learning to loveDANCEmore, a performance journal
Call for Essays & Photos on the theme “Invisible/Visible”
Submission Date: March 15, 2016
“... in spite of a burgeoning wave of newly minted talent fresh from art schools and universities with direct access to the means of self-representation, the familiar, pyramidal structure of the high culture industry has not only been unfazed, it appears to have become more entrenched than ever before.”
- Gregory Scholette in Dark Matter - Art and Politics in the Age of the Enterprise Culture
When contemplating a theme for volume 12 of the loveDANCEmore performance journal, I considered that there are thousands of dance artists yet the same handful of individuals and companies tour, listing and re-listing one another on their bios. The upcoming journal explores whether this is a reflection of artistic merit (probably) or whether it sparks deeper questions regarding the presentation of concert dance in the contemporary moment (definitely).
The Western concert stage is governed by a growing list of hierarchies; race, gender, sexuality, aesthetic, and geography, to name a few. Funding, employment, institutional support and presentation - the markers of recognition - flow within the boundaries of these hierarchies rendering the labor of many dance artists invisible. There is a growing urgency to critically inquire about this hidden labor of contemporary dance, illustrated by the article “Is Modern Dance a Pyramid Scheme?” and more recently, the controversy surrounding Akram Khan’s comments on female choreographers. These situations spark the following questions :
- Who/what bodies is/are represented on the concert dance stage?
- Whose labor (of performance, creation, administration, education) is marked invisible; how and why does this happen?
- In what ways has the label ‘contemporary’ been defined? Who is included and excluded in that definition?
- Most crucially, how do artists disrupt these hierarchies and make their work visible?
In order to explore these issues, most particularly as they impact Salt Lake City, the Mountain West, and other midsize cities in the United States, loveDANCEmore is releasing an open call for submissions.
Submissions could address any of the questions above, or broadly the following topics:
- hierarchies in contemporary dance
- definitions of ‘contemporary’
- ways in which creative labor is made visible
Submissions could be scholarly, storytelling, photos, poetry, or other kinds of content. Please send submissions to Liz Ivkovich, at admin@lovedancemore.org by March 15, 2016.
Thumbnail courtesy of Susan Honer & Gina T'ai, previous journal contributors based in Ohio & Wisconsin.