Paper presented - Re-directing the lens

 

Abstract

This paper details work undertaken for my PhD project, “Ageism and the mature dancer”, where I use digital technology to examine the role of the older, experienced dancer. This is followed by a discussion regarding the project and its aims to make visible the older dancing body on screen, a rare occurrence within Western society. It questions the Western dance world’s prejudice towards the corporeal difference of the older, experienced dancer, and why ageing remains a taboo issue.

 

 

Key words: The older dancer, the trained body, ageing, aesthetics, digital technology

 

Introduction

In the absence of the mirror, the recording of the face and body by the camera through photography becomes the dominant mode for representing the body image, and also of imagining one’s body image.[1]

 

This paper is concerned with the relationship between the older dancing body and the viewer, and it examines how digital technology can assist in exploring and understanding this relationship. Through practice-led research for the PhD “Ageism and the mature dancer”, I investigate attitudes towards the older dancing body. The world of dance is consumed with perfection and ideal young bodies, ‘and there is a continuing stigma regarding ageing. There has been a long-held prejudice regarding the mature dancer, and its lack of place, brought on by today’s emphasis on a youth culture weighing heavily in the current Western dance world, is evidenced by dance scholar Efva Lilja’s statement: “I am also frightened by the fact that the ageing person is rarely seen in art, and when it does happen, that body is so alien to most people that the way its age is seen gets in the way of what the person wants to communicate.”[2] To be able to see seasoned dance artists on screen is an essential advance to keeping them visible and valued within our ageist Western dance culture.

In my previous film documentation regarding ageing and dance, I collaborated with and filmed eight older, experienced dancers—four from Sydney and four from London. I asked them to respond to a dance motif I had choreographed in 1987 while a student at the Laban Centre, London. Please refer to this link: https://vimeo.com/112907186

 

I filmed each dancer at site-specific locations in Sydney and London, where they re-interpreted the motif, thus creating eight new individual versions. These eight solos were later exhibited in the White Box Gallery, Queensland College of Art, Gold Coast campus, in 2015. Screened large scale, the work highlighted the dancers’ craft and corporeality, inviting a dialogue regarding the older dancing body.

Please refer to this link for the eight solos: http://soniayork-pryce.com/portfolio_PhD_InappropriateBehaviour.php

 

After the exhibition, I decided to experiment further by editing the eight solos into one film, Interprète/Inappropriate Behaviour. This merging of the solo performances was aimed to highlight and celebrate the mature dancer’s corporeal difference from younger dancers, and to visually display how their practice, rather than their age, defines them.  

Please refer to this link:  https://vimeo.com/136466421

 

The film went on to win a gold award in the UK for films featuring older dancers.

Please refer to this link: https://www.pdsw.org.uk/dance-devs/joie-de-vivre-dance-film-competition-2015/

 

From this juncture, I decided to broaden my film experimentation by producing the work utterly (in)appropriate, which I filmed and edited in 2017. This new work is a direct response to the eight older experienced dancers’ solos and posits an additional view of the older dancing body.

 

Approach

The body which experiences or gives off intensities which refuse to cohere into a distinctive image complicates the assumptions about body image in consumer culture.[3]

 

The inspiration for utterly (in)appropriate came from Hege Haargenrud’s use my body while it’s still young (2015), a work featuring four well-known European experienced dancers, aged from sixty to eighty. Being very conscious of how older dancers are excluded and invisible in Western dance culture, Haargenrud’s aim for this work was to draw attention to this. She states,

 

…there were no elderly dancers visible—a lack of them—we don’t see them in society today. Where are the older dancers? The audience wants to see that body on stage, [one] that is not flawless, that is marked by age, but can still do remarkable things; I really think people want to see that.[4]

 

Please refer to this link: https://vimeo.com/151040531

 

Haargenrud directly influenced my desire to further explore documenting the older form. I decided to use myself as the subject and to explore the possibilities of exhibiting the physicality of a mature woman’s body through film. For the project, I focus the camera lens at my own corporeal difference to challenge the stereotyped version of a dancer, which is usually associated with youth as opposed to maturity, as a direct response to the eight dancers who featured in my film Interprète/Inappropriate Behaviour. As a visual artist and older dancer, I aim to evoke the aesthetics, body image and visibility regarding the older, experienced dancer through film documentation. By directing a lens at myself for this practice-led research, I aim to create further dialogue regarding the aesthetics surrounding a dancer’s body. Choosing to use my body was not an easy decision. At the beginning of the project, I had not envisioned that I would become the subject for the next section of the investigation. The confronting fact of seeing imagery of my body in the film serves as a constant reminder as to why I am addressing the invisible subject of the ageing dancing body. I am no longer the preferred or accepted form, but rather have an alternative ‘other’ body.

 

This singular perspective highlights the physical variance of myself as an older, experienced performer—my physique, skin, appearance, and movements. Dance theorist Laurence Louppe discusses the dancer’s body as ‘corporeal architecture’, forming and transforming space as they perform.[5] I intend to discover whether this ‘other’ corporeal architecture can contend with the autonomy of the younger dancer and create its own emancipated environment in space and time. Aesthetically, this is a test to exhibit through film documentation, as described by dance scholar Nanako Nakajima, that “dancing beauty can be old”.[6]

This film project is an experiment to challenge the ideal dancer’s body, which is traditionally associated with beauty, youth, agility and athleticism. It is an opportunity to feature an older, flawed body. Lilja contends,

 

I can see beauty in the body on which time and life have set their stamp. I can see an expressiveness that is markedly different from that of the young person’s body, since it has a different story to tell.[7]  

 

Such positive qualities emanate from an older dancer, reaped from the embodiment of technique, dance and life experience that can only be attained through ageing and maturing, all enhancing their performativity. These assets form part of the importance of keeping older, experienced dancers visible and valued.

 

In March 2017, I participated in a two-week interdisciplinary residency in Scotland along with ten other national and international artists. We were fortunate to have the run of the magnificent stately home, Hospitalfield, where we were invited to make work in and around the confines of the house and grounds. Please refer to this link: http://hospitalfield.org.uk/residencies/residents/?y=2017&r=interdisciplinary-residency-march-2017

 

This artist residency provided me with an opportunity to re-direct the gaze to observe an aesthetically different body through film. As a dancer, I am accustomed to time constraints and decided to film in the first week of the residency and to edit in the final week. My aim was to produce work through digital film documentation and photography that exhibited the corporeality of the mature dancing body and to collaborate with other artists if possible. Prior to leaving Australia, I had secured permission to use the soundtrack for the film Loftið Verður Skyndilega Kalt [The Air Suddenly Goes Cold], composed by Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds.

 

At Hospitalfield, a large printmaking studio doubled as my dance base, where over a three-day period from 6am to 8am I explored filming myself, armed with two digital SLR cameras—a Nikon D500 and a Canon EOS 700D—both mounted on tripods. I experimented with shooting footage at dawn to capture the beautiful Scottish sunrise, filling the ecclesiastical styled studio with atmospheric light. Attempting to set up the two cameras and dance was at times perplexing, particularly my efforts to try to figure out which camera angles captured the best footage.

 

Fig.1 Canon screenshot Sonia York-Pryce 2017

 

As I was dancing in the space, I had to be mindful of my responses to the eight dancers from the film Interprète/Inappropriate Behaviour, which at times proved difficult to recall, and there was the added concern of where I had positioned the cameras. As March in the Northern Hemisphere is winter, the freezing cold temperatures in the studio were challenging. I also met some technical issues with the cameras not capturing enough material.

 

Fig.2 Canon screenshot Sonia York-Pryce 2017

 

Each afternoon, I uploaded the day’s film to my laptop, then transferred the footage to iMovie to view it. Frustratingly, there were many occasions when neither camera captured relevant footage, and instances where only half of my body appeared in the frame, or just an arm or leg, or blurry imagery. Over the three days, I experimented with many camera angles, moving the tripods around the studio; some proved successful, some did not. The positive element was the vibrant light which never seemed to disappoint, as it gave an atmospheric bent to the footage. On the fourth day, I collaborated with fellow residency artist Fabiola Carranza, who filmed my movements using a mirrorless Canon EOS M3. Carranza stalked me with her camera, invading my space as I danced around the studio, capturing my corporeal difference, my body, skin, wrinkles, leaving nothing to the imagination. This was invasive, but featuring the older dancing body with all its flaws is vital to the project. Carranza’s emotive footage supplied the in-depth, close-up imagery that was absent from my earlier attempts at filming. Her contribution imbued the work with a greater sense of intimacy and added the corporeal architecture I was searching for. This collaboration has added an incredibly poignant strength to the visuals for the project and the experiment would not have been so successful without her input.

 

Editing in iMovie, I took about three hours to piece together about four minutes of footage. When I screened the film during an informal critique session with the whole interdisciplinary group, the feedback was positive.

 

Please refer to this link: https://vimeo.com/233604194

 

Creative Works

this is my body = the constant, silent assertion of my lone presence. It implies a distance.[8]

 

On my return to Australia in April 2017, preparations were made for the installation of the film work for the first exhibition later in July at the White Box gallery, South Bank Campus. Based on the successful screening of my previous work in 2015, I decided to screen utterly (in)appropriate at a large scale. By doing so, the corporeality of the subject becomes blatantly accentuated and visible. On entering the gallery, the viewer is engaged firstly by the scale of the work, then it becomes a demonstration through film, where “the gaze focused on an image”[9] is featuring an older dancing body. Here, the performer is me, and I am bringing the spectator to gaze at this phenomenon. Witnessing and seeing here are two different things. As the performer in the film, I am directing my gaze outwards to the spectator, provoking some response; in turn, I am expecting that the viewer will be challenged to respond to this vision of an older woman dancing. Through this exhibition, I am hoping to change or challenge beliefs of how we assimilate ageing in the dance arena.

 

Fig. 3 utterly (in)appropriate Sonia York-Pryce 2017

 

Before the install started, I decided to edit some film footage in iMovie, experimenting with changing the film format to black-and-white and producing two further short clips, one in close-up and the other like the original. I planned to screen these two black-and-white versions, known as utterly (1) & (2), side by side on one wall, large scale for impact but also to create a dialogue. The scale of this new edited imagery is provocative and emotive and complements the original film utterly (in)appropriate.

 

Please refer to these links:

Utterly (1) https://vimeo.com/234962197

 

Utterly (2) https://vimeo.com/234963742

 

Fig.4 utterly (1) & (2) Sonia York-Pryce 2017

 

Screening the three films without interruption simultaneously is visually uncluttered and direct. Depicting an older dancing body on a large-scale screen leaves nothing to the imagination, and it celebrates the ageing dancer’s body. The concept aims to accentuate a visceral response to the dancer’s corporeality, the lived body experience, and lack of visibility.

 

utterly (in)appropriate has been screened at the Stockholm Dans Film Festival 2017 in Sweden; the Supercell Festival of Contemporary Dance 2018 in Brisbane; and the Method and Moment exhibition 2018 at the POP Gallery, Brisbane.

 

Research Aims

Years of knowledge and wisdom stored within these older bodies go to waste and audiences lose transformative experiences as we, as a society, revel in the virtuosity of youth and fail to see physical feats as merely one aspect of an artistic investigation.[10]

 

The aim of my practice-led research is to challenge concepts regarding ageism and corporeality within the Western dance world and to raise awareness that the physicality of the older, experienced dancer has a value and a place. There are assets embodied in these older dancers, which can only be attained because they are older, experienced dancers. The two works discussed here, Interprète/Inappropriate behaviour and utterly (in)appropriate, aim to start a dialogue regarding the visibility and value of older dancers and how bereft the art form would be if they were to be removed. There is a need for ageing to be visible in dance to reflect society, and the audiences that patronise the arts need to see themselves represented.

 

Analysis

The online interface is essential to the promotion of digital technology and benefits my PhD practice-led research through the mediums of social media, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, vimeo.com and Instagram.  Each of these sites creates a unique platform to feature the older, experienced dancer. Other important podiums for discussion and screenings are dance conferences, festivals and dance film competitions, which enable opportunities to screen the films, giving credence to the cause.   

 

Individual reflection

Film documentation is a fundamental medium for many artists today and shapes the creative element of this practice-led research. As I identify as an older, experienced dancer, the film investigations become not only relevant and personal but also fundamental to the PhD research. The opportunity to discuss the research and to screen the films at dance conferences both nationally and internationally has been beneficial to introduce a dialogue regarding age discrimination within the Western dance culture. Film documentation offers an opportunity to give a voice to the dilemma of prejudice in dance; and through these created visuals, a message is delivered that highlights that the craft of the older, experienced dancer needs to be visible, valued, and validated.

 

Conclusion

But of all the oppressions the one that hits dance hardest is ageism and it is the last to be explicitly addressed.[11]

 

Digital technology is invaluable for my arts practice and for highlighting the physicality of the older, experienced dancer. It provides opportunities for people to view older, experienced dancers through galleries and social media, although it can never replace live performances. My aim to highlight the discrimination of the older, experienced dancer through film gives credence to their craft. Through dance conferences, festivals and film competitions, the visibility of the older, experienced dancer is gaining momentum.

 

 

 

 

Endnotes

 

 

 

[1] Mike Featherstone, “Body, Image and Affect in Consumer Culture,” Body & Society 16, no. 1 (2010): 194.

Efva Lilja, Movement as the Memory of the Body: New Choreographic Work for the Stage, trans. Frank Perry, ed. Erna Grönlund, Gunnel Gustafsson and Aana Karen Ståhle (Stockholm: [2]University of Dance, Committee for Artistic Research and Development 2006), 12.

[3] Featherstone, “Body, Image and Affect in Consumer Culture,” 195.

[4] Hege Haargenrud, “Use My Body While It’s Still Young,” performance at Oslo International Dance Festival 2015, https://vimeo.com/151040531.

[5] Laurence Louppe, Poetique de la Danse [Poetics of Contemporary Dance], trans. Sally Gardner (Alton: Dance Books Ltd, 2010).

[6] Nanako Nakajima and Gabriele Brandstetter, eds., The Aging Body in Dance: A Cross-Cultural Perspective  (Florence: Routledge Ltd, 2017), doi:10.4324/9781315515335.

[7]  Lilja, Movement as the Memory of the Body, 12.

[8] Jean Luc Nancy, Corpus, trans. Richard A. Rand (New York: Fordham University Press, 2008), 154.

[9] Jacques Ranciere, The Emancipated Spectator, trans. Gregory Elliot (London, New York: Verso, 2009).

[10] Jillian Harris, “Dancing into the Twilight,” Dance Chronicle 36, no. 2 (2013): 278, doi: 10.1080/01472526.2013.792374.

[11] Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early, The Wise Body: Conversations with Experienced Dancers (Bristol: Intellect, 2011), 12.

 

 

 

 

References

 

 

Featherstone, M. 2010. Body, Image and Affect in Consumer Culture. Body & Society 16, no.1, 193–221.

Haargenrud, H. 2015. Use My Body While It’s Still Young. Performance at Oslo International Dance Festival 2015. https://vimeo.com/151040531

Harris, J. 2013. Dancing into the Twilight. Dance Chronicle 36, no. 2. 275–79. doi: 10.1080/01472526.2013.792374.

Lansley, J. and Early, F. 2011. The Wise Body: Conversations with Experienced Dancers. Bristol: Intellect.

Lilja, E. 2006. Movement as the Memory of the Body: New Choreographic Work for the Stage. Translated by Frank Perry, edited by Erna Grönlund, Gunnel Gustafsson and Aana Karen Ståhle. Stockholm: University of Dance, Committee for Artistic Research and Development.

Louppe, L. Poetique de la Danse [Poetics of Contemporary Dance]. Translated by Sally Gardner. Alton: Dance

Books Ltd.

Nakajima, N. and Brandstetter, G. 2017. The Aging Body in Dance: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Florence: Routledge Ltd. doi:10.4324/9781315515335.

Nancy, J. L. 2008. Corpus. Translated by Richard A. Rand. New York: Fordham University Press.

Ranciere, J. 2009. The Emancipated Spectator. Translated by Gregory Elliot. London, New York: Verso.