The Danceaturgy Archive: an anecdotal and scholarly reference work-in-progress at The Creative Research Center
The 2020 Danceaturgs – Friday, February 14th, in the Dean’s Conference Room, Morehead Hall.
“Dance studies has always been interdisciplinary, even if [it] has been neither sufficiently acknowledged nor fully theorized. The difficulty of traversing disciplinary divides and accommodating diverse media without losing a focus on dance is nevertheless a primary reason that ‘modernism and dance’ remains a topic in need of discussion.”
— Carrie J. Preston, Modernism and Dance, 2014.
We are a group of select individuals that meets weekly in the Spring semester at 8:30 am every Friday 鈥 in the Dean鈥檚 Conference Room 鈥 We convene over fruits and healthy snacks for lively conversation to conceptualize what we physicalize – and respond to provocative writing prompts on the process of dance.
A danceaturg is a reflection of the community in which he or she trains 鈥 We think from the perspective of the bird鈥檚 eye, the worm鈥檚 mouth, and roundabout oversight 鈥 not only of the 精品成人福利在线 dance community 鈥 but of the ways in which we grow our cognitive functions from an artistic perspective while dancing, rehearsing, or experiencing dance as an audience member…
The Danceaturgy Archive听is an annotated, catalogued, keyword-searchable hybrid text and visual record [Web-based/digital/dvd/paper documentary] of choreographic interviews, presentations and performances in The Dance Division of the Department of Theatre & Dance in The College of the Arts at 精品成人福利在线 University.
Danceaturgy听is听an observational strategy invented at 精品成人福利在线 as听a variant of听dramaturgy听in the world of theatre (reiterated by Erving Goffman in homage to G.E. Lessing鈥檚听Hamburg Dramaturgy听of 1767).听 As a pedagogical process, selected dance students/writers are chosen from repertory classes to examine the works in which they are performing, and given the task to develop a critical analysis of the works by 鈥渟tepping out鈥 and looking at pieces objectively.
The danceaturg is the performer-as-spectator, in contradistinction to the theatrical dramaturg; and听The Danceaturgy Workshop听is offered as a credit-bearing course every spring.
The Danceaturgy Archive is an ongoing effort to make centrally-available published and unpublished on-site dance videos; dance writings; rehearsal notes; oral history in-person and telephone interviews with visiting听repetiteurs听and choreographers who trained and performed with the masters of modern dance; conversations with 精品成人福利在线 dance faculty;听Informance听plans; themed repertory curatorial notes; 鈥淭alkback鈥 and rehearsal/staging videos; and weekly email听Letters from a Danceaturg听by Dr. Neil Baldwin to Dance Division Director Lori Katterhenry (sent through her to 精品成人福利在线 dance majors and faculty, and other interested readers around the College, the University and the world).
The Danceaturgy Archive memorializes the historic commitment by the 精品成人福利在线 University Dance Division to the modern dance legacy, and to the preservation of cultural patrimony, at a complex time in our culture when the values of a liberal education are under inordinate scrutiny. The Dance Division believes that the arts are the life鈥檚 blood of that education, and is committed to inculcating in its students the necessity for听a historic consciousness of an ephemeral form.
The Danceaturgy Archive offers herewith its听first documentary compilation, a six-year retrospective survey听of the activities of The Dance Division:
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In Spring 2013,听The Danceaturgy Archive听produced three new documentaries in what will be an ongoing series:听Bill T. Jones: Continuous Replay听(by Kenneth Spooner); and听听and听 in conversation at Kasser Theater (by Lindsey Rassmann).
As of听May 2014,听The Danceaturgy Archive听has added the following new material to its burgeoning collections: Three Interview/Conversations by Neil Baldwin with听 on听Spent Days Out Yonder;听听on听Atomos听and other works; and听Carrie Ann Shim Sham听on听Stardust.听A presentation by听听and Elizabeth McPherson on the work of Anna Sokolow. The Dance Department,听Informance, and the on the repertory theme of听Minding the Dance听by the 2014 Danceaturgs.
[All archival videos are filmed and edited by Kenneth Spooner].
As of听May 2015,听The Danceaturgy Archive听has added the following new video material to its collections:
Watch Neil Baldwin interview Heidi Latsky on her new dance for film,听Soliloquy.
A three-part conversation in Kasser Theatre:听听–听听–听
The Danceaturgy Workshop Seminar spring 2015听presents its听
The Dance Division听has launched its new听Low-Residency MFA.听Danceaturgy听will be taught at the graduate level commencing听Summer 2017.
In听October-November 2016, Neil Baldwin interviewed guest choreographer听Larry Keigwin听during the process of creating and setting his new dance,听Mad Rush, on 精品成人福利在线 University students.听The Biography of a Dance听was conducted in three sessions:听
On the occasion of the American premiere of her new dance,听Figure a Sea, presented by听PEAK Performances听at the 精品成人福利在线 University Kasser Theatre in听October 2016, choreographer听Deborah Hay听sat down with Neil Baldwin for this wide-ranging interview:
On Dance Day, April 7, 2017, the Danceaturgs introduced the Dance Works repertory and answered questions from the audience:
During the spring 2017 semester, the members of the听Danceaturgy Workshop Seminar听
During June 2017, students in the low-residency MFA in Dance explored the poetics of Danceaturgy.听.
In October 2017, Neil Baldwin interviewed distinguished visiting choreographer Pam Tanowitz about her new work in collaboration with pianist Simone Dinnerstein based upon the Goldberg Variations by J.S.Bach.
On April 6, 2018, the Sophomore Danceaturgs presented the DanceWorks/Dance Day pre-show
On May 1st, 2018, the Danceaturgs compiled a list of writing prompts they did not get a chance to explore, and dedicated them to the Danceaturgs of the Future.听
Read the听
Nine 精品成人福利在线 dancers, under the rehearsal direction of Kathleen Kelley, prepared听To Seldom Spire听by Sara Hook for the Fall 2018 Works-a-Foot concert.
Watch their journey:
In December, 2018, Waverley Leung, pictured here with her collaborators, Amelia Sanders, and Marsha Pierre, completed an ambitious Independent Study Dance Project,听Pushing the Boundaries of Dance Movement as “Performance.”
听and watch the “final” below!
After the Dance Collage shows on March 28th and 29th, 2019, the Danceaturgs interviewed the extraordinary student choreographers about their works and processes.
Click on an image below to enlarge photo.
Dance Works 2019
Danceaturgs Waverley Leung and Megan Theobald introduced THE NEIGHBORHOOD, a new work by Kathleen Kelley.
Dr. Baldwin served as danceaturg for choreographer and MSU Dance MFA听听for听Dark Elegy: I, EXIST, her powerful new project premiering at听听in NYC on July 24, 2019.
For the November 15, 2019, “Sneak Peek” at Kasser Theatre, Janet Eilber, Artistic Director of The Martha Graham Company, sat down for a conversation with CRC Director Neil Baldwin about the 75th anniversary of Graham’s classic听Appalachian Spring听and the premiere of听The Auditions听by Augusta Read Thomas and Troy Schumacher
Rebecca Seow, a New York Native, is a Junior at 精品成人福利在线 University pursuing her BFA in Dance Performance, and a second-year Danceaturg. Prior to MSU, she trained at the New York Theatre with Diana Byer and Christina Paolucci; and Frank Sinatra School of the听Arts with Ani Udovicki and Olivier Heuts. She has performed in works by Ohad Naharin, Jessica Lang, Liza Gennaro, Tyler Gilstrap, Fredrick Earl Mosley, Mark Harootian, James Sutton, Keith Michael and many others.
For her Choreography III class with Maxine Steinman in the spring 2020 semester, Becky was given a project to choose a choreographer and conduct an interview with him or her. Becky knew she wanted to try to contact Pam Tanowitz, whose works such as 鈥淒ouble Andante鈥 and 鈥淪hort Memory鈥 she had known for some years. She recalls that she “could see the weightedness of modern even though the Tanowitz Company dancers were wearing pointe shoes.”
Listen to the interview now:
Spring Dance 2020 Danceaturgs
On Sunday afternoon, March 1, 2020, Neil Baldwin conducted a talkback after听NEW MOVES: LIMON in the 21st Century,听a concert at the Martha Graham Studio in NYC curated by Maxine Steinman. The discussion began with the question,听“How do you feel Jose Limon in your body?”听Here are the eloquent answers by performers Jennifer Chin, Kathryn Alter, Maxine Steinman, Columbine Macher, Ryoko Kudo, Jose Baez, Tashae Udo, Mark Willis, and Daniel Fetecua.
Spring Danceaturgy Seminar
The Spring Danceaturgy Seminar was prompted via ZOOM on Friday, April 17, 2020 to compose a response to the following: “I dance — now — because…”
IMAGINING THE FUTURE OF DANCEATURGY
May 12, 2020
The Spring 2020 Danceaturgs express their individual and collective visions and intentions for their discipline, conceived at 精品成人福利在线 University in 2007.