Dance Floor Liberation
Los Angeles–based dance artist Jay Carlon knew that the proscenium stage couldn’t house his 2024 work, “Wake,” in its fullness. So he moved it elsewhere: to a rave.
PlusWorld-class review of ballet and dance.
What is dance?” is a question posited by postmodern choreography, and postmodern choreographers generally seek to answer it through means as far away from conventional notions of dance as possible. Classical codifications are often eschewed, along with formal training and any vestiges of performativity—including music, costumes, makeup, sets, lighting, and stages. Process is prized over product. Practitioners of the Judson Dance Theater, who formed the postmodern dance movement in Greenwich Village in the early 1960’s, frequently sought out pedestrians and tasked them with mundane activities like squeezing oranges or reciting addresses. Choreographer Lucinda Childs emerged from this scene. In a 1964 solo she made for herself, she sat on a stool with a colander on her head and stuffed her mouth with hair rollers and kitchen sponges.
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Los Angeles–based dance artist Jay Carlon knew that the proscenium stage couldn’t house his 2024 work, “Wake,” in its fullness. So he moved it elsewhere: to a rave.
PlusChoreography wasn’t on Lia Cirio’s radar when artistic director Mikko Nissinen asked her to participate in Boston Ballet’s ChoreograpHER initiative in 2018. The principal dancer had always thought, “Oh, that's not something for me. I just like being in the room and helping people and being choreographed on.” But her good friend and colleague at the time, Kathleen Breen Combes, gave her a nudge.
PlusIngrid Silva’s expression is calm, the side of her mouth upturned a few degrees, as if she’s delighting in the reception of her own joke.
PlusFrench choreographer Lea Tirabasso makes dense, intricate work which explores existential concerns connected with science, nature and morality. Witty, vivid and visceral, her work pushes beyond simple genres or choreographic language, creating something far richer and more complex. Her most recent piece, “In the Bushes” is part of the Edinburgh Festival this year. Fjord Review caught up with Léa Tirabasso ahead of the Summerhall run.
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