NOTES for PRESENTATION. TIME, SPACE + THE BODY CONFEFRENCE  

   

EM FORSTER

Dancers – 1991 SHIFT/FLUX

History

Video – Does the Dancing have to stop?

Embodiment

c.v. of movement – (data questionnaire – mature dancer)

Haptic Process

Images of my work

AUSTRALIAN DANCE ARTISTS

 

MOTIF – INTERPRETE

Explain how the dancers will re-interpret my ‘Motif”/ choreography

Bringing their personal touch into the work

Gestural – movements

 

Physical capital

Body Schema – e.v. of dance movement

 

Mind             GIVING THE MATURE BODY A VOICE AND VALUE

Body

 

Youth   v    maturity

Body        waning agility

 

Show the ADA video?

 

Talk about the dancers change of perception – the interior, as opposed to the exterior of the body – thoughtfulness of movement as opposed to the ‘outside’ the physical prowess

That is SO pivotal as a young dancer.

 

Experience      )

Experiment     )   LAURENCE LOUPE

 

 

INTRO:

I am a dancer, photographer, film-maker, visual artist and Luddite!

I am currently in my first year of my Master of Visual Arts at Qld College of Art, Griffith University, Australia.

Much as Meredith Hughes explained yesterday, ‘we’ as visual artists for the degree have to contextualise our work through the written word for our Exegesis. This is not easy!

For me I would probably prefer to dance it!

BUT

We must write AND we must create…….

So I begin with the discussion regarding the 1991 shift, Jiří Kylián, Mats van Manen, choreographers discuss the value of the mature dancer and want them visible.

 

My research began in 2013 for my Bachelor of Digital Media (Hons) degree where I questioned, “when is the right time for a dancer to retire?”

Two mature dancers assisted me in my research by answering specific questions.

Dancers, Canadian Louise Lecavalier (55) former La La La Human Steps and Fou Glorieux and the British dancer and lecturer Jennifer Jackson, former Royal Ballet Company and Dancing the Invisible. Their answers enabled me to give the mature dancer a voice.

This video was created using old video footage of myself dancing in 1992 alongside a DVD recording from 2007 and the merging of these with the 2013 ME into a melée of movement.

 

“I dance with myself.”

 

The younger youthful me merges with the older mature me

Its both emotive and confronting – for me

 

In between researching my creative practice is photography, I photograph dancers – this is my preferred status! As a dancer I love the challenge to portray motion – being a dancer gives me an insight and artistic freedom to demonstrate my kind of motion – I am not interested in capturing perfection anymore but the semblance of a ‘movement’ as the dancer is in the throes of moving.

 

So, for Ageism and the Mature Dancer I have sent questionnaires out to about 20 dancers, male/female, Australian/British/ Classical/Contemporary. The same 10 questions I sent to Louise Lecavalier and Jennifer Jackson in 2013. The data is fascinating and full of information about each dancer, their process, their routines, their thoughts, injuries and how they feel about their performances. So this is fascinating for me.

 

In the last few years there has been a shift in interest in seeing mature dancers perform – keeping them visible. Their value, their lived-body experience. Their bodies hold a curriculum vita of dance vocabulary and movement – that could only be because they are mature.