(phone-screen is a better frame for this page)
The AIM of the Master in Dance Didactics at Stockholm University of the Arts was to begin developing a method that contributes to the advancement of danceliteracy at an early stage of professional dance education. (this is an AI-generated Actor. Text written by Liza Penkova)
The QUESTIONS I asked myself were:
- How can awareness of, and curiosity about aesthetic development of dance throughout history, both in practice and theory, be cultivated in dance-educational environment?
- Is it possible to do so already within the framework of a warm-up class?
- What tools are required to structure and bring to light the discourses and conversations that have shaped the aesthetic divisions and transformations within the Western dance and choreography field, both historically and in its ongoing expansion?
- If the dance archive, including techniques and repertory, is understood as a material-discursive knowledge apparatus, can it be a tool in bridging past and present?
- Can it also serve as a tool in formulation of a terminology through which the archive can become a dialogical conversation partner across the diverse forms of dance.
(This is liza Penkova speaking like an obnoxious Art-scholar Attempting to use Classical Ballet Mime gestures and DIY Youtuber style motivational coach for Artists. Text written by herself.)
“DANCELITERACY isn’t about decoding steps. It’s an ongoing practice of interpretation that keeps pulling in more context (history, aesthetics, ideology, dialogue between techniques)”
(This is a video edited by Liza Penkova in IMovie not PRO. The material used are illegally downloaded video-clips from Youtube from various sources, attempting to make visible what expanded dancelitearcy can mean. Choreographies from Kyle Haganami, William Forsythe, Hofesh Shechter, Parris Goebels, Sergio Reis/ Jowha van De Laak/Mauro van de Kerkhof , Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Sharon Eyal, Sherrie Silver, Maurice Béjart, Balanchine/Petipa, Merce Cunningham; and a score from Frank Zappa and extracts from live-televised 9th of May parade in Moscow. It is also a good example of what happens in Penkova's mind when she is watching a dance-performance or is exposed to a new dance-style ).
Through the lens of semiologist Juri Lotman’s theory of the semiosphere and the use of pedagogical documentation drawn from professor in pedagogy Hillevi Lenz Taguchi the results of this study show that an exposure to reflection on history and aesthetics of dance in practice and theory, already in a warm-up class, can improve a student's knowledge and interest in what dance as an artform was, is and can become. (This is Yurij Lotman speaking about cultural development. The subtitles are unfortunately in Finnish. If you are really curious about what he has to say, read his books in English translation or find a proper AI tool that can translate the video. Please pass me the link to the tool if you find it.;))
Researcher PositionThis study is coloured by my own experience as a student at institutions such as the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm (KSB) and Performing Arts and Training Studios (P.A.R.T.S.) in Brussels between 1997–2002.
Despite the rich range of techniques and repertoires offered at these institutions, a gap arose in my ability to perceive and interpret new proposals within dance and choreography that I encountered both as an audience member and as a dancer during the early 2000s.
The gaps themselves were not the problem, but the lack of interpretive tools was a constant obstacle. Searching for these tools became a necessity.
It was primarily through touring internationally as a young dancer with Rosas dance company and later with Cie Michèle Noiret that I began to understand how time, sustained practice, and context shape the perception of new aesthetic languages. Encountering different artistic environments, repeatedly seeing and re-seeing performances, practicing diverse movement approaches, and continuously comparing and reflecting on these experiences gradually transformed my understanding of dance. These experiences made me realize that developing danceliteracy extends far beyond the acquisition of movement skills or knowledge of choreographic works. It requires an understanding of the socio-cultural and economic contexts in which dance is produced, presented, and received. This awareness became fundamental to my understanding of how danceliteracy develops and why it is essential for engaging meaningfully with contemporary dance.
(the last paragraph in this column was edited by Calude AI. I will re-edit it with my own brain within shortly. I know for a fact i would never use the word ” primarily”, ” acquisition” )
(THE GAP is also a title of Liza Penkova's first solo-production as a Choreographer in 2023. An Auto-Fictional reflection on Cutlural Schocks between East and West that despite the fall of ideological walls still remain )
* By The West and Western I refer to the Eurocentric civilisations that have historically shared common cultural and aesthetic values embedded in Judeo-Christian values with roots in ancient Greece, the Renaissance, and modernity.
As we by now are well aware of the Western contemporary dance-field has largely remained within the borders of Europe and North America. These borders have not, however, stopped the colonialist and imperialist tendencies of the West from manifesting …
…A great many Western values are so deeply embedded in dance training that choreographic choices are taken for granted. For example, the fact that almost all Western techniques do tendus en croix and divide the body into three centres raises for me a question about the silent dominance of Christianity, and how it has influenced the way we, in the West, think about the distribution of time and space…
… It may be a useful reference point for a dance student to keep in mind that in 1914, European powers controlled 85% of the earth’s surface. THE period when modern dance in Europe was in full bloom…
…Students who come from countries that the West categorises (today) as politically unfriendly may find some comfort in the awareness that discrimination in the West, from a historical perspective, was not solely about race; national affiliation and politically unaligned origin also played a role.
There are reasons why we know more about Rudolf Laban than, for instance, Noa Eshkol, or why Pina Bausch did not have her breakthrough until the 1980s. There are reasons why several artists of Jewish, German, Russian, Polish, Chinese, or Georgian origin, or with roots in the Middle East, chose to hide their roots behind Western-sounding artist names and pseudonyms in order to take part in the artistic discourse in the West (unpubl. Olsson).
The boundaries of western aesthetics can, for instance, be clarified in the long-running dialogue between artists in Europe and the USA that followed the two World Wars and do still today.
This dialogue has shaped the fact that the festivals and institutions that were driving forces in the development of modern and contemporary dance were, above all, located in the major cities of Europe and North America as late as the turn of the millennium, where art by artists from other parts of the world was considered outdated, not current — “still not there, too romantic” (Kunst, 2002; Barba, 2016)…
