Remembering Sally Banes: Recipient of the Selma Jeanne Cohen Prize in Dance Aesthetics 2008

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Remembering Sally Banes: Recipient of the Selma Jeanne Cohen Prize in Dance Aesthetics 2008 Remembering Sally Banes: Recipient of the Selma Jeanne Cohen Prize in Dance Aesthetics 2008 Curtis L. Carter Marquette University Sally Banes, (1950--2020), foremost among American dance historians and critics of the mid Twentieth Century, died in Philadelphia on June 14. She will be remembered for her outstanding history and theatre scholarship and dance criticism resulting in multiple books and critical writings. Her books include the highly regarded Terpsichore in Sneakers: Post Modern Dance (1987) that positioned Postmodern dance in the context of mid-twentieth century dance criticism and dance history. Dr. Banes’ contributions to dance scholarship include five additional books: Democracies Body: Judson Theater Dance 1962-1964, (1983); Greenwich Village 1963: Avant Garde Performance and the Effervescent Body (1993); Writing Dancing in the Age of Post-Modernism (1994); Dancing Women: Female Bodies on Stage (1998); and Before, Between, and Beyond: Three Decades of Dance Writing, forewords by Lyn Garafola and Joan Accocella, (2007). Dr. Banes edited the Dance Research Journal from 1982 to 1988. Dr. Banes was appointed Director of the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and served in this position during 2001, 2002. She served as head of the University’s Dance program from 1992-1996. In 2020, The University of Wisconsin Madison established the Sally Banes Professor of Dance in honor of Dr. Banes. Her previous academic appointments took place at Florida State University 1980, Purchase College 1981- 1986, Wesleyan University 1987, 1988, and Cornell University 1988-1991. Awards In recognition of her many contributions to dance scholarship and criticism Dr. Banes has received numerous awards: in 2008 Dr. Banes received the American Society for Aesthetics Selma Jeanne .
Recommended publications
  • Simone Forti Goes to the Zoo*
    Simone Forti with a lion cub at the Giardino Zoologico di Roma, 1968. Courtesy Simone Forti and The Box, LA. Simone Forti Goes to the Zoo* JULIA BRYAN-WILSON In the photograph, a young woman in a short skirt and sandals sits on a bench. With her crooked elbow, she braces her handbag to her body, tucking her large sketchpad into her armpit. She is petting a lion cub, and as she gazes down to witness the small but extraordinary fact of her hand on its fur, the ani- mal’s face turns towards the camera lens with closed eyes. This is dancer and choreographer Simone Forti on one of her many visits to the zoo during the brief time she lived in Rome in the late 1960s. Far from today’s “wildlife sanctu- aries” where animals can ostensibly wander freely, as the photo of this uncaged cub might suggest, the Giardino Zoologico di Roma offered a highly controlled environment in which animals lived within tight enclosures; Forti was here indulging in a staged, paid encounter, one that she characterized as “irre- sistible.”1 Irresistible because she was consistently moved by the creatures she drew and studied—moved as in stirred, or touched, as well as in shifted, or altered. As I argue, her dance practice changed dramatically as a result of the time she spent in Rome observing animal motions and interacting with other, animate forms of art. Petting a lion cub: irresistible, but still melancholy. Designed in part by German collector and merchant Carl Hagenbeck and built in 1911, the Roman zoo is an example of the turn-of-the-century “Hagenbeck revolution” in zoo architecture, which attempted to provide more naturalistic-appearing, open-air surroundings that were landscaped with artificial rocks and featured moats instead of bars, often creating tableaux of animals from different taxonomic * This article was made possible by the indefatigable Simone Forti, who talked with me, danced for me, and pulled all manner of documents and photographs out of her dresser drawers for me; thank you, Simone.
    [Show full text]
  • Download, Or Email Articles for Individual Use
    Dance Chronicle, 37:122–128, 2014 Copyright © 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0147-2526 print / 1532-4257 online DOI: 10.1080/01472526.2014.876598 A Self-Critical Phenomenology of Criticism JOSHUA M. HALL Living in an Artworld By Noel¨ Carroll. 388 pp. Louisville, Ky.: Chicago Spectrum Press, 2012. $22.50. ISBN 978-158374-220-4. Noel¨ Carroll, a central figure in analytic (Anglo-American) philosophy of art, and spouse of renowned dance scholar Sally Banes (who co-authored several of these essays), offers us something remarkable in his new book—namely, a collection of thirty years of his theoretical essays and dance reviews. Carroll wrote some of the pieces while he was a graduate student at the Univer- sity of Illinois, Chicago, and there have been some dramatic changes since then in both the art world and Carroll’s philosophical views. Thus, he mod- estly characterizes the book as “an archeological artifact” of a “somewhat confessional” variety (p. 267). Inspired by Carroll, I too will adopt an arche- ological stance, with a promise that the reader’s patience will be repaid with something surprising at the end of the dig. To begin with a panoramic view of the site: Living in an Artworld is divided into three sections, on dance, performance/theater, and the fine arts, respectively. I will focus primarily on the dance section (because I am writing for a dance studies readership, and my own background is in dance), but the most helpful point of entry into the book is to be found in Carroll’s present- day introduction to the fine arts section.
    [Show full text]
  • PDF Released for Review Purposes Only. Not for Publication Or Wide Distribution
    JUDSON Giampaolo Bianconi is Thomas J. Lax is Associate Julia Robinson is Associate In the early 1960s, an assembly of choreographers, visual artists, composers, and Curatorial Assistant in the Curator in the Department of Professor of Modern and filmmakers made use of a church in New York’s Greenwich Village to present Judson Dance Theater The Work Is Never Done Department of Media and Media and Performance Art Contemporary Art at New performances that redefined the kinds of movement that could be understood as Performance Art at MoMA. at MoMA. York University. She is the dance—performances that Village Voice critic Jill Johnston would declare the most editor of the October Files exciting in a generation. The group was Judson Dance Theater, its name borrowed Harry C. H. Choi is a Twelve- Victor “Viv” Liu was a volume John Cage (2011) from Judson Memorial Church, the socially engaged Protestant congregation Month Intern in the Department Seasonal Intern in the and the author of a forthcom- that hosted the dancers’ open workshops. The Judson artists emphasized new DANCE of Media and Performance Art Department of Media and ing book on George Brecht. compositional methods meant to strip dance of its theatrical conventions and fore- at MoMA. Performance Art at MoMA. Robinson is an active curator. grounded “ordinary” movements—gestures more likely to be seen on the street or at home. Although Judson Dance Theater would last only a few years, the artists affili- Vivian A. Crockett is the Jenny Harris is Curatorial Gloria Sutton is Associate ated with it, including Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Philip Corner, Bill Dixon, Judith 2017–18 Andrew W.
    [Show full text]
  • The Minimal Presence of Simone Forti Author(S): Virginia B
    The Minimal Presence of Simone Forti Author(s): Virginia B. Spivey Reviewed work(s): Source: Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1 (SPRING/SUMMER 2009), pp. 11-18 Published by: Old City Publishing, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40605219 . Accessed: 21/01/2013 06:01 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Old City Publishing, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Woman's Art Journal. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded on Mon, 21 Jan 2013 06:01:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The MinimalPresence of SimoneForti By VirginiaB. Spivey May1961, a youngchoreographer named Simone Forti Theseissues converge in a studyof Simone Forti. Scholarly (b. 1935)presented "Five Dance Constructions and Some bias in arthistory has ignoredmany women like Forti.5 Her OtherThings," a concertof experimental dance, at Yoko situationwas compoundedby similarattitudes in the Ono'sChambers Street loft.1 A fewyears later, in November academythat viewed dance as an uncritical(often feminized) 1964,Forti' s ex-husband, Robert Morris, exhibited a group of artform, more rooted in bodilyexpression than intellectual sevensculptures at New York'sGreen Gallery.
    [Show full text]
  • JAMES WARING - Wait Inna Larry Richardson Dance Gallery Lobby - After David’S Sole Solo Concert
    David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 3 1 #1 1973 - VALDA SETTERFIELD and JAMES WARING - wait inna Larry Richardson Dance Gallery lobby - after David’s sole solo concert - FRIEND AND MENTOR - JAMES WARING - DIES OF LUNG CANCER - DECEMBER 2, 1975. David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 3 2 é çcollages by James Waring ê ç Composer John Herbert McDowell visits Jimmy. #1 Inna ‘60s n’’70s - Jimmy Waring lives at 131 Avenue A. Valda’s and David’s 1st apartment. Moves in when they move out. Jimmy babysits once’n claims - Valda says - he teaches baby Ain Gordon to say yogurt - and Max Ernst. #2 David hears Jimmy ain’t well. Finds reasons to not visit. Ain’t been in the Avenue A apartment - since they moved out. Braver Valda calls’n makes a date - for them to visit Jimmy together. ç Jimmy’s inna living room - in fronta - my old cork wall - David says - surrounded by old postcards n’photosa pretty boys’n art objects. #1 Jimmy holds a mug in his fine fingers and coughs gently. Spits bits of phlegm once in a while. And sniffs the old sniff. David babbles on quietly’n self consciously about art’n artists. People they both know‘n knew - and who’s doing upcoming what. No mention is made of Jimmy’s illness - David says. Then they say goodbye. David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 3 3 #2 David’n Valda go back 1 more time to 131 Avenue A - before the city confiscates alla Jimmy’s belongings. We gather’n pack up - David says - old postcards - antique ribbons’n beaded’n handsewn objets.
    [Show full text]
  • LINDA CARUSO HAVILAND Dance Program Bryn Mawr College 101
    v LINDA CARUSO HAVILAND v Dance Program August 2018 Bryn Mawr College 101 North Merion Avenue Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 [email protected] vv indicates entries prior to 2010 EDUCATION 1995 Ed.D. Department of Dance, Temple University, Philadelphia Dissertation: "Dancing at the Juncture of Being and Knowing: Sartrean Ontology, Embodiment, Gender and Dance." [Committee: Ferdun (Dance), M. Beardsley (Philosophy), J. Margolis (Philosophy) J. Immerwahr (Philosophy), S. Hilsendager (Dance)] • Recipient: Teaching Associate position 1972 M.Ed. Department of Dance, Temple University, Philadelphia Choreographic Thesis Project: Landscape with the Fall of Icarus • Recipient: Graduate Assistantship position 1971 B.A. Department of Dance, Adelphi University, Garden City • Magna cum laude, Dean's List, Departmental Honors 2003 Liz Lerman’s Critical Response training, Dance Exchange, Takoma Park, MD 1975 Dance Criticism--Jack Anderson, Robert Pierce, Kathy Duncan (semester course , New School for Social Research, NYC) 1974 Dance Criticism--Deborah Jowitt, Marcia Siegel (eight week intensive, NYC) 1973 Aesthetics—(semester course at New School for Social Research, NYC) 1973 Dance Aesthetics--Selma Jean Cohen (six week intensive, NYC) PRINCIPLE D ANCE TECHNIQUE AND PERFORMANCE TRAINING 2010- Gaga: Idan Porges, Modern Dance: Becky Malcolm-Naib, Eun Jung Choi, K.C. Chun Manning, Scott McPheeters, Rhonda Moore and ongoing master classes/workshops with visiting artists Prior to 2010 Intensive study with: Hellmut Gottschild, Karen Bamonte, Eva Gholson, Pat Thomas,
    [Show full text]
  • Remembering Sally Banes
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications Philosophy, Department of 2020 Remembering Sally Banes Curtis L. Carter Marquette University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/phil_fac Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Carter, Curtis L., "Remembering Sally Banes" (2020). Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications. 794. https://epublications.marquette.edu/phil_fac/794 in my productivity during my leave in New Zealand, where I draft- ed over half the book, starting again at the beginning of the book. I mention this personal aspect of the process in case it is of help in some small way to others in the profession dealing with mental health conditions. My productivity while on leave meant that I had only two chap- ters left to draft (along with plenty of revision) when I returned to teaching in 2018-19. For this situation, I had reserved two topics on which I had done some previous work, but still felt I had some- thing new to contribute: recordings and the definition of music. The following year was devoted to revision (particularly in light of extremely helpful comments from an anonymous reader) and pro- duction (e.g., producing the printed musical examples, correcting the proofs, and writing the index). Fortunately, I completed the last of these tasks—supplying the index—the weekend before America woke up to the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and all our lives were thrown into disarray. It will be interesting to see whether Remembering and (if so) how the on-going public health situation will affect the reception of the book.
    [Show full text]
  • Judson Dance Theater: the Work Is Never Done ABOUT the EXHIBITION MOVING-IMAGE INSTALLATION DESIGNED by CHARLES ATLAS
    Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done ABOUT THE EXHIBITION MOVING-IMAGE INSTALLATION DESIGNED BY CHARLES ATLAS ******************************** ******************************** The exhibition is organized by Ana Janevski, Curator, and Thomas J. Lax, Associate For a brief period in the early For this exhibition, filmmaker and Curator, with Martha Joseph, 1960s, a group of choreographers, video artist Charles Atlas has Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and Performance Art. visual artists, composers, and made an installation of historical Performances are produced filmmakers gathered in Judson moving-image material related to by Lizzie Gorfaine, Producer, Memorial Church, a socially engaged the work of the choreographers with Kate Scherer, Manager, Performance and Live Programs. Protestant congregation in New featured in the performance York’s Greenwich Village, for a program, alternating with a series of workshops that ultimately compilation of performance footage redefined what counted as dance. from the Judson group’s various The performances that evolved members. It includes footage of The exhibition is made possible by Hyundai Card. from these workshops incorporated both individual and group pieces everyday movements—gestures drawn made during the Judson era and Leadership support is provided from the street or the home; their after, emphasizing the relationship by Monique M. Schoen Warshaw, The Jill and Peter Kraus Endowed structures were based on games, of the soloist to the ensemble and Fund for Contemporary simple tasks, and social dances. showing how Judson influenced the Exhibitions, and by MoMA’s Wallis Spontaneity and unconventional later careers of these artists. To Annenberg Fund for Innovation in Contemporary Art through the methods of composition were create the segment dedicated to Annenberg Foundation.
    [Show full text]
  • Dance Chronicle Cunningham, Balanchine, And
    This article was downloaded by: [University of Chicago] On: 3 January 2010 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 784375792] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37- 41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Dance Chronicle Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713597243 Cunningham, Balanchine, and Postmodern Dance Sally Banes; Noël Carroll To cite this Article Banes, Sally and Carroll, Noël(2006) 'Cunningham, Balanchine, and Postmodern Dance', Dance Chronicle, 29: 1, 49 — 68 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/01472520500538057 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01472520500538057 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Dance Chronicle, 29:49–68, 2006 Copyright C 2006 Sally Banes and No¨el Carroll ISSN: 0147-2526 print / 1532-4257 online DOI: 10.1080/01472520500538057 CUNNINGHAM, BALANCHINE, AND POSTMODERN DANCE SALLY BANES AND NOEL¨ CARROLL “Painting relates to both art and life.
    [Show full text]
  • The Art of Meredith Monk Author(S): Sally Banes Reviewed Work(S): Source: Performing Arts Journal, Vol
    The Art of Meredith Monk Author(s): Sally Banes Reviewed work(s): Source: Performing Arts Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring - Summer, 1978), pp. 3-18 Published by: Performing Arts Journal, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3244987 . Accessed: 06/02/2012 11:37 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Performing Arts Journal, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Performing Arts Journal. http://www.jstor.org The Art of Meredith Monk Sally Banes A fanciful program note from 1969 states: MEREDITH MONK was born in lima Peru/grew up in the West riding horses/is Inca Jewish/lived in a red house A COMMERCIAL: SHE WILL PRESENT A NEW WORK: "TOUR: DEDICATED TO DINOSAURS" ON MARCH 4 IN THE ROTUNDA OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION IN WASHINGTON, D.C. Started dancing lessons at the age of three because she could not skip/did Hippy Love Dance at Varney's Roaring 20's Topless Club in California/has brown hair.' As an autobiographical statement, it is the real Monk, even though some of its details may not be accurate-if one goes by rational, external verities.
    [Show full text]
  • Veronica Dittman Stanich
    Reconsidering the Judson Influence Veronica Dittman Stanich “Anything discovered in dance percolates into the existing lexicon, and five minutes later no one remembers how it got there.” – Marcia B. Siegel (59) Dance that is popular in the U.S. today—meaning that with significant audience numbers, such as So You Think You Can Dance, musical theater on Broadway, and dancing that appears in commercials—bears the mark of an American hybrid of influences. These include ballet, social dances, and Africanist forms such as hip-hop and jazz. Absent from this landscape of popular dance is work that has inherited characteristics and values from the Judson Dance Theater. JDT was a group of dancers, choreographers, artists, and musicians who collectively gave a series of concerts at Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village in the early 1960s. While the Judson Dance Theater’s innovations are considered seminal by dance scholars and are widely accepted by and incorporated into the work of contemporary (problematically, “postmodern”) choreographers, these dances remain below the cultural radar. They happen primarily in small theaters and alternative spaces in large metropolitan areas, and attract miniscule audiences often made up of people from within dance. There is a general sense that most people aren’t attracted to this style of dance, don’t like it, and don’t “get it.” There are myriad reasons why the aesthetic of Judson Dance Theater never took hold on a large scale. I will focus here on the geographic and cultural isolation of the Judson Dance Theater. Sally Banes described the audience for Judson Dance Theater as artists, painters, musicians, dancers, writers, film makers, intellectuals, people who live in the neighborhood of the church, in Greenwich Village.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lives and Work of Independent Choreographers in Philadelphia
    Moving with Support: The Lives and Work of Independent Choreographers in Philadelphia An lllldergraduate Honors thesis submitted to the Swarthmore College Department of Sociology and Anthropology by Erica lanko Advised by Professor Joy Charlton Janko 2 Acknow ledgements Writing so much about social support networks as made me incredibly aware of the uncountable forms of support I have received from the people around me and the communities I have been a part of while I have been researching and writing this thesis - a phenomenon that Howard Becker notes in the acknowledgements of Art Worlds. First, thank you to Professor Joy Charlton who has advised me throughout the writing process this year and has excited me about the sociology of work and occupations. I am so grateful for your guidance and encouragement. Thank you to Professor Steve Vis celli, who responded enthusiastically to my initial research questions, encouraged me to begin exploring them with preliminary research before starting my thesis research, and then supported and advised me through this research in his Qualitative Methods course. Thank you also to Professor Viscelli for helping me apply for summer funding and IRB approval. Thank you to Professor Sarah Willie-LeBreton for advising me with my summer fieldwork. Your guidance and listening were invaluable in helping me plan and process my first ethnographic research experience. Thank you to Professor Christopher Fraga and Professor Nina Johnson for encouraging me to explore aspects of my thesis research in my work for the honors seminars I took with you and for giving me feedback on my work in a way that allowed me to deepen my approach to my thesis research.
    [Show full text]