The Politics of Art & Authenticity

I have to agree with many of my peers and say that the presentation was not as boring because she didn’t really talk about her dance company. But even so, it was boring. I got there on time… haha surprise… and I had no idea what she was taling about half the time. She began by talking about Loie Fuller and her influence on modern dance. And I mean, the first five minutes were interesting, but after that. It was boring.  I think that instead of talking about skirt dancing, there should have been a live performance

http://ucommxsrv1.unl.edu/downloadables/photo/20100913timelapseflower.jpg

It was mesmerizing to see women dance with these long pieces of fabric. Loie Fuller was an innovator who incorporated fabric, motion and light into modern dance. The constant swirling of the fabric made these images and shapes. It was astonishing how these people moved so swiftly and it seemed as if it were easy. It definitely takes effort, skill, and stamina to move that way.  Time lapse dance is a modern dance company founded by Jody Sperling. She helped continue this style of dancing and I appreciated it. I wish she would have done the performance live in front of us or did a tiny demonstration. It would have been really great if she brought these fabrics in and taught us a little move. I am glad I was introduced to this modern dance.

We’re not funding the Arts, and people need to be more angry about that. Ms. Sperling’s dedication to reviving and reinventing the skirt dancing styles of Loïe Fuller deserves proper recognition from both spectator and financer, yet only the former seems moved to provide funds and grants to further this beautiful art form. Now, I’m coming from a very bitter, biased point of view – having experienced the lack of arts funding in the public school system – but I dare you to watch even five seconds of one of the videos on Sperling’s company website, Time Lapse Dance, and not be completely captivated.

A poster advertising one of Loie Fuller’s dance performances after she became known for her use of dramatic lighting.

The intention behind the skirt dance is fascinating in the sense that its intention is polar opposite to most other dances: to hide the body. Whereas in interpretive and modern dance, where the body becomes the instrument to express emotions and stories, skirt dancing has the performer hiding behind yards and yards of fabric, creating shapes and illusions with the help of two poles to help support the mass amount of fabric. Even more invigorating is the use of lighting to blend colors and project images onto the skirts. It’s a multimedia presentation in the sense that it’s both a dance and light show, and I’m surprised this style isn’t more popular today – think of the possibilities with the lighting technology of today…

Dedication to a craft as unique and gorgeous as skirt dancing, like Ms. Sperling exemplifies, is what we need if we want to keep the Arts alive.

 Photo Credit

With no prior knowledge of dance and no real connection to what the very nice presenter was saying, I was simply lost in the strange life of Loie Fuller, an innovator of dance in her lifetime. I can only imagine what the first shows played by Fuller looked like with manned lights going on and off all around her and her dress becoming its own living entity. But it does seem somewhat easier with todays technological advances and the way theater works creating a stronger show for the audience to see. The videos seen did help capture some of the emotion and essence of the serpentine dance, but without truly knowing it, the whole thing just seemed pretty to me. If there was less of a history lesson and more a show, I would have been more immersed in this strange dance style. I just wanted to watch and enjoy Fuller at her best, the same way she wanted her audience to feel when they saw her shows.

Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Koloman_Moser_003.jpg

The flowing choreography of Loie Fuller is unlike anything I have ever seen. The technique she exhibits is so foreign to me because in all other dances I have seen, the dancers try to emphasize their body movements but Fuller uses a style that hides them. The way in which her long, flowing dress billows and moves enables it to hide her almost entirely while creating a brilliant spectacle. The dress is the true star if the show much like a puppet being manipulated for an audience. One of the most perplexing things about this presentation was that I had never seen anything like it before. How had something this original evaded my awareness until now? I hope that with the help of new dance companies this dance can continue to live on and I will hopefully be able to see a live performance some day.

http://www.timelapsedance.com

Before, when I thought of dance, I automatically thought of ballets, hip hop dances and traditional dances from each countries. When someone would approach to me and ask of what I felt about modern dance I would automatically think of people trying to convey some abstract idea with their bodies making funny movements and it would just look odd and hilarious to me. It seemed to lack that authority and prestige of that of ballet or other traditional forms of dance. But then I was immediately mesmerized as Jody Sperling introduced us to the world of Loïe Fuller.

From the video clips I could see that hers and, of course, Jody Sperling’s dance were exquisite but what was more fascinating was that with some bold attempts and “think-outside-the-box” mindset you could create and initiate a whole new field. Become expert of your own artistic area. Obviously the type of dancing and costume were slight modifications from what already existed. Quite frankly, as I was watching her videos I couldn’t stop thinking of the resemblances to some Korean traditional dance, using long white silky materials and choreographing movements inspired from that of animals and nature.

Dong Rae Crane dance

Korean Shamanic dance

Korean Traditional dance

The main difference would be the dynamics and use of light.While Korean traditional dances focus more on the subtleness within the continuous slow movements, Loie Fuller takes full advantage of the rapid dynamic movements. I really admired Loie Fuller’s use of light, especially concerning her time era, which film making and stage directing was not much developed. But I have to say, the coloring process in the old films could have been done with more sophistication. It was so funny how the coloring were so rough and 2 dimensional that it looked like a coloring work of a two year old. But I guess it shows how difficult it was at that point.

Through out the lecture I feel like I learned so much, especially hearing about the financial difficulties artists face, I realized  there’s a shade behind every light no matter how glamourous they seem. What was really interesting though, was how Jody Sperling came to realize her path. Her story of how she became involved in Loie Fuller and her work (starting from a single picture and a note from a colleague) really inspired me and made me realize sometimes you have to wait for the right moment. Lately, I have been stressed out with choosing my career path and realizing what I want to do with my life but stories like hers really helped me in so many ways.

When I first heard that a dancer was coming to speak to our IDC class, I assumed she would speak about the art of dance in general, or perhaps about specific dances she had choreographed. Instead, I was introduced to whole genre of dance that I had been totally unaware of. That alone was a shock. How could there be an artist as important as Loie Fuller, who had shaped the world of modern dance, and I’d never even heard of her name? It’s saddening to think that if not for Jody Sperling, I never would have learned about the incredible dance style that had such a widespread impact. I think it’s amazing that Ms. Sperling decided to devote her entire lecture to educating us on someone who is important to her. Only at the end did she speak about her own dance company for a bit. I’m really grateful that I got to hear about such an incredible woman, from such an incredible woman. I think that this is a great example of why we need more funding for the arts. If someone like Loie Fuller, whose whole style of dance depended on her props, hadn’t been able to afford her shows, who knows what modern dancing would be like today.

I am pleased to announce that I have learned about a new type of dance! A dance involving twirling sheets and pretty lights. The name of this dance is the Time Lapse Dance and it coalescences choreography, design, and music.  I found that the changing sheet colors during the danced was a neat effect. There are also several different motions and garments to accompany this dance. I really like how multiple colors are blended on some of the sheets during the dance. This creates a very interesting and beautiful new art form.

I would love to see this dance in person so I could truly appreciate Jody Sperling’s vision.

Jody Sperling was our guest speaker, and she taught us about her non-profit organization Time Lapse Dance. Sperling loves dance and its her passion. More people are needed like her to revolutionize art.She gave us some interesting information about dance including that dance is funded by private donors and the government.  Its great that people are willing to donate their hard earned money to fund cultural projects like dance. Art forms like dance enhance culture, captivate young minds, and inspires people to create newer and better things. I also learned that most European countries support things like the arts a lot more than we do in the United States primarily because Americans rely more on private donors than the government. We watched several videos demonstrating the dances, and I was truly blown away by the twirling sheets and blended colors.

I was surprised to learn it requires tremendous strength to hold your arms up for several minutes at a time! I am impressed that dancers have this much strength. Most of the outfits were white and the lights would shine through them creating several pretty colors.

I appreciate Jody Sperling educating the class on a new dance form.

Imagine provided by timelapsedance.com

I really like dance. I’m definitely a fan. I love dancing and having fun with my friends. I took a ballet class when I was five years old. I’ve seen many kinds of dance, like classical, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and modern. I thought I really knew dance; I thought I had a foundation of dance down. I thought there wasn’t really much more.

I was wrong.

What I saw opened up my mind to a whole new world of dance – skirt dancing – a dazzling, colorful, mind-blowing form of dance. I thought the costumes were fantastic, and the multimedia effects even better. Watching the skirt dancing was truly mesmerizing – the skirt dancers pulled off complicated dance moves with lavish costumes and blinding, flashing lights. I really loved watching the dancing, but I enjoyed going through the history of skirt dancing even more. It was so cool to actually go through the history of it – to see how it first started out, and how over time the costumes and style and graphics changed, to the video clips of what today’s skirt dancing looks like. So often we look at different forms of artwork and take them for face value, how people present them today, without considering the history behind it, how this art got to the form and style we see it as today.

I also gained a tremendous amount of respect for Jody Sperling. Not only do I greatly admire her and her work, but I think it was incredibly nice of her to come and present it to us. I think it’s so nice that she was willing to open up and share about her story and explain the history of this artwork. It was a great lecture and an eye-opening experience to a whole new world of dance.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Loie_Fuller.jpg/300px-Loie_Fuller.jpg

I can’t dance. I have no sense of rhythm. I can’t even hold my body up either, but after seeing Loie Fuller‘s style of dancing really surprised me. When I first looked at it, I thought, that’s easy. You kind of just twirl around and hold your arms out to make the outfit look all as if it’s floating. Then you realize that these dancers that are performing aren’t holding their arms out for a minute or two. They are holding them out and up high for long periods of time. The amount of strength it takes to hold up their arms and be in constant motion is amazing. I seriously give them a lot of props. At a glance, it looks so easy, that this dance does not require much. Of course, I was wrong and there is more than what meets the eye. I think the one thing I loved most from the presentation was the idea that the outfits were always white and the only way you can bring color to the outfits where through the lights. I found it creative and absolutely beautiful. When we were watching the videos, I was truly amazed at the lights and how they looked on the outfits throughout the dance. If I could dance and I have a sense of rhythm, I might actually want to try this and see how much strength, energy and time goes through these dances.