magnesium
The contemporary dance world has been accused of “fawning over” athletic, powerful images of masculinity as projected by artists such as Wayne McGregor and Hofesh Shechter, at the expense of promoting female choreographers. [Charlotte Higgins]
i’m wondering if ongoing discussion around Higgin’s article affected the perception of my presentation at CORD. the contact improvisation practice i shared (dampening) is at times ‘dynamic’, and promoted questions of “athleticism”.
Four female students demonstrated the work with me. perhaps this was part of the issue, would the question have been raised if i was working with males? the other concern was a lack of perceived embodiment. in somatic practices the work tends to be slow, dampening encourages sensitivity at speed.
i also have to remember dampening isn’t an ‘easy’ practice to engage with. contact improvisation is usually used as an ‘entry point’ to dance.
i find it interesting that an dynamic/athletic aesthetic was questioned outright. especially given the dynamic of early contact improvisation works. was the dynamic and structure of skills seen to be defeminizing? was i perceived as an agent of patriarchy?
many questions to ponder and respond to as i write the paper for publication.
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