Dance Communicates Via the Human Body - Essay Example

Dance Communicates Via the Human Body As an art form, dance communicates via the human body. It is integral to both the live and recorded performing arts industries and is often collaborative with other art forms, including music, design, film, sculpture and theatre (Dance UK website 2006). As one among various types of dance practised and performed in Britain (Dance UK website 2006), contemporary dance, like other dance types, has developed and grown in the last ten years. Using two dance companies – Laban and Siobhan Davies Dance Company (SDDC) as case studies, this paper examines the key developments in contemporary British dance over the last decade. Located on South East London’s thriving art community, Laban is one of Europe's leading dance conservatoires (Laban website 2006). It offers undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in contemporary dance artist training and professional development (Laban website 2006). As for SDDC, since it was formed by Siobhan Davies in 1988, it has been Britain’s flagship independent dance company (Siobhan Davies Dance Company website 2006). The company is primarily a dance production outfit, but it also focuses on professional development of dancers. Thus, SDDC holds activities such as workshops and masterclasses aimed at higher level dance, music and visual arts students, educationalists and professionals (Siobhan Davies Dance Company website 2006). While the institutional nature of Laban and SDDC is not identical, the development of these companies illustrates that their general policy and direction are the same. For the past decade, both Laban and SDDC embrace the policy of enriching dance language through diverse mix of performance (Laban website 2006, Siobhan Davies Dance Company website 2006). For instance, Laban encourages students to perform works that are experimental and defy tradition definitions. The Laban Theatre also presents work by companies as varied as The Cholmondeleys, Featherstonehaughs, Henri Oguike and Societas Raphaello Sanzio (Prospectus Introduction 2006). With regards to SDDC, it has moved away from presenting work in proscenium-arched theatres to different spaces. For example, since Plants and Ghosts in 2002, SDDC has used non-conventional performance areas such as an aircraft hanger, a gallery and a warehouse (Working with our audiences n.d.). The respective direction of Laban and SDDC also demonstrates a trend within British contemporary dance companies to encourage collaborative effort between different art forms and to design dance movements based on interactions across disciplines and passions. Recently, Laban and Trinity College of Music – two very distinctive specialists in their respective art forms – have merged to form Trinity Laban. Laban and Trinity relocated to the same quarter in South East London to facilitate conversations and collaborations between students of the two art forms (Prospectus Introduction 2006). In SDDC, works such as In Plain Clothes (2006), Bird Song (2004) and White Man Sleeps (2004) are clearly creations that attain new height due to Davies’s exemplary choice of artistic and technical collaborators. Consider also, SDDC’s successful commissioning of artists from different disciplines, including writer Caryl Churchill and sound artist Max Eastley, to engage in extended periods of intensive research with the company dancers (Working with our audience n.d.). In the realm of enriching the discourse about contemporary dance, British modern dance companies have embarked on sharing and extending their discoveries within and beyond the profession (Prospectus Introduction 2006). Consider, for example, Laban’s ambitious programme of reaching out to the greater community and enriching the debate on dance through its varied publications. Laban regularly publishes the Dance Theatre Journal, which is UK’s leading dance journal covering reviews on current thinking in dance and related art. Discourses in Dance, another journal published by Laban, has an international audience. It explores the rapidly expanding academic discipline of dance studies by addressing issues such as testing new methodologies and examining dance in relation to critical theories, cultural studies and cognate disciplines. Labanlink, yet another of Laban’s publication, is a free newsletter that provides information on Laban’s current activities (Prospectus Introduction 2006). In relation to SDDC, although its core business is making and performing dance, for the past fifteen years, it has also developed professional development programmes and audience building and outreach activities. One example is SDDC’s extensive residency and outreach programme called Working with our Audiences (Siobhan Davies Dance Company website 2006). Working with our Audiences encompasses five key programmes, which together aim to include professional dancers, dance students, other arts organisations and the wider community into the discourse of dance. The five key programmes are the Bank Project, SDDC Process for Dance Artists, SDDC Process for Dance Students, Dance Awareness for Local Communities and In Conversation with other Artistic Disciplines (Working with our audience n.d.). Since dancers are often unable to follow professional development opportunities because they cannot afford to take time off paid-work, the Bank Project pays six dancers each year for their participation in the project. Under the Bank Project, participants work with SDDC over six weeks and use the materials from the company to create their own new dance material (Working with our audience n.d.). SDDC’s second outreach programme, SDDC Process for Dance Artists, is a series of classes and workshops that teach professional dancers the process of SDDC. Specifically, it informs participants that SDDC does not follow the old model where dancers do not make materials or partake in the choreological process. SDDC believes that by sharing its unique process with other professional dancers, it is beneficial towards the professional development of these dancers (Working with our audience n.d.). Besides engaging professional dancers, SDDC also engages with dance students via the SDDC Process for Dance Students. This programme allows students the opportunity of working with professionals, thus affording them an opportunity to form their future professional outlook and cement career decisions (Working with our audience n.d.). The fourth programme, Dance Awareness for Local Communities, was conceived because SDDC believes in the commitment of developing a knowledgeable audience. This programme runs beginner courses for people in the community and pre or post show talks (Working with our audience n.d.). SDDC’s last programme, In Conversation with other Artistic Disciplines, aims to open a channel of artistic exchange between dancers and experts from other disciplines. An example of how this programme has been implemented is a series of discussions between Davies and Quentin Blake which led to the hosting of a day in SDDC’s London studios for Year 6 primary school students to come and meet Davies and Blake (Working with our audience n.d.). These collaborative sessions are meant to induce fresh ideas and inspirations to the work of the dance company. From the above, one can see that the development of British contemporary dance has been characterised by encouraging unconventional works, facilitating collaboration between artistes of various art forms and sharing the insights of dancers beyond the profession. All these trends have contributed to an enrichment of the contemporary dance language. The last two trends also have the added advantage of enhancing the marketing of dance to the community. By engaging in collaborative work, dance companies are able to attract more audiences with new and innovative performance forms. Moreover, by sharing their artistic insights beyond the profession to the community, dance companies raise the awareness of laypersons towards this particular art form, with the result that a greater number of people will be able to enjoy this form of performing art. In terms of venue, the policy of contemporary dance companies has been to tour, rather than to have their own theatres. The SDDC, for example, has been leading a peripatetic existence for fifteen years. Currently, it is creating a permanent home, called the Siobhan Davies Studios, in Southwark in a former school annexe (Siobhan Davies Dance Company website 2006). However, even after the Siobhan Davies Studios is completed, SDDC will likely continue touring since the new building only has small scale performance possibilities (Siobhan Davies Dance Company website 2006). In fact, the strategy of contemporary dance companies, like SDDC, is to develop a network of relationships and appropriate venues (Arts Council England website 2006). As the critical mass for dance is still developing and there are relatively few sustainable commercial outlets for dancing companies, the contemporary dance economy has remained for the last decade reliant on arts funding (Arts Council England website 2006). Funding primarily comes from Arts Council England, trusts, foundations and individual donations. Arts Council England is an independent and non-political body, working at arm’s length from the Government to nurture the arts in Britain (Arts Council England website 2006). It obtains funds to support modern dance companies and other arts groups via two sources. First, Arts Council England receives direct grants from the government for distribution to arts organisations. Second, the council is entrusted with distributing money to arts organisations from the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF) (Arts Council England website 2006). The National Lottery, which was launched in 1994, pays 28 pence from every pound raised to the NLDF, from where the money is divided among the causes of arts, charities, heritage, millennium projects and sport (Arts Council England website 2006). Laban’s move to its new building, for instance, was supported by Arts Council England with funds from the lottery (Prospectus Introduction 2006). SDDC too obtained funding from Arts Council England for the construction of the Siobhan Davies Studios. This was followed by a confirmation of £750,000 from SRB Elephant Links and several donations from major trusts including the Bridge House Trust, The Garfield Weston Foundation, The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation and The Linbury Trust as well as individual donations (Siobhan Davies Dance Company website 2006). In the final analysis, the last ten years have seen remarkable development in British modern dance, with dance performers exploring new ways of expressing their artistic visions through the motion of their bodies, dancers collaborating with a larger variety of talents from other art forms and companies reaching out to the community. This has all been made possible with funding from both the public and the government. References Arts Council England website 2006. Retrieved 10 March 2006, from http://www.artscouncil.org.uk Dance UK website 2006. Retrieved 10 March 2006, from http://www.danceuk.org Laban website 2006. Retrieved 10 March 2006, from http://www.laban.org.uk Prospectus Introduction 2006. Retrieved 10 March 2006, from http://www.laban.org/images/203.pdf?id=1139229352 Siobhan Davies Dance Company website 2006. Retrieved 10 March 2006, from http://www.sddc.org.uk Working with our audience n.d. Retrieved 10 March 2006, from http://www.sddc.org.uk/pdfs/WORKINGW.PDF Read More