that the critic should highlight the strong points of the given work and suggest questions for the choreographer to ponder. The critic should tell the potential audience the intriguing sections of the piece. Art is definitely subjective. However, the individual can see the piece in their own light. The choreographer can continue to question and progress their work. The critic should serve as the medium for the audience and choreographer to see through.

1- Review by Gregory King on Bill T. Jones' Tramontane 
(http://thinkingdance.net/articles/2016/10/16/3/Bill-T.-JonesArnie-Zane-Company-Dancing-Oral-Histories/)

To Critique the Young, To Critique the Seasoned

To every dance critic,

When the choreographer receives a critic, hearts race and skin crawls. Your words break hearts and bring in paychecks. Your words matter as much as our bodies and movement does.

Artistically yours,

Choreographers 

This past week, I read page after page of dance criticism.  I have watched careers fail and rise. I have experienced the heartbreak or excitement of upcoming artists. I have seen dance criticism laugh at historical, genius choreographers.¹ The dance critic that demands extreme judgement is not creating literary work, but is publishing opinionated hullabaloo. How does anyone hold the right to tear down a piece that required an immense amount of time, effort, and money?  Critics often fully destroy pieces that well established artists create because "they can take it."

Well established artists still hold their art a piece of themselves. When Martha Graham began to age, critics began to compare her current work to her past work. Instead of comparison, critics could have acknowledged a new era in her work. Past work does not bind to the expectations of the critic. Her creative process does not need outside negativity.

I believe that the critic should highlight the strong points of the given work and suggest questions for the choreographer to ponder. The critic should tell the potential audience the intriguing sections of the piece. Art is definitely subjective. However, the individual can see the piece in their own light. The choreographer can continue to question and progress their work. The critic should serve as the medium for the audience and choreographer to see through.

1- Review by Gregory King on Bill T. Jones' Tramontane 
(http://thinkingdance.net/articles/2016/10/16/3/Bill-T.-JonesArnie-Zane-Company-Dancing-Oral-Histories/)

How do you know your audience?

             

How does a choreographer create a narrative dance with universal concepts that the audience will know? In today's world, dance is becoming more and more global. Dancers perform all over the world and attempt to relate to their audience. However, most stories are not universal. In the above pictures, a Chinese audience may not know the myth of Clytemnestra, but a Greek audience will know the name if not the entire story. 

As dance continues to grow in the international field, I think that the universal connection for the audience is movement. Movement and mobility is possible for most bodies. Dance fascinates because it shows the limits of the body in virtuosic technique or the mundane through American post-modern movement. So, the narrative dance may no longer be universal to every audience, but the choreographer can strive to make the movement evoke response out of any audience. If dance incites reaction and response out of the audience, is that not the goal of every choreographer?

The Daily Performance

On Tuesday in class after our free write, Professor Brooks breifly mentioned daily life as a performance in her free write. After she mentioned the idea of our daily lives being a performance, I began to ponder the ways in which my life could be a performance.

 To me, a performance is vulnerability in allowing yourself to be seen. This idea was reinforced for me today in Introduction to Modern class. Beau had us stand in two circles, an inward and outward circle, with the circles facing one another. We rotated around the circle and did nothing but stand in front of someone and allow ourselves to be seen. Beau spoke of this exercise as a standing performance. In nothing more than a standing posture, we are performing in that we are allowing our body to be witnessed by those surrounding us. This is essence is the daily performance; stand and be seen.

How Critical is Too Critical?

       When I read a criticism of a performance, I often find it to be rather informative. It is usually meant to help the choreographer, dancers, and director further investigate their piece and it gives a new perspective on the matter. I know that I personally benefit from criticism because it pushes my mind and body to a new level. But can criticism be unhelpful?
       In the mid 1900's, dance critic, Louis Horst wrote a review on Paul Taylor's completely still, Seven New Dances. He titled it "Paul Taylor and Dance Company", left it blank, and signed it with his initials, L.H. Horst definitely made a statement by writing the review this way and said a lot without saying much at all. But was his action too critical? Did it really help? Did it hurt him? It did not necessarily assist Paul Taylor in furthering his work and did not give him any feedback. Then again, maybe this is the reaction he wanted.

What makes a dance scenario effective?

In class, we examined several different dance scenarios and the ways in which dance was able to add to each scenario. One question asked was about the effectiveness of each scenario. With this question in mind, I began to question what caused a dance scenario to be effective. What does it mean for a dance scenario to be effective? Are there dance scenarios that aren't effective? Can different dance scenarios be effective in different ways?

In order for something to be effective, the result produced has to be the intended result. That is, the result of a specific scenario, such as the reaction to a dance scenario, would need to be the intended result, such as the choreographer's intended result, in order for it to be effective. When considering two very different dance scenarios, such as August Bourninville's La Sylphide and Doris Humphrey's New Dance, I've decided that different dance scenarios can be effective in different ways. La Sylphide is a narrative with the intended result of conjuring an image in the reader's head. La Sylphide is effective in the way that a mental image can be formed without ever viewing the dance. New Dance is by no means a narrative. It is difficult for the readers of Humphrey's New Dance to create images in their minds. However, New Dance is effective for reason that it conveys a specific mood as well as depicts various human interactions, as was Humphrey's intent. After viewing sections of New Dance, it became evident to me that Humphrey's dance scenario was effective as it conveyed to me the effect she was trying to induce.

Though La Sylphide and New Dance are vastly different, both dance scenarios are effective. Both produce the result that was orignially intended by the choregrapher. With these dance scenarios, I wonder if they would remain effective if we had not read about the desired result. Would we still be able to detect the disorder and mood Humphrey was trying to convey without reading her desired result? In what ways can the choreographer's intent be seen in choreography? Does a dance scenario even need to be effective? Does the result produced from the audience need to match the result intended by the choreographer? If a dance scenario were allowed to effect an audience in any given way, not just the effect desired by the choreographer, the scenario would cease to be effective in terms of definition,  but would begin to open a whole new world of possibilities for the audience. The audience could then view a dance scenario and allow the dance scenario to effect them as it may, not just in the way the choreographer intended. Perhaps then the audience would cease searching for meaning in dance scenarios and would allow the dance to effect them in any way it may. It is no secret that dance moves people to react; perhaps the effectiveness of a dance is found in the way the audience is effected and not just the effect the choreographer intends.

Dance and Poetry?

       Dance and poetry, while both arts, do not seem very similar to everyone, but they overlap in many ways. This is an idea that I discovered just recently by comparing the similar qualities of both mediums. Both dance and poetry as artistic forms can sometimes be difficult to unravel, but it is part of the journey to understanding both.
       I remember seeing a video of modern dance for the first and saying to myself "what did I just see" and "I do not understand it". Naive at the time, I had no idea what the world of modern dance had to offer. Dance not only serves as a way of moving the body, but can also move the emotions and stimulate the brain. It can be difficult to pick apart, but that is what makes the experience so embodying.
       I also remember the first time I read a difficult poem. It was a Haiku. Prior to the Haiku, I had read simple rhyming poems with the rhyme structure a,b,a,b as well as traditional nursery rhymes such as "Humpty Dumpty" and "Hickory Dickory Dock", but the Haiku was different. It seemed too short to understand and I could not figure out for the life of me, what the poem was pertaining to. But just like the art of dance, I have learned that there is more to poetry than just understudying. There is an art to it as well. I have now learned that dance and poetry are intellectual mediums and sometimes the audience does not have to understand, they just have to take it in (and hopefully enjoy it).
 

How do we separate our bodies and minds in dancing?

     Throughout written dance, I find that the mind and body separation are not often seen. The reader of a social dancing text cannot copy a body in motion. The reader only has words or certain notation symbols to create dance. However, dancers watch the movement in the teacher to gain the movement in their bodies. This phenomenon creates a broken history of movement, which is literally “lost in translation.”

            In present day practices, dancers often play and utilize the body-mind connection/disconnection. I often create solos with my brain completely shutdown. I have to allow my body to be the dominate in the solo. In texts, the reader will never be able to fully integrate the movement into the body in the exact intended form. With today’s technology, I hope that every dance maker and choreographer takes full advantage of a video camera, but even video cameras cannot fully realize the genius of movement. The contemporary dancer must hone their skill of witnessing bodies in motion to fully appreciate their body-mind. The dancer is the ultimate witness.

Welcome to WriteDance for Fall 2016!

On our F&M Dance Program blog, we will all post comments, questions, responses, and links related to themes we cover in class.

 On average, 3 full sentences will be minimum for a blog post. You may certainly write more, and post more frequently than the assignment page lists your name.

A blog post should be an original, compelling statement connected to the theme under discussion in class. Refer to classwork or reading we have done, draw on material you locate independently, and/or air thoughts that arise entirely out of your own reflections in relation to the class work. In your blogs, include images, video clips, quotations, and/or links to relevant websites that may be helpful to illustrate or give evidence about your comment or to direct readers to further information.

The assigned blog postings are due by 4:30pm on Wednesday of each week so that we can all read them in advance and refer to them in class on Thursday morning. Students should be prepared to discuss their blog entry in class, and the rest of us in class are expected to have read it before Thursday’s class. Some of us may even post responses to it before our morning class meeting.

ENJOY!