A response to
“We all seemed to be greatly disturbed that our art form has recently changed: extreme physical accomplishment overshadows true artistic quality.”
(Mind over Body, the development of the dancer and the role of the teacher, Maria Fay, Black Publishers Ltd, 1997, p.180)
I find this to be deeply worrying. Mainly because it talks directly about dance used in community arts. To me this talks about how in today’s society dance productions are still judged on the execution of dance skills rather than quality. Just because a dancer can perform a triple pirouette or a box turn doesn’t make the piece successful! Surely the process of the work and the delivery of it from the performer need to speak out to the audience and/or be of some worth to the performer.
dance is not valuable to those who are experiencing it for the first time.
- Is dance only meant to be enjoyed by the elite?
- And if a performance using dance based skills is executed with un-professionals, is it not high quality?
- Most importantly if dance is used, whether as a professional (i.e. a trained dancer) or a non-professional what is the works purpose? Surely this is the most important issue at hand?
It is my belief that the work is successful if the outcomes are met, disregarding the physical standard and level of dance training.
Any other responses to this?
I find this post particularly relevant to the Butoh workshops I took with an artist called Lindsay John Moffat. He studied fine art at GSA and his only dance training was in Butoh. He studied with Kazuo Ono and the dance classes mainly comprised of free movement directed with metaphors about the body rather than learning any system of moves.
I believe it leads to a place where the dancers specific body and emotion are the most important rather than the execution of successful “moves”.
“When one considers the body in relation to dance, it is then that one truly realizes what suffering is: it is a part of our lives. No matter how much we search for it from the outside there is no way we can find it without delving into ourselves.” – Tatsumi Hijikata.