|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
American Modern Dance in Mid-life Crisis
| Article
# : |
18901 |
|
|
Section : |
THE ARTS
|
| Issue
Date : |
2 / 1991 |
1,688 Words |
| Author
: |
Maya Wallach
Maya Wallach is a dance writer, critic, and photographer
currently based in Los Angeles |
Lyons' fourth Biennale de la Danse, with seventeen leading U.S. companies, provided the perfect opportunity last fall for an unprecedented look at the past, present, and future of American dance. Guy Darmet, director of the festival since it began in 1983, orchestrated the telling of An American Story by choosing and presenting the more than sixty remarkable performances.
Beginning with Isadora Duncan's iconoclastic works from the turn of the century, the biennale traced the "genealogical" tree of modern dance. There were recreations of works by the "mother and father of modern dance" , Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, founders of the Denishawn school and company. Denishawn disciple Doris Humphrey's work was presented by the company of her protégé Jose Limon. Denishawn's most famous dancer, Martha Graham, was represented both by her company and by those she helped train: Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor had both danced with Graham before founding their own companies. Among fourth-generation choreographers the influence lines begin to blur: Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, and Bill T. Jones have studied not only with Graham and Cunningham but also choreographers from German expressionist and African-American traditions such as Alwin Nikolais and Alvin Ailey, respectively.
To watch this incredible range of dance packed into three weeks was to come suddenly face to face with the world of American dance. The curious tics and styles of individual choreographers fit into larger patterns, and the emerging picture was startling. Despite its impeccable lineage, American modern dance seemed to be in direct opposition to the precepts of its founders, replacing humanist spirituality with cool professionalism.
Missing Isadora
In the rolling gardens of an old estate, the biennale paid homage to Isadora Duncan. French dancer and Duncan devotee Elizabeth Schwartz came bounding through the trees with only birdsong for music. Like a child in summer, she ran over lawns, rolled down hills, hugged trees, and pressed her face against cool stone. Schwartz's performance provided enough of the form to glimpse the spirituality Duncan celebrated, but the stage presence--the impact--was missing.
The same problem troubled the recreations of the Denishawn works, performed by the Vanaver Caravan and the New Jersey Center Dance Collective. With ornate costumes and rituals borrowed from Eastern religious traditions, St. Denis would have been only an exotic sideshow
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
