Dance? Performance? Who cares?
Back in the day, I cut my teeth working performances at places like PS122, the Kitchen, St. Mark’s Place. I worked with dance companies like Li Chiao Ping Dance and artists like Douglas Rosenberg and Jin Wen Yu.
And they were strange. They’d do weird things like dancing in a square of neon tubes, or on the edge of a fishtank, or reciting the words "Falling…not falling…dreaming…" over and over while a projection of clouds was shone on their belly.
It was beautiful. It was strange and beautiful and it was new and unusual.
Which is why articles about "Is it dance? Does it matter?" really amuse me.
who cares?
The real question, the real test, is simply: Does it move me? If so…why? and where?
Everything else…well, if it’s got a beat, you can dance to it, right?
1 Comment
Agreed. Humans are too quick to try to compartmentalize things – especially art – rather than just letting it move and affect and change and energize them. I think if we can categorize things, it’s easier for us to have conversations about What We Like and What We Don’t. That way we know who’s on our side and who isn’t, without having to do too much thinking. And if there’s one thing that most Humans don’t dig… it’s thinking.