The Politics of Art & Authenticity

When choreographer, Jody Sperling, came to our class to talk about her dancing company, Time Lapse Dance, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I never really got into the dance part of theatre, or the art behind it, and truthfully at first I wasn’t looking forward to hearing someone talk about dance.  But it was a nice surprise to learn about a whole different style of dance that I’ve never heard about before that day; skirt dancing.

Some of you might recognize this as the poster in Rachel’s apartment in the television show, Friends.
http://verrier-fashion.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/plakat_taenzerin_loie_fuller_hi.jpeg

I found it interesting that not only the dance, but the garments played a role in the performance.  Jody Sperling showed us various videos, and the skirt is used to make different shapes and rhythmic patterns throughout the dance.  There are many different types of dances with names, such as the serpentine or the butterfly, that describe the feeling and movement behind each dance.  The style of skirt dancing has also evolved since the late 1890s, when dancers like Loie Fuller were experimenting with new ways to do the skirt dance.  The costumes have become much larger and much more extravagant.  When you see a performance, it seems very simple and easy to make the shapes and movements with the skirts, but it is quite the contrary.  Jody Sperling told us to imagine holding are arms out straight for minutes on end.  I tried to do this and after about 30 seconds my arms were burning with lactic acid.  It makes you realize and respect the talent and effort that goes into these dances.

I also really respect and admire Jody Sperling for her passion towards Time Lapse Dance.  Each year she has fundraisers to be able to have performances.  She also asks for donations from many friends and others that appreciate the arts.  It shows that she isn’t in it for the fame or fortune, but for the true and authentic love of dancing, and sharing this unique experience with as many people possible.  I now realize the importance of dance as a form of art, and any other type of art.  It is important to pay respect to the arts and the time and work that goes into all of it.  People need to support the arts to encourage artists, such as Jody Sperling, to continue their amazing work for the world to admire.

The most amazing thing to me about Loie Fuller’s style is the way she uses the fabric in her costumes. Granted, Her dances are beautiful, but the main movement in them is of her skirt, not her body. She holds props under her costumes and swirls her skirts round to create movement, beautiful and choreographed. Its pretty amazing to me that she was able to pull off waving her skirt as dancing.

It reminds me of when I was a young girl twirling around in a pink flairy skirt, watching it flounce about in the mirror. Fuller was able to turn this beauty into a real style of dance that is now recognized, and that is a tremendous feat.

http://learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/wespress/traces/traces.html

Loie Fuller’s distinct style of dance is one that strikes me in a different way. It’s almost hypnotizing as she is seen and then not seen, swimming through fabric, waves cascading around her, with her poise always graceful. She makes it seem so easy. It’s mesmerizing. It was like she was playing hide and go seek with her audience.

I’m in awe of the woman. It takes so much creativity and determination to think of something and eventually produce it in a way that earns acknowledgement and praise. It takes so much strength to make a name for one’s self, especially being a woman, at that time. It also takes much strength to hold those poles up in general. Over all, Fuller is incredible.

I do admit, however, that her movements (as were the TimeLapse Dancers’s movements) were so gentle and graceful that it was calming. I almost fell asleep. This time, out of serenity than sleepiness. I think with live instruments and a live dance performance, the dance would be more vibrant. I’d love to see it in person some day.

Of all the things I know about Jody Sperling, the most inspiring, I think, is the fact that has taken her passion in life and really run with it. It’s also striking how she perseveres with her dance company despite frequent financial struggles.

In the art of dance, the artist creates the art, but even more so, is the art. When Jody Sperling dances, she becomes the dance. With merely a white sheet costume and colored lights, she creates a breathtaking visual performance. It sounds easy the way I put it, but I left out the main part; the immense amount of upper arm strength needed to move the fabric is really what the dance is all about. Twisting, twirling, and swirling her arms in different directions and shapes, Sperling contorts the fabric into various dance scenes. Her style takes after Loie Fuller, who, as Sperling says, “created a unique art form by crafting mesmerizing, multi-media spectacles out of fabric, motion and light.”  I think there is a brilliance to this type of dance – the plain white costume with the different lights – because the dance becomes less about the dancer’s physical body, and more about the actual dance and the movements.

The dances with the different colored lights brought to mind various scenes of ocean waves, angels, and clouds. Most of the time, the dancing with the soft music was calming and soothing. It’s really amazing to imagine what scenes and feelings Sperling could create with her dancing!

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I don’t dance. I also have zero upper body strength so all of this in general was impressive. Sperling was so passionate and dedicated to her profession which was also admirable. She explained in great detail how little funding she receives from the state. Even though the money she receives in grants doesn’t even begin to cover the costs of having a dance company, NY offers the largest amount of money for the arts. She admits that it’s difficult, stressful, and many people wouldn’t go through all that trouble, but she roughs it out because she loves it so much. Hopefully one day I love my profession so much that extra time and frustration will mean nothing more than just another bump in the road.

Loie Fuller’s dance technique in general was both different and beautiful. When I think dance, I think of ballet or tap or jazz. Her approach to dance is a lot more unique and in many ways a lot more complicated than traditional dance. The vast size of the costumes would be enough to scare me away from her kind of dance. Maneuvering those things looks incredibly difficult. I can barely hold my arms out for 30 seconds without feeling like they’re going to fall off. Imagine doing that for minutes? Hours? I’d die. It’s beautiful, but I’d definitely die. The way the costume is maneuvered to work in sync with the changes in lights is also impressive. The timing, precision and physical effort it takes to make this all happen is inspiring.

I feel that one of the more difficult forms of art is dance.  Dance takes time, effort, and natural ability.  Certain dances are choreographed and practiced over and over again until perfected and in order to perfect these dances the dancers need rhythm.

From what I viewed during class and on youtube, Time Lapse Dance is a very interesting type of dance.  It involves a lot of twirling, “circus arts”, and the use of various stage lights.  The dancers wear, what looks like, white long sleeved gowns with wands beneath to extend their reach.   The stage lights cascade down across the dancers, which, along with the music chosen, give off the feeling of certain natural related occurrences such as tornados or of running water.

I thought of many different things while watching the dancers.  At times while they were twirling the waves made by the sleeves in the air along with the colored lights reminded me of flowers.  Then there were times when the music almost stopped and became quieter and the dancers became almost still holding up their arms up and behind them holding the wands slightly outward.   The dancer then slowly moved across the stage. This made me think of a swan or an angel.

What I found amazing about this dance is the amount of effort and time that must be put in in order to pull it off.   The videos of the dances that I have seen have all been long and in each one the dancers never dropped their arms.  Jody Sperling commented that in order to keep the costumes flowing the dancers must continually be in motion and must keep their arms up which must take a lot of arm strength.  When the dancers dance alone they can spin at their own pace but, also as Ms. Sperling stated, spinning in groups in unison must be, and is, one of the hardest things they do.

I could tell that Jody Sperling was very passionate about this.  In fact, her organization is a non-profit one.  For her to have found something she truly likes, Loie Fuller’s dance style, and have built off of it to make something of her own is amazing.

Sources: 

http://www.timelapsedance.com/files/images/Elements_Web_txt.header.jpg

To be honest, I wouldn’t say dance is my kind of thing. This might be because my elegance on the dance floor is similar to the elegance of a four year trying to swim for the first time. I only get up at weddings for cocktail hour (the appetizers only of course) and for the songs that have directions in the lyrics, like “The YMCA.” But this isn’t to say I can’t appreciate the art of dance. If anything, my inability to properly “shake what my momma gave me” makes me more appreciative of people like Jody Sperling,

courtesy of verrier-fashion.com

who are gifted in that category. When Sperling gave her lecture on Loie Fuller, I could tell how appreciative Sperling is of Fuller’s style. Fuller impressively was the first to use long flowing dresses and excess fabric coupled with colored lights as part of her costume. This allowed her to choreograph unique and “enveloping” performances. Though Loie Fuller isn’t a name I had heard of before, or likely will hear again, it was interesting to see how she has influenced many modern dance forms. But the best part of the lecture was learning of Sperling’s dedication to Fuller’s style– her “mish-moshed” funded ensemble’s interpretation of only Fuller-type dance– and seeing a video of them actually performing.