Proposal to Leeds Art Gallery Education from Nina Kane for the 'Will You, Won't You..?' pilot project, June 2002 (original) (raw)
Unpublished, 1994
Summary/Abstract The central issues within this dissertation relate to a whole system of values that prevail within our society. Many of these values are unspoken, and assumed. The work ethic, the pursuit of money, physical health & wellbeing; what constitutes ‘quality of life’, are issues that can be determined individually, privately. They are issues we are free to contemplate & decide upon for ourselves. Yet at some point we all have to make a choice, between love or money, freedom or slavery; the external pressures of society, family & state are difficult to ignore. How do we form our responses? Do we determine our choice of personal values freely & consciously, or are we bowing to unseen (or unspoken, or unnamed) forces beyond our ability to control? The collective traumas resulting from our experiences of contemporary life are well documented in the annals of psychology, & expressed clearly in much of the art of the 20th century, in a way which often distinguishes it from the art of previous centuries. So much of contemporary art is concerned with expressing different forms of malaise, yet there are few solutions offered or applied that are generally acknowledged within society or by the state & government. Contemporary formal education is more concerned with teaching skills that will serve the existing aims of industry, commerce & government policy - makers rather than the self development of the children who will shape the future of society. In examining cultural movements from the 1960’s to the present day, & the corresponding developments within education, my intention is to create a perspective from which to discuss the possible benefits of specific approaches to arts practices in terms of cultural development, encompassing the development of creative potential within individuals & groups as an educational process, & as part of the development of cultural awareness within society. My perspective is one which attempts to reassess the values of a humanist, democratic process at a time when it seems many of these values are being sacrificed to the forces of materialism in our society. A central theme is the value of recognising the benefits in facilitating individual self-determination within a cultural & educational process. Developments in western culture since the 1960‘s, defined in terms of a shift from modernism to postmodernism, can be seen as a series of actions & reactions, trends & counter trends, & it often appears that the ‘baby gets thrown out with the bath water’ all too easily in this process of change. Therefore it is a worthwhile act to assess what relevance cultural movements of this period have to the kind of society we live in today. l have chosen to examine the emergence of post modern dance in the early sixties, & to view its development since then, within the context of wider cultural developments, & subject to the ebb & flow of a succession of cultural tendencies. Within the context of the recent debate on ‘High' & ‘Low’ art, there is a noticeable contrast between the current cultural climate, & that which prevailed in the sixties. It would appear that, whereas cultural developments in the early 1960’s possessed an optimistic, democratic nature, the prevailing atmosphere seems to be based on fear & uncertainty. Like all fear, it appears to be unsubstantiated & without reasonable cause. The following section is a continuation of the discussion about high art & popular culture, & refers specifically to an article on the subject that appeared in the Sunday Times ‘Culture‘ magazine in November 1993: High Art & Popular Culture: One person's meat?1 The point about this for me is that, yes, I like a lot of what is termed ‘popular culture’ & yes, I like some ‘high art’, too; I am for a cultural democracy: ‘the view that no fiction, no work of art, no recreation, no judgment is intrinsically superior to any other; & anyone who says otherwise is a bourgeois elitist'.2; with the addition of one proviso: l have every right to have a personal preference, to make a value judgment on what gives me the most pleasure, & I am free to express my opinion. But neither my personal opinion nor anyone else’s should be regarded as part of a collective consensus on what is good. Is it not more sensible to ask ourselves what is good? Do we need anyone to tell us what is good? This is more of a debate about the value of subjectivity vs. the power of objective assertions. Who are the philistines anyway? That depends upon your point of view. These issues are personal, & cannot be sacrificed to an objective, definitive perspective without negating their essential purpose, which is to provide us all with the opportunity to have an individual subjective experience. In an earlier essay on aesthetics, l referred back to Kant’s assertions that the judgment of taste can only be determined subjectively, because I feel that it is important to acknowledge that such views are not simply products of a 1960’s Marxist radical viewpoint, & that what may be seen now as philistine populism actually has its origins in the cultural climate of renaissance Europe, the same place & time that gave birth to Beethoven’s music, & the origin of much of what is now commonly termed ‘high art’. If this is acknowledged, then it appears that many of us continue to cling fervently to what, paradoxically, seems also to be the source of our greatest fear; that, in order to deepen our cultural awareness, we cannot rely on a consensus of what is good, but must judge for ourselves, & make up our own minds. Therefore any attempt to impose an objective definition, that ‘Keats is better than Dylan’, upon someone else’s aesthetic sensibilities, is an attempt to deny an individual his own ability to make a subjective judgment of taste, & his freedom of choice. It is a reactionary impulse which inevitably takes us right back down the path of cultural imperialism. It may be that one work of art is universally judged to be superior to another, but as soon as you undermine the ability of an individual to make his own personal value judgment, you are at once destroying the cultural process in itself. The word ‘culture’ shares its root meaning with the word ‘cultivation’. In human terms, the process of cultivation is synonymous with the process of education. To educate means to draw out the innate abilities & qualities that a person possesses, it is an act of cultivation, & there is really no place to make impositions. This is why the argument about High & Low Art has so many resonances, because it reflects upon the nature of contemporary society, & embraces current debates in both politics & education. For these reasons I have included it in this essay. If there is a collective search for a re - definition of cultural values, it should be one in which individuals take personal responsibility for their search, secure in the knowledge that they are free to make choices, rather than a collective search based upon fear & insecurity. Show me the basis of that fear & I will show you the cure. These anxieties prevail in modern societies. Their cause will not be found in the democratisation of culture, but in the lack of an educational process based upon cultural process & personal development.
Curating Dance: Dramaturgy as a multiplicity of perspectives
Society of Dance History Scholars Conference, 2011
An alternative mode of dance dramaturgy to theatrical methods is curating dance which condenses narrative through images. Choreographing body images allows altering the aesthetic habitus through a focus on shape design, one of the four dance elements according to Laban. Showing bodies "from a particular point of view, an image shows more than what can actually be seen" (2008, p.47) as Bleeker proposes. My practice, Dancing Sculptures, suggests looking at dance dramaturgy as a perspective, presenting simultaneously a particular view of the moving body and a multiplicity of representations within its contractile design made out of sculptural bodily assemblages.
Combining disability and dance may not be new, yet enacting inclusive dance/drama education in a university remains rare. This article reflects on the integration of people with developmental disabilities in dance theatre, particularly in institutions of higher education, and shares insights that emerged in the context of an inclusive dance-theatre project. Over two years, the project progressed from a community-based art for social change partnership, to a post-secondary drama course, to a large-scale, university-produced theatrical production. Drawing on qualitative, embodied, and quantitative data the authors critically reflect on the potential for integrated dance theatre work to contribute to training future professional artists with disabilities, to enrich curriculum for students without disabilities, to inform theory and practice in the field of art for social change, and to positively affect the perceptions and experiences of people living with disabilities. Allier le handicap et la danse n'est peut-être pas nouveau, mais instituer des cours inclusifs de danse-théâtre dans un milieu universitaire demeure un événement rare. Cet article traite de l'inclusion de personnes ayant une déficience développementale dans une initiative de danse-théâtre en milieu univer-sitaire et des réflexions qui en ont surgi. En deux ans, un projet de partenariat communautaire dans le domaine des arts pour le changement social a mené à la création d'un cours de théâtre postsecondaire et à une production théâtrale de grande envergure à l'université. À partir de données qualitatives, quan-titatives, et incorporées, les auteurs livrent une réflexion critique sur l'apport de la danse-théâtre inté-grée à la formation de futurs artistes professionnels ayant un handicap, à l'enrichissement du curriculum des étudiants sans handicap, au développement de la théorie et de la pratique dans le domaine des arts pour le changement social ainsi qu'à une meilleure perception et expérience des personnes vivant avec un handicap.
Sure Lines? Reflections on Dramaturgy in participatory dance and performance
2016
After a galvanising conversation with emerging dance dramaturge Miranda Laurence, Dance Artist and Lecturer Ruth Pethybridge reflects on her own new role as dramaturge with Simon Birch Dance, what this means for her evolving practice and how the role raises particular questions and opportunities for the participatory dance secto
Masters of Arts in the Drama and Performance Studies Programme
2001
The articulation of my own practical experiences does not emerge without the many children. teachers and parents from schools across KwaZulu-Natal who have prompted my journey in dance. My sincere thanks to all of you who have openly shared your world views. Thank you, KwaZulu-Natal Very Special Arts and Sam Moodley, The Playhouse Company. Glen Mashinini and Gitanjali Pather to whom this work is greatly indebted. J would like to thank all those who have generously supported the search for new dance languages especially my former dance teachers, mentors, the many choreographers and visionary artistic leaders from whom I have had the privileged opportunity to learn. My passion for dialogue through dance is shared with you.