Dancers: New Work by Borbála Kováts Dance in California: 150 Years of Innovation
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USF Home > Library Home > Thacher Gallery The University of San Francisco’s Thacher Gallery presents January 13—February 23, 2003 Hungarian collage artist Borbála Kováts explores dance through computer- generated textures and imagery alongside a San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum (SFPALM) photo history of California Dance. Please join us Thursday, February 20, from 3 to 5 p.m. for the Closing Reception featuring an improvisational dance performance by the USF Dance Program at 4 p.m. Co-sponsored by SFPALM, USF’s Visual and Performing Arts Department and Budapest, Hungary Cultural Immersion Program. Dancers: New Work by Borbála Kováts Dance in California: 150 Years of Innovation Dancers: New Work by Borbála Kováts Following studies in fine arts and experimentation with traditional graphic arts, I first turned to photocopying and then to digital techniques. In recent years, I have engaged in preparing computer prints and have found that digital techniques are suitable for more than transmitting and perfecting photographic images of everyday life. I now use the computer to search for a language of representation that is unique to the digital medium. In my work the role of technique is far wider ranging than transmitting or retouching images; with the aid of computerized tools, I create a new pictures within the machine itself. My compositions are mostly non-figurative and work to create an integrated pictorial unity using various digital graphic surfaces. Starting from digital photographs, scanned material, or my own drawings, I create new surfaces and shapes using the computer so that the original pictures lose their earlier meanings. Magnified fragments of the original surface help to change the composition’s emphasis so that the final print bears little resemblance to its original realistic image. At times, I contrast the surface developed in the machine with the representations of real objects. I am preoccupied by the pictorial tension created between the actual image, the copy, and the medium produced in virtual space, curious to discover the boundaries separating reality from its illusion and virtual existence. In the Dancers Series, I was interested in movement as perceived in reality and art, creating non-figurative surfaces to fill in shapes representing natural movement. As I transposed the silhouettes of the original figures into shapes that depicted dance, their proportions altered, some having more than four limbs, and their movements became less explicit. In the virtual space, unambiguous poses would have reduced the graphic surfaces to simple ornamental motifs. However, my intention was to equalize the roles of the real forms and the digital-graphic medium in order to contrast representations of motion with our own visual perceptions. The urge to examine contrasts even while I unify the various materials is my reaction to the particulars of our world. Today, people have access to such a wealth of information—from events and news to personal perspectives—that it is difficult to sort through all of the information and select among those messages that are personally important. As we strive to integrate the information into our awareness and conduct, computer technology can be a great facilitator. Dance in California: 150 Years of Innovation The West has always been a region of expansion and cultural innovation in America, and this is particularly true for the art of dance. Here, on the edge of the Pacific, many of the nation’s greatest dance iconoclasts crossed thresholds of innovation, and in doing so, changed the course of dance throughout the world. What made California critical in the cultivation and dissemination of dance? Dance is more than physical movement; it reflects the culture from which it emanates. A tradition of novelty is part of California’s heritage, and its reputation deemed conducive to fresh investigation. In the nation’s cultural imagination, California is a site of freedom, experimentation and assimilation. California is the birthplace of the matriarch of modern dance, Isadora Duncan and home to the oldest ballet company in America. Many of the nation’s leading dancers, choreographers and teachers view California’s cultural climate and geography as the source of their inspiration. This exhibition, Dance in California: 150 Years of Innovation, samples the historical and artistic breadth of the state’s dance world. The subjects were selected with the Western theatrical tradition of dance as a focal point. All of the images, unless otherwise noted, are reproduced from photographs and documents from the collection of the San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum. The exhibition begins in the mid-nineteenth century when the raucous milieu of a young San Francisco became home to the boisterous theatrical personality of Lola Montez. At the fin de siècle, a fascination with Greek culture captivated the Bay Area and inspired Isadora Duncan to conceive the fledgling ideals of modern dance. Inspired by the utopian California land and seascapes, two Southern California based dancers, Ruth St. Denis and Martha Graham, expanded the nascent discipline of interpretive dance, giving shape and substance to a new American art form. California’s ballet tradition began in the nineteenth century and was sharply defined in the mid-twentieth century by the Christensen brothers, whose commitment benefited the Bay Area for almost five decades. The trio of Willam, Harold and Lew Christensen created what is today one of the world’s foremost ballet companies, the San Francisco Ballet. San Francisco Ballet rapidly became home to America’s first Nutcracker production and a major school of dance. Modern and creative dance institutions have long flourished throughout the state. In San Francisco, the Peters Wright School trained generations of creative dancers, and in Los Angeles, Lester Horton’s company became the training ground for Alvin Ailey, Bella Lewitzky and other leading dance figures. California’s progressive spirit continued to fuel innovations in dance throughout the twentieth century. During the 1960s, Anna Halprin created and performed public rituals on her dance deck in Marin County. In addition, Halprin was one of the founders of the journal Impulse, a forum for discussions about contemporary dance. The San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Dance Festival, the nation’s first, was started in 1997. While many dancers and choreographers have used California as a launching pad, in recent years, increasing numbers of national and international dance artists like the late Lucas Hoving, who was born in the Netherlands, have chosen to renew their careers in California. The range of artistic creation from California’s past and present creators radiates influences that continue to shape the future. —Catherine Ryan Slavonia, Lecturer, Stanford University Dance Department, Guest Curator for The San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum, March 2000 The gallery would like to thank Mimi Manning for her assistance in this exhibition. Last Updated Wed, Jan 8, 2003 Questions or Comments? Search the USF site.