PECHA KUTCHA SCRIPT: Engaging with Communities, University of Auckland NZ 

 

Sonia York-Pryce PhD Candidate “Ageism and the mature Dancer”

Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Australia.

 

• SLIDE 1 Engaging with ageing – valuing the older experienced dance

 

The Research Question

The research investigates ageism and longevity of performance in today’s ballet and contemporary dance culture and seeks to explore perceived taboos in and around the question of retirement. It examines the mature dancer’s right to be acknowledged not only for their corporeal difference but also, for how their practice rather than their age defines them.

 

As an older dancer myself, I am investigating attitudes and seeking VALUE- VALIDATION and VISIBILITY of the mature dancer!

 

• SLIDE 2 Decrepitude

 

The quality or condition of being weakened, worn out, impaired, or broken down by old age -  PICK ME!

 

Ageism –the white elephant in the room

 

In the western world, it has been culturally understood for generations that dancers, particularly classically trained were expected to retire around the age of 35 years and Contemporary dancers at around 40.

 

Contemporary dancer Gill Clarke stated:

“The premature retirement of dancers was a colossal waste - not only of the dancer but their wealth of experience and knowledge and the futility of terminating their careers so early was an issue that would never happen in other areas of life.”

 

In the last few years, dancers have been eschewing these long-held assumptions and are challenging both themselves and audiences to accept that a dancer’s lot is ongoing and that ageing should not determine the end of their careers.

 

You only have to look at the present day with Mikhail Baryshnikov still dancing in his 60s and now Alessandra Ferri dancing Juliet at 53. But they are but a few of the incredible dancers in the research who are bucking the system.

 

So Why should all that dance knowledge and lived body experience be shelved?

 

• SLIDE 3 I returned to study at Laban in London when I was 29 and I felt prejudice at being a mature dancer even then. I was probably the oldest dancer to audition for Transitions Company 1989. As stated by Edward and Newell: “I felt I had become a trespasser on a dance territory that no longer belonged to me.

 

• SLIDE 4 THE FLUX – In 1991

• Jiří Kylián created a dance company specifically for his older dancers, this had never been done before

 

Nederlands Dance Theatre NDT3 1991 – 2006

Known as NDT3

 

His four dancers:

Sabine Kupferberg, Alida Chase, Nikolas Ek, Gerard Lem

 

• SLIDE 5 Kylián stated:

“These mature dancers hold that fantastic physicality and physical presence -

They have History in their bodies. This company is a gesture towards the dancers. It tells them they don’t have to give up, that there are ways of physical expression, endless possibilities that can go on until you die”

 

Eva van Schaik discussed at the time:

“That attention for the elder dancer should be seen not as a justified cause for the involved dancer but also as an artistic need for dance in general.”

 

• SLIDE  6 EMBODIMENT – explain

 

Elizabeth Schwaiger states:

“That the dancers’ body, at any age, carries a specialised embodiment, their

instrument is their physicality. The aged dancer’s body carries such a strong dance vocabulary and should be valued.”

 

 

 

 

Schawaiger goes on to challenge:

“that the performativity of the dancer could only exist because they hold a lifetime of dance experience within them. This is only possible because they are ageing dancers.”

 

• SLIDE  7 QUESTIONNAIRE

Sent to over 35 dancers, some I know and others whom I know by reputation,

 

How do you find your dancing?

how do the public view you?

Is there prejudice?

Their fitness regimes,

How difficult to keep going?

How do you cope mentally?

 

Here are some of The DANCERS featured in the primary research

Remember, dancer’s talk with their bodies – that’s a given – BUT to actually hear them speak, is unusual and deeply relevant.

 

• SLIDE  8 Patrick Harding-Irmer former London Contemporary Dance Theatre and Australian Dance Artists

 

• SLIDE 9 Wendy Houstoun Independent dance artist UK

 

• SLIDE  10 Nicholas Minns - These are not older dancers strutting their stuff past their virtuosic prime– but offering us the rich territory of individual and shared dance experience.[i]

 

• SLIDE 11 Charlotta Ofverholm 51 former DV8, Compagnie Jus de la Vie Stockholm,

 

• SLIDE  12   Leanne Benjamin, Prima Ballerina the Royal Ballet Co, 48

 

She believed her performances were of a high standard, not just performing well for a forty-seven-year-old!

 

• SLIDE 13 Louise Lecavalier 55

 

• SLIDE 14 Glen Murray

 

• SLIDE 15 Liz Aggiss

 

• SLIDE 16 Pat Catterson – Judson Dance, Yvonne Rainer

“I am not happy unless I can dance so I plan to do it until I die.”

 

• SLIDE 17 Siv Anders Hege Haargenrud’s “use my body while it is still young”

 

• SLIDE  18 Eileen Kramer 103-year-old former Bodenweiser dancer

\            Currently in rehearsals for performances in Sydney later this month with dancers Anca         Frankenhaeuser and Patrick Harding Irmer

,

• SLIDE  19 Dance On Ensemble Berlin – the first mature dancer company to be formed since NDT3 1991 – all dancers over 40 and who form part of the Dance On, Pass On   Dream On, EU funded project with Sadler’s Wells, Age on Stage Stockholm, and others

 

Mature Dance Festivals such as The Elixir Festival’s 1&2, Mature Moves and the Bold Festivals Australia, & Age on Stage 1&2 Stockholm

 

These festivals have highlighted the value and interest in the older experienced dancer!