(Jacob Zimmer)
Looking forward to the second study group on Monday.
The last one was great - a set of wonderful but radically incomplete notes are posted below - please comment, add, jump off from etc...
Rereading the What is the contemporary? article – I want to acknowledge that it’s pretty dense and there is a lot of language that requires second (or more) readings and liberal use of a dictionary. But this excites me. And it excites me in relationship to last weeks reading of The Act of Study. I’ve been thinking about marking the ideas or sentences that flash or pop out to me and connect with my preoccupations. We’ll work through the ideas and writing together through our own responses, a process I’m looking forward to. So, no fear, we're in it together.
I also wanted to link to another article that, I think, addresses some of the same issues with an explicit tie in to practice, specifically Martha Graham. We’ll focus on What is the contemporary? But the other two will be a tie in to dance practice.
To access the new article, just click here: How modern is modernism? The Relevance of Reconstruction. An Essay by André Lepecki about the Martha Graham Retrospective. As always, this new article is available in hard copy at the Dancemakers office.
We’ll still be looking at Reconstructing Dance: Taking an Active Interest in the Legacy of Dance: a short essay/website from the Goethe-Institut website.
Your RSVP’s and thoughts are more than welcome.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Next Thinking Out Loud October 19
Our inaugural Thinking Out Loud – the Study Group session last Tuesday was fantastic. Thanks to everyone who came.
If you weren't there, we hope you can make it out to the next one, so we can share ideas and pretzels with you, too.
All you need to do is RSVP and show up (with some spare change for a beer or a glass of wine). Feel free to bring some dinner with you to eat during our discussion, or on the break we promise we will take around 7:45pm
The next meeting will take place on Monday October 19th at 6:30pm. We will once again be gathering in the studio at Dancermakers’ Centre for Creation (click here for a map/directions) on the 3rd floor.
We will be discussing Giorgio Agamben article What is the contemporary? which can be found on the a.aaaarg.org website by clicking here (you will need to register for the website in order to access the pdf – do it.)
We’ll also look at Reconstructing Dance: Taking an Active Interest in the Legacy of Dance: a short essay/website from the Goethe-Institut website.
and How modern is modernism? The Relevance of Reconstruction. An Essay by André Lepecki about the Martha Graham Retrospective
More...
Alternatively, swing by the Dancemakers office if you’d rather pick up a hard copy of both articles.
It’s a bit more challenging read – but we think worth it and good for conversation.
Although this next meeting is on a Monday, future dates for Thinking Out Loud are all Tuesdays:
December 1, January 5, February 2, March 2, March 30, and April 27.
Please continue to spread the word to friends, colleagues, teachers, and so on, if you think this might tickle their fancy.
We look forward to another stimulating exchange!
Jacob, Megan, Kari and Leora
Dancemakers & The Dance Current
If you weren't there, we hope you can make it out to the next one, so we can share ideas and pretzels with you, too.
All you need to do is RSVP and show up (with some spare change for a beer or a glass of wine). Feel free to bring some dinner with you to eat during our discussion, or on the break we promise we will take around 7:45pm
The next meeting will take place on Monday October 19th at 6:30pm. We will once again be gathering in the studio at Dancermakers’ Centre for Creation (click here for a map/directions) on the 3rd floor.
We will be discussing Giorgio Agamben article What is the contemporary? which can be found on the a.aaaarg.org website by clicking here (you will need to register for the website in order to access the pdf – do it.)
We’ll also look at Reconstructing Dance: Taking an Active Interest in the Legacy of Dance: a short essay/website from the Goethe-Institut website.
and How modern is modernism? The Relevance of Reconstruction. An Essay by André Lepecki about the Martha Graham Retrospective
More...
Alternatively, swing by the Dancemakers office if you’d rather pick up a hard copy of both articles.
It’s a bit more challenging read – but we think worth it and good for conversation.
Although this next meeting is on a Monday, future dates for Thinking Out Loud are all Tuesdays:
December 1, January 5, February 2, March 2, March 30, and April 27.
Please continue to spread the word to friends, colleagues, teachers, and so on, if you think this might tickle their fancy.
We look forward to another stimulating exchange!
Jacob, Megan, Kari and Leora
Dancemakers & The Dance Current
Notes from the first Thinking Out Loud!
(by Kari Pederson)
An eclectic and insightful group met on September 29th for the first of the Thinking Out Loud series. We had an interesting conversation rooted in Paulo Freire's "The Act of Study" from his book The politics of education: culture, power and liberation (1985). I've taken the liberty of posting Leora's notes from the evening (thanks Leora!). The notes are great and I've added links to help to fill in some blanks for those of you who weren't able to make the first TOL. It was an excellent start to the series and I think we would all agree that Freire's article will continue to inform our creative and critical learning process!
Thinking Out Loud: The Study Group - Notes - September 29, 2009
how to bring Freire’s concept of learning to every day artistic and non-artistic practices?
article written as a manifesto. makes you want to read on. what is a manifesto? call to action? set of beliefs articulated with conviction?
empty space ... is a problem in dance training that there is no room for elevation beyond empirical? (empirical = derived from experiment, observation, rather than theory)
mastery = knowledge + silence/personal ownership?
(as opposed to consuming + regurgitating)
More...
bibliographies. idea of placing articles, ideas, works in socio-politico-historical context by reading bibliography, understanding what situates author in his/her life at time of writing.
dialectical relationship: is tension in dialogue between reader/author where learning occurs?
do we have a responsibility to contextualize?
to whom?
artist biographies vs. program notes
what are the artists reading/doing that brought them to this point?
can this information replace “contextualizing” of descriptive writing about piece?
people’s different habits around reading programs before/after seeing work.
do some forms of art (text-based theatre) limit our potential to flash because they keep us so busy (with the words for example), and involved in the world onstage?
what are the rituals around form (dance class structure, “uniforms”, etc)?
how does this affect learning?
what happens when you remove the ritual of form (doing a tendu on top of a mountain at sunrise by yourself instead of in dance class at the barre wearing a leotard)?
are audiences consuming art mindlessly? what can artists demand from audiences?
how to cultivate a curious audience?
curiosity vs. criticality. indulging in/addressing one’s own preoccupations vs. discovering one’s thoughts on author’s thinking?
(critical: “characterized by careful, exact evaluation and judgment”, “marked by a tendency to find and call attention to errors and flaws”)
flashes as having value when we return with them to author’s total thinking?
(as opposed to daydreaming)
definition of “political” – is every work political, whether or not its aware of its politics? i.e. are politics inherently imbedded in every expression, or does a work need to explicitly being trying to rebel/revolt/make heard a silenced voice in order to be political?
is So You Think You Can Dance political?
are politics of a work least obvious to you when they are in line with the voice of your community?
Jacques Ranciere (The Emancipated Spectator (2004), The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation (1991))
keep coming back to quote on pg. 2:
“seriously studying a text calls for an analysis of the study of the one who, through studying, wrote it” - Paulo Freire
how do you create a 50% show, where audience meets you halfway? (reference to Jerome Bell)
is there value in sitting with and observing discomfort, lack of interest in a piece, etc? is the learning located in discovering what does/doesn’t engage you and what that might tell you about yourself as a subject-learner?
where in learning does space fit in?
silence?
re-envisioning of the class structure and pedagogy (ritualized hierarchy as oppressive)?
teacher as catalyst to thinking about old things new ways (gateway to the flashes), as learner you can receive it passively or actively
agency.
communication as communing.
Richard Pochinko's clown concept: circle around performer, circle around audience, circle in the middle where they meet is where performance happens. this “inter-subjective” space as where “subject learning” happens?
An eclectic and insightful group met on September 29th for the first of the Thinking Out Loud series. We had an interesting conversation rooted in Paulo Freire's "The Act of Study" from his book The politics of education: culture, power and liberation (1985). I've taken the liberty of posting Leora's notes from the evening (thanks Leora!). The notes are great and I've added links to help to fill in some blanks for those of you who weren't able to make the first TOL. It was an excellent start to the series and I think we would all agree that Freire's article will continue to inform our creative and critical learning process!
Thinking Out Loud: The Study Group - Notes - September 29, 2009
how to bring Freire’s concept of learning to every day artistic and non-artistic practices?
article written as a manifesto. makes you want to read on. what is a manifesto? call to action? set of beliefs articulated with conviction?
empty space ... is a problem in dance training that there is no room for elevation beyond empirical? (empirical = derived from experiment, observation, rather than theory)
mastery = knowledge + silence/personal ownership?
(as opposed to consuming + regurgitating)
More...
bibliographies. idea of placing articles, ideas, works in socio-politico-historical context by reading bibliography, understanding what situates author in his/her life at time of writing.
dialectical relationship: is tension in dialogue between reader/author where learning occurs?
do we have a responsibility to contextualize?
to whom?
artist biographies vs. program notes
what are the artists reading/doing that brought them to this point?
can this information replace “contextualizing” of descriptive writing about piece?
people’s different habits around reading programs before/after seeing work.
do some forms of art (text-based theatre) limit our potential to flash because they keep us so busy (with the words for example), and involved in the world onstage?
what are the rituals around form (dance class structure, “uniforms”, etc)?
how does this affect learning?
what happens when you remove the ritual of form (doing a tendu on top of a mountain at sunrise by yourself instead of in dance class at the barre wearing a leotard)?
are audiences consuming art mindlessly? what can artists demand from audiences?
how to cultivate a curious audience?
curiosity vs. criticality. indulging in/addressing one’s own preoccupations vs. discovering one’s thoughts on author’s thinking?
(critical: “characterized by careful, exact evaluation and judgment”, “marked by a tendency to find and call attention to errors and flaws”)
flashes as having value when we return with them to author’s total thinking?
(as opposed to daydreaming)
definition of “political” – is every work political, whether or not its aware of its politics? i.e. are politics inherently imbedded in every expression, or does a work need to explicitly being trying to rebel/revolt/make heard a silenced voice in order to be political?
is So You Think You Can Dance political?
are politics of a work least obvious to you when they are in line with the voice of your community?
Jacques Ranciere (The Emancipated Spectator (2004), The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation (1991))
keep coming back to quote on pg. 2:
“seriously studying a text calls for an analysis of the study of the one who, through studying, wrote it” - Paulo Freire
how do you create a 50% show, where audience meets you halfway? (reference to Jerome Bell)
is there value in sitting with and observing discomfort, lack of interest in a piece, etc? is the learning located in discovering what does/doesn’t engage you and what that might tell you about yourself as a subject-learner?
where in learning does space fit in?
silence?
re-envisioning of the class structure and pedagogy (ritualized hierarchy as oppressive)?
teacher as catalyst to thinking about old things new ways (gateway to the flashes), as learner you can receive it passively or actively
agency.
communication as communing.
Richard Pochinko's clown concept: circle around performer, circle around audience, circle in the middle where they meet is where performance happens. this “inter-subjective” space as where “subject learning” happens?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
and then ...
As a result of the symposium and the roundtable discussion, Jacob Zimmer (dramaturge and animateur at Dancemakers) and Megan Andrews (publisher/founding editor of The Dance Current) began working together to develop Jacob's study group concept. Thinking Out Loud is the collaborative initiative that resulted.
It's an experiment.
We meet monthly (we being a small and fluctuating group of interested artists and arts professionals from across disciplines, practices and generations) to discuss an article or two that we circulate in advance of the meeting. Jacob and Megan facilitate the discussion, with the help of Dancemakers' interns Kari Pederson and Leora Morris. Participants help shape the discussion and suggest readings. Following the meetings, we'll post some reflections here and anyone is welcome to comment.
It's an experiment.
We meet monthly (we being a small and fluctuating group of interested artists and arts professionals from across disciplines, practices and generations) to discuss an article or two that we circulate in advance of the meeting. Jacob and Megan facilitate the discussion, with the help of Dancemakers' interns Kari Pederson and Leora Morris. Participants help shape the discussion and suggest readings. Following the meetings, we'll post some reflections here and anyone is welcome to comment.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Reading Writing Dancing: Symposium 2009
From May 7th through 9th, 2009, the Reading Writing Dancing symposium, led by Associate Professor and dance writer Carol Anderson, was held at York University in collaboration with the York dance department, The Dance Current magazine and the Society for Canadian Dance Studies. The three-day event included panel discussions and presentations on dance writing in the mainstream press, the relationship between writers and editors and ways of thinking and writing about aboriginal dance practices. A group of dance writers, included well-published dance writer/author Carol Anderson, gathered to read from recent reviews, essays and books. Guest speaker Veronica Tennant, from Toronto, presented her work in dance film and video and O Vertigo artistic director and choreographer Ginette Laurin, from Montréal, presented her recent film of Le Chambre Blanche and discussed her choreographic process.
About twenty people, including artists, writers, scholars and educators from a range of forms and practices, came together on Saturday, May 9th, 2009, for a two-hour facilitated discussion led by Megan Andrews, Publisher/Founding Editor of The Dance Current magazine. The structured conversation worked through a series of five questions considering the future of critical discourse about dance in Canada.
More...
1- What do we think are the core elements in a robust critical ecology?
2- Where do we see potential?
3- What exists in the field already?
5- How do we cultivate - can we identify any - priorities?
(*Thanks to Brittany Duggan, assistant to the editor, for typing up the notes from the roundtable meeting.)
About twenty people, including artists, writers, scholars and educators from a range of forms and practices, came together on Saturday, May 9th, 2009, for a two-hour facilitated discussion led by Megan Andrews, Publisher/Founding Editor of The Dance Current magazine. The structured conversation worked through a series of five questions considering the future of critical discourse about dance in Canada.
More...
1- What do we think are the core elements in a robust critical ecology?
- having ways to articulate/negotiate boundaries and concepts; having the ability to wrestle with the question: what is dance?
- an awareness of frames of presentation, and the practice of different forms
- resources
- modelling & cultivating & practicing respectful statements of critical opinions & debate
- a diversity of voices, ages, practices, etc.
- knowledge about the history of critical reflection; tools for analysis, argumentation, etc.
- reflexive practices of writing that engage with context
- confidence
- collaborations, partnerships, networks, gatherings
- consciousness & questioning; the need for advocacy as an agenda in dance writing
- a social approach: dialogue; what do we include – exclude in identifying a "dance community"
- embracing and recognizing different ways of writing: artists' writing, historical, critical, journalistic
- connections with other forms of writing, other disciplines and other areas of interest
- understanding of the importance of editing
- consideration of issues of language translation
- awareness of the relationship of textual style to the dance
- education, knowledge of contexts
- empowering artists to write
- strategies to bridge within the community around learning to write
- documenting, archiving and preservation
- archiving the body of writing to make it accessible
- documenting/chronicling the art as it happens - a heightened awareness of word choice and the power of word choice
- awareness of readership: general readers, youth, scholars, artists, etc.
- strategies to bridge to the general public
- that there is the possibility of a career
- access points to the discussion
2- Where do we see potential?
- in modeling the culture / skills we seek
- in creating a culture of supportive risk-taking
- in multi media developments & “fit” of kind of writing to mode/medium of dissemination
- in the possibility of the articulate dancer/artist/writer
- in writer-reader-editor-groups at different scales and intimacies
- in mentorships – intergenerational & within generations
- in this type of gathering (the Reading Writing Dancing symposium as a whole), which moves us toward a community of dance writers – linked online and/or in person
- in the education system to cultivate knowledge & tools – critical analysis with reference to writing
- in online video as educational tool
3- What exists in the field already?
- magazines, resources, organizations;
- websites, journals, books, anthologies
- a symposium -- conferences – nascent conversation
- ad hoc zines
- dialogic reviews
- technology – internet
- education: elementary, high school, pre-pro, colleges, universities, undergraduate, graduate
- curricula: dance, dance writing
- writers – editors – readers- publishers
- types of writing
- the living body of knowledge – “intangible cultural heritage” – UNESCO
• Dance Collection Danse
• Soceity for Canadian Dance Studies
• The Dance Current
• York University + other universities / colleges
• MERGE
• Dancemakers
• Eponymous
• Dance Umbrella of Ontario + other dance management organizations
• Dancepassport
• Canada Dance Festival
• The Dance Centre (Vancouver)
• Arts Alive
• CDA – Research & Writing Standing Council
• Bibliotheque de la danse – Chorème
• UNESCO
• Dance International
• writers' personal blogs
• Dance And the Child International: proceedings / papers
• Canadian dance authors
• dance presenter networks
• Banff Centre - press and archives
• Trent University - archives
4- What's missing?
- awareness of specifics of languages, word choice, frames, with respect to different forms and practices
- awareness of the problems with “Canadian” insularity
- awareness of Canada’s dance reputation abroad
- knowledge of/awareness of dance with the other arts & social histories
- quality – of writer education, writing, editing, reader education, the dance-making itself
- education
- a culture of nourishing & valuing “our cultures”
- candidness in conversation
- peer-reviewed scholarly journal in Canada
- awareness of potential publics & how to engage them
- understanding of ethics, writer-editor relationships and editorial/journalistic practice
- exposure to dance and dance writing from abroad
- reader responses to writing
- international reference points/contexts as writers
- representation of diversity in the writing
- advocacy to mainstream media
- exposure and access; avenues of dissemination
- understanding of varied approaches & ways of thinking
- editorial support for dance and dance writing in the mainstream media
5- How do we cultivate - can we identify any - priorities?
- start small gatherings (discussion/reading groups) & large gathering; use technologies
- develop a network or list of contacts for a large community
- cultivate a writing/writer network
- establish a peer-reviewed scholarly journal
(*Thanks to Brittany Duggan, assistant to the editor, for typing up the notes from the roundtable meeting.)
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