Hi Class!!!
Here we are with our own blogger.com site. With this first assignment, what I ask of you is that you watch the required videos, do whatever additional research you might be interested in doing, and choose to comment if something strikes your interest. Also, feel free to pose questions to one another. But always be respectful of other's thoughts and opinions. Conflicting opinions is great, but only if we honor everyone's aesthetic.
So, lets get started:
We talked last week about what is going on in contemporary dance now. Of course, contemporary dance continues to grow. Where once there were the original four, now are countless choreographers making all kinds of work and asking different questions. Though the post-modern techniques of release and contact improvisation have thrived over the last 50 years, some of the core philosophies of that originating post-modernist era have been overlooked by next generations. Now, international choreographers are picking up on these core philosophies and making work that starts to surpass the work started by American artists. That is not to say that these experimental philosophies aren't happening here in the US, but with budget cuts to funding in the arts in the late 80's, producers and theaters wanted to present work that people were familiar with. Work that would be safe and make them money. That is why Alvin Ailey is so well known and yet such an old dance company. His most popular work was made in the mid-1950s. What does that say about progress in the arts in America?
So, the artist that I am highlighting in this post is Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and her company Rosas from Brussels. I have given you two videos. One appears as a link and is an interview with her (5 min) and the other which is a previous post is a short dance excerpt (5 min). It is a recent piece of hers called The Song. She is one of the leading choreographers of our time and her work travels all over the world. These are trained dancers and this is set choreography. Many of you brought up questions about trained vs. untrained, set vs. improvised, and everyday movements vs. "dance". I think this piece demonstrates the line between all of these things well. Let me know what your thoughts are.
http://bcove.me/7nclvk3b
Also - the link to her website: www.rosas.be
Enjoy,
Alicia
