Just when i think we’re making progress in people knowing more about what dance really is…
Don’t get me wrong: i don’t take issue with the the sex that’s inherent in the human body, dance being sexy, pornography, or using great marketing to get your money. What i take issue with is dance being implicitly used as pornography to market something that’s not only not ours, but that we’ll never see revenue or a return investment from. Thanks Dov Charney.
While we’re at it, we might as well thank our friend Alastair too. I’m not sure if this is a step forward or backwards, so you’ll have to take a look and see for yourself. He writes:
I will watch this film again not least because I am only slightly acquainted with the work of three of these artists (Beth Gill, Ralph Lemon, Sarah Michelson) and not at all with three others (John Jasperse, Jennifer Monson, Anna Liv Young); the seventh, Christopher Wheeldon, is well known on both sides of the Atlantic.
Really, Alastair? REALLY? You don’t know John Jasperse? You don’t know ANNA(!?!?!) Liv Yong? Well…at least he’s (perhaps after being called out by Eva Yaa Asantewaa) being honest…
Tags: alastair macaulay, american apparel, marketing, pornography, the downfall of dance, well fuck you too
Oh my God. Thanks for all of the links. I cannot believe “Anna” Liv Young. In the Times. I’d like to see how she’ll be using that material in the future.
Also, seriously, thanks for the Eva link and the Dov Charney– both fantastic finds for totally different reasons.
I’m sorry– I submitted before finishing Macaulay’s Dance On Camera review. His evaluations of the early Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Marge Champion/Donald Saddler as “horrid” make me want to cry for all the wrong reasons. How upsetting!
Still, hope you and readers will catch some of the programs at the Festival! Lots of good stuff there.
I think I’m equally tickled by thoughts of a mentorship/education of Alastir on the post-modern dance scene by John Jasperse (who, I imagine, would be genius at actually engaging with him and kindly explaining some interesting points) versus the same from Ann Liv Young (who would certainly give him an education and possibly a heart attack…) – I think he’d come away with vastly different information depending on which of them led it, but perhaps a sparked interest nonetheless…They’re my two candidates for doing something about that man at the moment!
And, yeah, Eva nailed it.
True, Alastair is honest here, but it’s still so infuriating that he called “downtown dance” too expansive to keep track of. And ending the article with “O pioneers!” in reference to Cunningham and Brown says a lot about his perspective, and his unwillingness to acknowledge any emerging pioneers within “downtown dance”.
Also, the Times *still* hasn’t corrected the article to say “Ann” instead of “Anna”.