Dancing About War
“It makes me grouchy to show up to “dance” after “dance” to find such a paucity of invention.” That’s the sentiment of Apollinaire Scherr in her recent column about several dances created about the Iraq war. She mentions
- “Not About Iraq Dance” at Danspace
- “zero degrees” at City Center
- “Far…” by Rachid Ouramdane
And she discusses the “Inertia” movement, which is the tendency to show tension in a dance environment through the lack of movement (hence the initial quote). I would have to agree, there does seem to be a lack of originality in terms of works about the war, but I believe the reason has more to do with the freshness of it, and also the very fine line between protesting the war and still supporting the soldiers. It’s hard even in conversation to express clearly the idea of honoring a person’s commitment to follow orders and risk their life while at the same time deploring the situation that led to it. Personally, do I believe that the soldiers would fight for my freedom? Yes. Do I believe they’re doing it? No. And that opens up a can of worms in most mixed company that can really make things difficult.
That being said, there are some other works (and one entire genre) that deal with war that I think show some of the breadth possible when addressing this difficult subject no matter what the era. I’m going to address one every day for the next few days.
Peggy Choy is a dancer of Korean descent who produced a work called Comfort Women. I start here because this was a piece that I was a part of, one of the first professional dance engagements I’d ever been in. At first I was completely honored, as someone who had admired her dancing for years. Then, as the choreography came to light, I realized that she had asked me not for my dancing ability but because she knew that I was a former Marine.
This actually was a disadvantage, due to her preconceptions about the military mind. I was asked to show my “rage” and “callousness” through my motions, to use actual close-order drill moves with a rifle to show wanton disregard for human life. That was a problem, because the military mind is not an angry one, nor is it callous. In fact, the military mind places such a high value on human life that the members are willing to pay the ultimate price to protect it - their own lives. It was immensely uncomfortable to be put into a stereotype, and I think that’s something that most choreographers need to be careful of - rather than presuming to understand the soldier’s mind, seeking to understand all of the motivations might produce some more expressive movements than simply sitting in place, shaking with frustration and fear.
You really want to see a dance about the Iraq war, then take a look at this piece. Art created during war time. What it lacks in finesse it makes up for in the simple fact that in the midst of such a conflict, soldiers feel the need to express themselves in this way.
Semper fi.
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POSTED IN: Dance, General: Peforming Arts
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