Morning:
Yesterday afternoon was the
opening Plenary. Three dance scholars spoke. It was really inspiring for me
because they talked about ideas within the terms of dance rather than ‘about
dance’. I found that how they presented resonated with my thinking that dance
study is about starting within the thinking and knowledge that dance (and the
arts) offers and using this to critically look at the (whole) world not just
how high your arabesque is. Dr. George-Graves talked about her life, citing
bell hooks call to connect our lives through honest openness to our research,
in order to acknowledge the messiness of things at times. She talked about her
washing machine braking, Children’s theatre, the texts and performance legacy
of slavery and also said sometimes she feels as if she is banging her head ‘against
a brick wall and a glass ceiling’ at the same time – totally verbalises my
feelings at times too!!!!
Dr. Garcia talked about
oppressed and labouring bodies the way Mexican migrant worker’s bodies are
treated. New possibilities in interdisciplinary work, that can explore more
complex identities in a multi-cultural world. How dance is connected and
disconnected to cultural studies.
Dr. Wong talked about how
dance can situate itself. How people see it as ‘fun, entertaining and eye
candy’ and as dance scholars we sometimes have to defend the very aspects of
dance we are critically deconstructing. (example me defending Ballet last week
at Re:Generations London!!!)
I was affirmed in feeling
that dance gives a kind of knowledge and this knowledge can be brought to other
fields. Not so much inter-disciplinary as a widening of the narrow expectations
that people outside dance assume we are interested in.
Today is a full day. I
present this afternoon. In other
news it turns out I am almost in the heart of the city (downtown) its just
people don’t really walk much!!
Adesola
Thanks Adesola - interesting reading this - like the thought about dance knowledge and expectations.
ReplyDeleteI hope the presentation went well! My last comment is linked to what Mr Wong said, I forgot to write that.
ReplyDeleteAlicia Beck has left a new comment on your post "Friday, morning":
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of our discussion earlier this week, when we talked about how my inquiry could be looking at similar areas- ie. the Government seem to control the budget for the Arts council but how much do they know about Dance/Dancers, and why is it always the cultural sectors which get under funded?! Going back to celebrity TV shows, where none dancers are trained up in a week or so to perform on live TV ( or where a certain Oscar winning actress claimed to have perfected Ballet and Pointe work technique in 6 months) can on one side increase recognition of the art of dance, but on the other hand can 'dum dance down.'
How many times have I Been asked- so do you have another job? Or do you just dance? YES I JUST DANCE! It takes just as much time than a regular 9-5, believe me!