Dance: Entertainment or Commentary?

2012 is turning out to be a year filled with much political activity – the Occupy Movements, the US presidential election campaigns, the Arab Spring, the European debt crisis – and we at BDA are thinking about what role dance plays in this political world. Choreographers, are you exploring political ideas in your choreography? Dancers, are you drawn to working on pieces pertaining to political and/or social issues?  On the flip side, what are you looking for when you go to see dance? Are you seeking out an uplifting escape, a challenging and transforming experience, some combination of the two, or something else entirely? What subject matters do you feel are relevant and important in dance right now?

Do you think that audiences see that dance has the potential to speak to social and political issues the way any other piece of art does?

What are the advantages or disadvantages that dance has as a physical, non-verbal art form in attempting to convey political or social messages?

When the content addresses social or political issues do you, the choreographer, think more or less about who will be in the audience?

Is dance inherently political because it is personal?
Here are some others’ thoughts on these topics:

“Can a non-verbal art form that has been obsessed for centuries with notions of rarified beauty have anything profound to say about social and political problems? What makes choreographers believe they can flounce around the biggest issues of our time?” –Arlene Croce, New Yorker

“Choreographers mix dance with politics because it is the only way to get attention.” –Arlene Croce, New Yorker

“As an ephemeral art form, people tend to let dance wash over them like a sunset, and don’t necessarily expect more of it than to be poetic.” –Betsy Cooper, Faculty at University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences

“By virtue of its volatility, the interesting age in which we live is demanding artistic responses.” –Louise E. Shaw, curator of Our Front Porch

“But the majority of contemporary choreographers in the U.S. today do not think about their place as citizen-artists in response to the political atmosphere.” –Joseph V. Melillo, BAM Executive Producer

Here are some articles on these topics that may interest you:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2006/sep/28/dance.iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/arts/dance/18solw.html?pagewanted=all

Feel free to comment here and/or discuss these topics with other dancers and dance supporters at the next BDA Grapevine:

Wednesday, February 22^nd at 7 pm at  Daedelus
(45 ½ Mount Auburn St. Cambridge, MA 02138 | 617.349.0071)

Add this event to your calendar: http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/bostondancealliance.org_s4c0vulsghrjalg7ghgsav6ra4%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics