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1-1-1979 The umH anities and Dance: The onC temporary Choreographers' Response in the Arts to Aesthetic and Moral Values Curtis Carter Marquette University, [email protected]
Published version. Dance Dimensions, Vol. 3, No. 5 (1979): 8-13, 35-36. Publisher Link. © 1979 Wisconsin Dance Council. Used with permission. "THE HUMANITIES AND DANCE: THE CONTEMPORARY CHOREOGRAPHERS' RESPONSE IN THE ARTS TO AESTHETIC AND MORAL VALUES"
By Curtis L. Carter
I first learned of the Des topic, "The Contemporary Moines Ballet project on Choreographer: Response in the humanities and dance in the Arts to Aesthetic and the early summer of 1979. Moral Values in Modern So The proposal was to provide ciety," were to include the public in four Iowa ci paneL discussions with hu ties with a scholarly exam manist and dance scholars ination of dance in con from colleges and universi junction with a performing ties in the four areas and tour of the Des Moines Bal myself. The Des Moines let. The project coincid Ballet and guest artists ed perfectly with my own Ann Marie DeAngelo and John interests as a philosopher Meehan were to perform in aesthetician and critic who each site. specializes in dance. The project sounded exciting; My responsibilities as out it was a fresh approach to lined were 1) develop the exploring the relation of format and background ma the humanities to the art terials for the symposia, of dance, but funding for 2) prepare program notes the project has not been and excerpts from writings confirmed. on dance, 3) prepare an opening lecture for the In mid-July I received a symposia on the relation of letter formally inviting humanities to dance, and 4) my participation. The let address the audience at the ter and a copy of the grant outset of each performance. proposal outlined an ambi tious program for a series Speakers ,on the pa'nels were of symposia and performan sufficiently diverse to re ces in Davenport, Dubuque, flect a broad sampling of Cedar Rapids, and Sioux Ci humanities perspectives in ty. The symposia on the cluding the disciplines of
Dance Dimensions 8 English literature, philos view of the humanities. The ophy, and sociology. Rep panelists agreed upon the resentatives of ballet, need to link dance to other modern dance, and the chor academic disciplines. They eographer Jorge Samaniego also agreed that dance is a interacted with the humani fundamental means of commu ties representatives to ad nication. A professor of dress the subject of the English drew analogies be modern choreographer in re tween the languages of wri lation to aesthetic and ting and of dance. Another moral values. panelist noted that contem porary dance attempts to Audiences for the symposia express, in its own idiom, included the public inter- both abstract concepts and ested in dance, dance stu specific emotive states dents and teachers, patrons such as joy and rage. Thus of the arts, and scholars it is a medium of communi from related fields. The cation with analogies to precise audience mix varied literature, the other arts, with the settings, which and even to such intellect included municipal perform ual disciplines as philoso ing art centers and art phy. Another pane list "com galleries and a university mented on the importance of campus. The direction of dance as a collaborative discussion varied with the art--one capable of uniting backgrounds of the speakers ideas and media from other and the audience. In Dav disciplines. A philosopher enport, for example, the panelist attempted to ex discussion centered mainly plore the perceptual re on dance, since 'all of the sponse to dance, applying panelists except myself his philosophical training were professors or practi to the problem, and a soci tioners of dance and many ologist demonstrated the of the audience were local usefulness of her methods dance instructors. In each to the study of dance's so of the other settings the cietal aspects. panelists were balanced be tween humanist and dance The discussions were suc representatives, with a cessful in opening the di corresponding broadening of alogue between dance and the discussion to address the humanities. Humanists' the topic from the point of presentations sometimes
9 suffered from inadequate ject and discuss the devel knowledge of the dance, and opment of choreography, dancers were sometimes un etc., in connection with able to focus on the broad the works appearing on the er issues of the proposed evening program. This part topic. The panel discus of the project was in many sions did inform humanists respects the most challeng and dancers of the others' ing and the most fun. How perspectives and thereby would the dancers and the provided the beginning for audience feel about such a future dialogue. presentation in a concert My lecture for the symposia setting? After all the illustrated some uses of dancers had come to dance, aesthetic theory for wri and the audience had come ting and lecturing on to see dancing. Where dance. The content of the would I fit in? The pro lecture consisted of-a ject's success depended on brief analysis of the con a good working re.lation cepts, "dance," "choreogra ship between the dancers phy," "value," and their and myself. I was aware application to changing de that the dancers would be velopments in modern chor skeptical. Dancers' natur eography. The discussion al antipathy toward words was centered on the problem is well known. How would of the apparently differing they feel about 15 minutes approaches to dance taken of their performance being by exponents of this art given over to words? I was form. Slides showing these certain, moreover, that changes in ballet and mod they knew far less about ern dance were incorpora philosophers than I did ted in the lecture. about dancers, so they would not know what to ex In my mind, the most unusu pect from a philosopher al aspect of the project aesthetician; they undoubt was the attempt to bring edly had their reserva the humanities directly in tions. My unfamiliarity to contact with the per with the company was a formance. This was to be source of uncertainty for accomplished by my appear me. What was their pro ing before the audience at fessional and artistic lev the opening of the perform el? These questions were ance to explain the pro- eased somewhat by my visit Danee Dimensions 10 to observe the company and ar is a student of human to be observed, in late culture. His tools are pri August. I was impressed marily critical reasoning with the discipline and the and verbal analysis, and he enthusiasm of the company. frequently finds that aes thetic and moral values are My proposal was to make the his subject matter." I went opening presentation as on to explain that scholars much a part of the per from the philosopher Plato formance as possible. Chor to the present have written eographer Jorge Samaniego about dance, and that there accepted this idea and is a growing interest among agreed to choreograph the humanities scholars today movement to be used in con in this art form. I ex junction with my script. plained my own approach to dance as a philosopher The process that we follow critic who spec~alizes in ed introduced me to the dance aesthetics. backstage aspects of pre paring for a theatrical I then illustrated the use performance--technical and of aesthetic theory by ap artistic. I observed and plying the concept of dance rehearsed with the dancers style, defined as the par in preparation for each ticular movement language performance, trying to ab of the choreographer and sorb as much as possible the choice of music, stage the spirit of their crea design, and costume which tive efforts into my own augment the movement, to presentation. The presen the changing developments tation grew as we moved in ballet. In conjunction from one site to another, with these developments, I evolving gradually toward a noted correspondence of theater piece in itself. changes in dance styles to changes in aesthetic and After brief remarks to ex social values. Throughout plain the project, I spoke this commentary the dancers of the meaning of "humani performed, in full costume ties," explaining the his movements to demonstrate toric and current meaning the changes that I was and methods. I said, for speaking about. In turn, I example, "In the broadest moved about the stage in sense the humanities schol- relation to the placement
11 of the dancers, and inter as a performing art has acted with them on the benefited significantly stage. The remarks inclu from this concentrated ex ded reference to works that posure to all aspects of the audience would see la the dance company routine ter in the performance. during the ten-day tour. How did it turn out? The choreographer and the dan During the two months that cers were wonderful in have lapsed since the pro their cooperation. They re ject there has been time to sponded very positively to reflect on the project. As the spirit and intent of far as I know, the idea of the verbal content. The using a philosopher in con feedback that I received junction with a touring from the audience indicated dance" company is a first. a positive reception of the Similarly, the scope of the combination of humanities attempt to explore the re concepts with the perform~ lation of humanities dis ance. cipline to dance in this. project extends beyond pre There were unplanned spin vious efforts. offs that also bear on the establishment of relation- All of this effort raises ships between the humani anew the question, "Why ties and dance. An inform should the humanities be al round table discussion involved \o'i th dance?" Why on philosophy and dance in particular, should a with guest artists Ann Mar philosopher-aesthetician be ie DeAngelo of ~he Joffrey commissioned to work with a Ballet,John Meehan of Amer performing dance company? ican Ballet Theater, chor eographer Jorge Samaniego, My own situation as a phil and myself produced a osopher-dance critic illus three-hour tape on the top trates the role of the hu ic of how philosophy re manist. My training has lates to dance. This tape, been in philosophy with which incorporated the specialization in aesthet views of performers, chor ics of the philosophy of eographer, and philosopher7 the arts. I first began is being edited for future publication. Beyond this, my own knowledge of dance Dance Dimensions 12 writing on dance as a cri cepts for speaking about tic, and this interest led dance. The term "choreo me to apply my other train graphy," for example, is a ing to dance. In my case, combination of two Greek criticism provides first words meaning "dance" and hand observations which, "writing." "Choreography" combined with precise provides a natural link be training as a philosopher, t wee n t.h e two act i v i tie s serve as a basis for wri that concern our project: ting and speaking about making dances and writing dance. My approach to or speaking about dance. A dance differs therefore choreographer, or one who from the perspective of a makes dances, provides the writer who has, for exam subject matter for the hu ple, studied only dance, manities scholar who then journalism, or sociology, comments on the dance. by virtue of the special ized training in philosophy There are mutual benefits and aesthetics. Philosophy to both the dance and to allows me to put in abs the humanities. Dance tract terms the things that gains in public accep~ance I see and provides cate as humanist scholars are gories of thought for un able to interpret to the derstanding dance in rela public and to the scholarly tion to other human en community its significance deavors. Philosophy allows as a creative art in past dance to be seen as a genu and contemporary societies. ine art form, rather than In the past. respected simply as spor~ or enter philosophers and literary tainment. If I were view figures treated dance as a ing paintings or sculpture, matter of course. Plato for example, I would try to wrote, for example, that show their relationships to dance was an essential part theories of art and to aes of education and community thetic and moral values. life. Philosophers and es In this project we are at sayists in every generation tempting a similar thing have affirmed this view. for dance. Humanists today are perhaps less aware of the dance One of the things that the humanities provide is a vo continued on page 35 cabulary and a set of con-
13 continued from page 13 than in previous centuries when, for example, literary giants such as the French writers Gauthier and Mal larme wrote at length on the dance. There is, how ever, a growing interest on the part of philosophers and other scholars in the humanities in writing about dance, corresponding to the increasing popular interest in dance performances.
At this time, therefore, dance presents new opportu nities for scholars in the humanities to explore. Un paralleled creative devel opments and increases in performing activity have brought dance to a new ar tistic height, with Ameri can choreographers and dan cers leading the way. There is only the beginning of a corresponding tradition of studies of the dance by hu manity scholars. Compared to art or music, dance aes thetics, philosophV and history are considerably under-developed, as are the cross-disciplinary rela tionships of dance to stud ies in literature, history of civilization, the scien ces, and the other arts.
The Des Moines Ballet pro ject is especially impor tant as a model for initia ting cooperation hetween humanities scholars and the art of dance. The project offers a vehicle for shar ing with the public the in sights that a humanities scholar brings to the dance. At the same time, it provides the humanist scholar opportunities to learn about the art from first-hand observation and participation. It is rare that a scholar would have the opportunity to see the full range of processes-- rehearsal, class, make-up, technical stage work--from
35 the insider's perspective. ces unnecessarily into com partments, and will enable It is important to consider us to build upon the natur briefly how to continue. al interrelatedness of the One suggestion would be to humanities and the arts. try a similar project in other sites, revising the Copyright public format based on its trial run this past year. A Curtis L. Carter second step would be to de December, 1979 velop a project to encour age the schools at the var * ious levels, and including A version of this article colleges and universities, will also appear in Muses. to develop the interrela tionships of the humanities and dance in their pro grams. Finally, the pro ject should be further re fined and offered as a mod el for use with other dance companies across the coun try. All of these efforts will help to break down ar tificial barriers that pre sently divide oUr experien-
Dance Dimensions 36