The Wise Body

Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early

Description

In The Wise Body: Conversations with Experienced Dancers, UK choreographers Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early interview twelve distinguished dancers from diverse backgrounds and disciplines who continue to enjoy exceptionally long performing careers. They discuss early training, memorable performing experiences, the things that sustain them, and the pleasures and challenges of being ‘older’ dancers in a profession in which youth is often idolized. The contributors include Philippe Priasso, Lisa Nelson, La Tati, Julyen Hamilton, Yoshito Ohno, Steve Paxton, Will Gaines, Jane Dudley, Pauline de Groot, and Bisakha Sarker.

 

Taken as a whole, the interviews, with their long and international perspective, invite a radical reappraisal of the development of modern and postmodern dance and their varied cultural starting points give rise to serious questions about the meaning of dance as an art form.

Introduction – Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early

 

Chapter 1: The sense of shape, the sense of time – Philippe Priasso

 

Chapter 2: Growing new patterns from a new imagination – Lisa Nelson

 

Chapter 3: Dance is the best cream and the best vitamin – La Tati

 

Chapter 4: Can’t … try … can – Julyen Hamilton

 

Chapter 5: There are so many surprises – Yoshito Ohno

 

Chapter 6: How important is dance? I think it may be critical! – Steve Paxton

 

Chapter 7: Lines of experience – Jacky Lansley

 

Chapter 8: Now we’re famous we need jackets – Will Gaines

 

Chapter 9: That quality of knowing movement never leaves you – Jane Dudley

 

Chapter 10: From stillness I could feel the energy begin – Pauline de Groot

 

Chapter 11: Please come and dance on the lotus of my heart – Bisakha Sarker

 

Chapter 12: Your body knows a lot of things – Fergus Early

 

Afterthoughts – Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early

Sujets

• Energie & environnement
• General
• Dance
• Engineering
• Technology
• General officer
• Sciences et techniques
• Performing Arts
• Power Resources

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 28 novembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9786613370617
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

Lansley | Early CONVERSATIONS wITh Exp ERIENCEd dANCERS
The Wise Body
By Jacky Lansley
and Fergus EarlyThe Wise Body
CONVERSATIONS wITh Exp ERIENCEd dANCERS
By JACky L ANSLEy ANd FER guS EARL y
‘A long awaited, remarkable collection In Te Wise Body: Conversations with Experienced Dancers, UK
that gives life to the dancing body. choreographers Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early interview twelve
At last a chance to hear the voices of these distinguished dancers from diverse backgrounds and disciplines
very special performer/creators who have
who continue to enjoy exceptionally long performing careers. Tey
carried the discoveries of the new dance
discuss early training, memorable performing experiences, the things movement over 30 years. What is so
that sustain them and the pleasures and challenges of being ‘older’ exciting and beautiful is that the writing is
dancers in a profession in which youth is often idolised. as unique as each of the creative identities.
A book to treasure for all those who have
Taken as a whole, the interviews, with their long and international
sought to understand the moving body.’
perspective, invite a radical re-appraisal of the development of Rosemary Butcher, Choreographer
modern and post modern dance; their varied cultural starting points
give rise to serious questions about the meaning of dance as an art ‘If today we are learning to value older
dancers this is largely due to the revolution form. Lansley and Early are two of the founders of the UK New and
in dance practices and training methods that The Independent Dance movements and the book refects wide-ranging
took place in the 1970s and 1980s. Many of concerns with broader concepts than dance itself, connecting the
the interviews in this book are with pioneers
experience of senior practitioners to areas as diverse as health,
of new ways of moving that focus on somatic
philosophy, psychology, politics and cross-art form research. practices which have been informed by an
understanding of the dancing body that Te individual voices are fascinating and informative; the cumulative
embraces both aesthetics and politics.
efect of the whole is an extraordinary and unique picture of the
Lansley and Early have been at the forefront
world-wide network of independent dancers and their practice.
of these developments in Britain and Te
Wise Body not only adds to our historical Jacky LansLey is a choreographer, dancer and director based in
knowledge but also ofers new insights
London and Cornwall. A pioneer of the UK’s radical New Dance into the practice of experienced dancers.’ Wise movement, the artist’s work combines visual, site specifc and Ramsay Burt, Professor of Dance History,
theatrical disciplines; she is an Associate Lecturer at the University De Montfort University
of Plymouth and the Artistic Director of the Dance Research Studio
where she has developed a context for cross art form training and Cover image: Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early in their
flm Who Became Tose 2010. research.
Photography: Roswitha Chesher.
Fergus e arLy is a dancer, choreographer and pioneer in community
dance. A co-founder of the seminal dance studios, X6 Dance Space
and Chisenhale Dance Space, he is founder and Artistic Director
of Green Candle Dance Company, working for and with young and ISBN 978-1-84150-418-6
00older people in community and educational contexts. In 2009 he Body
received an OBE for services to dance.
9 781841 504186
CONVERSATIONS wITh Exp ERIENCEd dANCERS
intellect | www.intellectbooks.comThe Wise BodyThe Wise Body
Conversations with Experienced Dancers
Edited by Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early
intellect Bristol, UK / Chicago, USAFirst published in the UK in 2011 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2011 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2011 Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Cover designer: Holly Rose
Copy-editor: Rebecca Vaughan-Williams
Index: Lyn Greenwood
Typesetting: Mac Style, Beverley, E. Yorkshire
ISBN 978-1-84150-418-6
Printed in the UK by Latimer Trend, Plymouth.For UrsulaContents
Acknowledgements 9
Introduction11
Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early
Chapter 1:The Sense of Shape, the Sense of Time 17
Philippe Priasso
Chapter 2: Growing New Patterns from a New Imagination 35
Lisa Nelson
Chapter 3: Dance is the Best Cream and the Best Vitamin 51
La Tati
Chapter 4: Can’t … Try … Can 59
Julyen Hamilton
Chapter 5: There are So Many Surprises 73
Yoshito Ohno
Chapter 6: How Important is Dance? I Think it May be Critical! 87
Steve Paxton
Chapter 7: Lines of Experience 103
Jacky Lansley
Chapter 8: Now We’re Famous We Need Jackets 117
Will Gaines
Chapter 9: That Quality of Knowing Movement Never Leaves You 129
Jane Dudley
Chapter 10: From Stillness I Could Feel the Energy Begin 141
Pauline de GrootTe Wise Body
Chapter 11: Please Come and Dance on the Lotus of my Heart 157
Bisakha Sarker
Chapter 12: Your Body Knows a Lot of Things 173
Fergus Early
Afterthoughts 185
Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early
Biographies 189
Index 197
8Acknowledgements
e would like to thank the following institutions and individuals for their help
and support with various aspects of assembling and writing this book: frstly of Wcourse the interviewees themselves who have been unstintingly generous, not
only in giving their time and thought to the interviews and the editing process, but also
in pursuing photographs and in certain cases tracing photographers for permissions; then
the Daiwa and Sasakawa Foundations and the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, all of
whom supported our research trip to Japan; the Royal Exchange Teatre, Manchester, for
housing our interview with Philippe Priasso; all at Green Candle Dance Company and the
Dance Research Studio for their generous support. Of the many individuals we have cause
to be grateful to, we would like to particularly mention Yoko Nishimura for her role as our
interpreter in Japan and for her technical support with all IT matters; Hugo Glendinning
for invaluable help with preparing photographs; Professor Ramsay Burt, Ken Bartlett,
Rosemary Butcher, Dr Vida Midgelow, Dr Jane Bacon and Nigel Stewart for their helpful
advice and encouragement; Senzo and Minosuke Nishikawa for their generous time and
hospitality and our good friends Peter Fluck and Anne-Cécile de Bruyne for innumerable
dinners during our working stints on the book in Cornwall. Finally we would like to thank
all at Intellect Books whose thoroughness and courtesy have helped to make the process of
publishing this book an enjoyable experience.
Introduction
Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early
hese interviews are the personal voices and words of twelve mature dance
practitioners. Tey convey experience very directly, with a subjective precision that T can only come from the artists themselves. Tere has been much written about
dance in the last twenty years, which is helping to place it more clearly within the cultural
landscape, yet comparatively little of the writing has been by practising dancers and it could
be argued that a discussion of the complex and varied languages of the body in dance, the
science of its craf and the knowledge distilled within its lore has been somewhat neglected.
Tis book is inspired by the idea that everyone in the dance community, and many beyond
it, will beneft if the voices of experienced practitioners are heard.
We have tried to cast our net wide. Our interviewees include White British, British Asian,
White American, African American, Dutch, French, Japanese and Spanish practitioners.
Te age range, despite the fact that all contributors are ‘mature’ dancers, is quite extensive –
roughly from mid-forties to mid-eighties at the time of interview. Te interviews themselves
were recorded at diferent times over several years – the project itself coming to refect the
themes of longevity and continuation that are central to the book.
Two diferent points became very clear as we began to assemble and compare material:
frst, the obvious one of diversity, and second, the more surprising one of connectivity. Te
voices are certainly diverse. Most of our interviews were conducted in English, even when
this was not our interviewee’s frst language, (the exceptions were La Tati and Yoshito Ohno,
both of whom we interviewed with interpreters, and Philippe Priasso, whom we interviewed
in a mixture of French and English). Te diferent character of language we encountered in
these interviews was remarkable; it may not be too fanciful to relate each verbal style to the
speaker’s mode of dance: Will Gaines, for example, speaks with some of the sharp and fast
rhythmic intensity and exuberant improvisation that characterizes his jazz tap. Parts of what
Yoshito Ohno said came out, even in translation, as something close to poetry and so we
have rendered some passages in short ‘poetic’ lines, to refect his verbal style. At all events,
the range of language was both a delight and a real challenge to preserve through the long
processes of transcription and editing.Te Wise Body
And as for connectivity, some connections are not so surprising. We, (your editors) have
danced with, taught, been taught by, six of the contributors: Julyen Hamilton, Pauline de
Groot, Lisa Nelson, Jane Dudley, Yoshito Ohno and Steve Paxton. Te connections here, for
us, came through the early days of the London Contemporary Dance School and through the
2 1UK New Dance scene as it developed at X6 Dance Space, at the Dartington Dance Festivals
3and in the pages of our magazine, New Dance. B