Notes from the Field: Boston’s Dance Landscape, Thoughts on Training,Potential, and Action
The Society of Dance History Scholars Conference, June 2012
Co-authored with Lauren Simpson,
This collaboratively-presented paper addresses the dance landscape in Boston. 2012 marks the 20th anniversaries of Boston’s two prominent contemporary dance studios and the 25th anniversary of its dance service organization. With those landmarks and the intellectual climate of the surrounding universities, Boston seems poised to have more energy crystallize around dance. In 2009, Harvard’s ART drew unprecedented audiences to the dance theater installation Sleep No More; the Boston Center for the Arts recently added dance to its programming roster; the Institute of Contemporary Art is welcoming more dance, and the Boston Conservatory and Harvard both now have new Dance Directors.
Despite this rich history, forward momentum, and classes with local dance legends and inspiring teachers, there is a gap in available training for professional dancers. Moving Target, our co-curated class led by rotating teachers from Boston and beyond has yielded rich conversations and about the proverbial "dance scene"—what are Boston’s strengths, holes, needs? Can Moving Target fill them? Is it threatening? In honoring Movement Research, Ann Cooper Albright articulated a concept of “productive tension”—tension between training systems, between movement exploration and dance as cultural representation. In Moving Target, we hope to contribute such “productive tension” to dance in Boston. Those tensions make our work relevant, compelling, mysterious, and engaging. They keep us involved and growing. Contemporary dance is not one thing, but many. Today, we access dance from around the world in one swift youtube search. Geography does not need to limit aesthetic approaches. We can simultaneously celebrate local traditions and broaden our views.
Co-authored with Lauren Simpson,
This collaboratively-presented paper addresses the dance landscape in Boston. 2012 marks the 20th anniversaries of Boston’s two prominent contemporary dance studios and the 25th anniversary of its dance service organization. With those landmarks and the intellectual climate of the surrounding universities, Boston seems poised to have more energy crystallize around dance. In 2009, Harvard’s ART drew unprecedented audiences to the dance theater installation Sleep No More; the Boston Center for the Arts recently added dance to its programming roster; the Institute of Contemporary Art is welcoming more dance, and the Boston Conservatory and Harvard both now have new Dance Directors.
Despite this rich history, forward momentum, and classes with local dance legends and inspiring teachers, there is a gap in available training for professional dancers. Moving Target, our co-curated class led by rotating teachers from Boston and beyond has yielded rich conversations and about the proverbial "dance scene"—what are Boston’s strengths, holes, needs? Can Moving Target fill them? Is it threatening? In honoring Movement Research, Ann Cooper Albright articulated a concept of “productive tension”—tension between training systems, between movement exploration and dance as cultural representation. In Moving Target, we hope to contribute such “productive tension” to dance in Boston. Those tensions make our work relevant, compelling, mysterious, and engaging. They keep us involved and growing. Contemporary dance is not one thing, but many. Today, we access dance from around the world in one swift youtube search. Geography does not need to limit aesthetic approaches. We can simultaneously celebrate local traditions and broaden our views.